Saturday, January 6, was my first run of 2018. By “run,” I mean “moving outdoors, forward-like, over some amount of land,” and by this metric, it was a total success.
The weather was 10 degrees F, with minimal wind chill. Since I knew this would be a cold and slow 3 mile walk/run, I wore:
- Base layer of thin long underwear
- Wind-proof pants
- Base layer of thick-ish Athleta shirt
- Wind-proof heavier running jacket
- Hat
- Gloves
- Buff Scarf-Nose-Face-Covering thing
- Padded socks (Thorlos are my jam)
- And these babies:
Yes! My new, no-excuses-you’re-getting-out-there Saucony shoes. Let’s take a closer look:
These shoes, the Saucony Ice +Razor Plus, were very expensive, so I will have to run in them all the time to justify this spend (motivation: guilt). They have grooves and treads and a water-resistant ankle covering, and are so damn serious I felt compelled to take an oath before striking out. On their first outing, they transitioned well between ice and snow and regular country roads. Tougher conditions will be the true test.
I walked 1 1/3 miles and ran 2/3 for a total of 3 miles, and since I was so frickin’ slow, I listened to 2 podcast episodes (linked below, just click):
Backstory with the American History Guys: Schism: The Branch Davidians at Waco: For me, the best segment of this podcast was Dr. Ben Zeller’s description of the Branch Davidians’ theology, which kind of explained, a little bit, their gun-hoarding, child-exploiting ways. Kind of. A little bit.
Pop Culture Happy Hour: In One Year and Out the Other 2018 edition: This was the perfect mood-lightener after the Branch Davidians. The crew of this show played their 2017 resolutions —many of which were writerly—and rated how well they lived up to each. One of the hosts vowed in 2017 to write her novel—and did—and sold it! So that was inspiring and wonderful. On this episode, the crew also makes hilarious predictions about pop culture for 2018, including what 1990s show is likely to be resurrected this year.
And while I only saw turkeys in the woods along the way, it felt nice to put my tracks alongside these:
Yours in Runity,
Rebecca