The BombcycLone Runner

Thirteen minutes and thirty-four seconds.

That’s how long I lasted this morning running in the #bombcyclonepocalypse-snowrricane-stormofthemillennium. Honestly, the only thing that made me return home sooner than planned was the constant assault of ice flakes on my eyeballs. Other than that, it really wasn’t that bad. I might seem crazy, but I assure you there are crazier people out there. Have you seen twitter lately?

It wasn’t too cold, at least compared to what it’s been like. I wore two layers of leggings and two top layers under a North Face jacket I found in my mom’s closet and I was very comfortable. (I’m still not sure if this was her jacket or something one of my sisters left there, only because it doesn’t seem like something she would have owned and I don’t recall her ever wearing it. But it fit me perfectly and seems ideal for running on rainy or snowy days. Looks like it’s mine now.)

I don’t have any special things for my shoes for running in the snow, but this stuff wasn’t too difficult to run on. It was heavy – good packing snow. Good for snowmen building, probably. At this point there was maybe an inch or two on the ground? Three? I’m not great at measuring snow. Here are my footprints to give you an idea.

I stuck to the quiet streets of my neighborhood. I didn’t chance going down any main roads today. Unfortunately, as with most roads, the shoulder is where all the snow goes when it’s plowed, thereby eliminating the usual running paths. So I stayed on the small streets today, running in tire treads where available.

The only sign of life I witnessed was a plow truck whose driver kindly paused his plowing to let me pass behind him. Oh, and I saw one other car on the road. But that’s it.

I decided to call it shortly after a mile because I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. Which, as surprising as this may sound, is a necessary function when running outside.

As short as it was, it was a lovely run. At one point, a dried up leaf was blowing along the ground a few feet ahead of me in the same direction I was running, and it somehow stayed with me for a good 10-15 seconds. Like it was running alongside me. A leaf coach, if you will.

My train was miraculously running and on time – kudos LIRR!!! But a good 99% of everyone appears to have stayed home today. Here is my normally full car as it pulled into Penn Station.

Maybe I am the crazy one after all.