songs of experience

Another sure-fire way to cure the running blues is to find a brand new race! Remember as a kid how you rushed to be the first one out the morning after a snowstorm? You ran around the house finding your hat, scarf, mittens and leggings (do they even make “leggings” anymore?). My mom made us wear plastic bread-bags over our socks before we put our boots on. Often she had to empty the bread onto the counter to get enough bags for all us kids… which made for pretty crumby socks. After all the noise and busy-ness of snow-suiting up, it was such a shock to go outside into absolute silence - like pasing through the wardrobe into Narnia. It * was * so * q u i e t *.

You’d take that first step, c-runch, through the top layer of icy-ish snow and then feel the soft powder underneath. You knew instantly whether the snow was “good packing snow” or not. Boot-step again, c-runch. They are the only two footprints in the entire universe! Boot-step boot-step boot-step boot-step, now you’re making a path … the first one in your yard … and on across to the open field where you find the other early-morning kids in your neighborhood. The surface is no longer pristine - you can see muddy, bald spots where the giant snowballs (for snowmen) have pulled up even the grass. But that’s okay, you’re with your kind now …

Finding a new race in your neighborhood is like meeting your own kind in that open field. On Janurary 14th, I am heading over to Little River Park in Durham, NC for the first annual Little River Trail Run, hosted by my running buddies (The Trailheads). The motto for this race is “Don’t hibernate; celebrate!” and I, for one, am going to add my first-race footprint to the celebration. Neighbors, please join me. I heard it might even snow that day!