The Argument between the Brain and the Toes

The weather outside looked ugly.  It was a light yet steady sleet coming down on a Saturday morning.  Weekends are my time to run outside and get in more miles.  While I have trained myself to run in almost any weather that doesn’t mean that I always relish it.  It also doesn’t mean that I do not constantly check the weather reports, to see if I wait an hour so that the temperature will rise a bit in the winter or the rain let up at another time of the year.

Yet, there is only so much my smartphone can tell one about the weather.  I do have a front door and can open the door to see it firsthand.  So, I went to the front door and opened the door and immediately the cold air hit me and I could hear the familiar sound of sleet bouncing off the ground.  My toes however felt the cold air immediately and rejected any notion of going outside.  I did not have slippers, shoes, or even socks on, so while the rest of my body was clothed my feet were completely exposed and immediately sent a message to the nervous system.

“Close the freaking door!”

I instinctively closed the door.  I thought to myself “What should I do?  Should I run now or later?”

My toes with anger yelled back at my brain “What the #@%$ ! Are you crazy?  It is not only cold but there is sleet and it is very slippery out there.  Have another cup of coffee.  Read the newspaper, scroll through your Facebook page.”

My brain answered back “Look I signed up to do a thousand miles with I Love to Run this year so today is my day for the long run.  The calendar says so.”

My toes shot back to my brain “You felt it.  This is no time to go outside. Your decisions don’t have to be made by a calendar or some website!  It is sleeting out there and it is slippery, use your brain! After all you actually are a brain.”

I paced around the house trying to decide what I was going to do.  I was a little aggravated because I really needed to get the miles in because I hadn’t gotten in many miles that week.  I started getting my cold weather gear.

The toes shouted “Okay I understand you need to exercise and get your miles in but let me remind you that you do have a treadmill.  You can get your miles in without battling the elements.  It is much safer that way.”

My view is that battling the elements is important in being a runner and a trail runner in the Northeast.  So I decided to head out.

My toes rebelled “Hey are you crazy?”

My brain responded “Yes maybe a little”

The toes responded “I can’t believe this! Why am I the brains in this body?”

As a concession to my toes I eschewed doing a trail run because I did not want to drive the car in the elements to the park but I figured I could run in it.

As I got out to the road I was bundled up and only my face really felt the cold as the sleet steadily blew into my face.  While the ground was a little slippery the more I ran the more I enjoyed the run.  There is almost a quietness to running on snow even though this was only a half inch of the sleet on the ground. There was even more quietness because there were very few cars on the road.  A sense of pride came over me as I could sense I was conquering the elements.  This would serve me well down the road when I am in a race and the weather is bad.  Besides there is nothing like being outside in the fresh air.  That is why I almost always decide to run outside if I have a choice.

I know many runners (Not trail runners) who live in the Northeast and they retreat to the warmth and reliability of the treadmill in the winter months.  I remember seeing a runner in Florida post how the difficulty in a race was the cold, and it was 50 degrees!  I laughed at that, for that is shorts and t-shirt for me.

At about mile five as I was running on a winding country road I noticed the road was a bit icy when I saw a skid mark and a tree that very recently had been hit by a car that had lost control on the icy road.

Immediately my toes piped in “See Mr. Conquer the Elements it is too dangerous out here.  We were obviously right!”

I kept on enjoying my run but made a note to myself “Always have shoes or at least slippers on when checking the winter weather on a cold winter day”.  It is now something I have held to for a few years now.  It really keeps the arguments down.