Track Workout in the Snow

After starting the day with snowplows on the road, Texans driving cars into ditches, and Barb at the gym giving me a stern lecture about how I really should wear a coat on a day like this...well, the sun came out and we decided to do our track workout anyway.

Oh yeah, there were still about 4 inches of snow covering the track surface, but Pat had trampled down a single-track path through it by the time Tanner and I arrived. He had also come up with a proposed workout -- 5 x 300m with a 100m walk in between, descending.

We decided to all run in the same flattened path, so we'd have to go single file. Tanner didn't have a watch, so he went first, enabling Pat to get his times by watching from behind. I went last.

And you know what? It was a blast! It wasn't quite Currier & Ives-ish, but it was certainly prettier than the dull brown color of the dry track. And to be sure, there was some slippin' and slidin', and a little bit of frost on the fingertips, but there was something positively delightful about plodding through the white stuff on a day when nobody else was stupid enough to be out on the athletic fields. And get this: my hamstring didn't hurt a bit, my knees functioned more-or-less like human knees, and I was dead-on with my descent progression. That's the kind of stuff that makes you feel good about a workout!

Of course, we decided to run up the steep hill after finishing our 300s, and...well, let's just say that there was balance-adjusting arm flailing and finally, a significant face plant.

But you know, I'm OK with that, too. Heck, since my very first day on the ski slopes back in my youth, I learned to savor a good face plant into thick snow. It's almost a badge of honor, you know? When Mickey and I used to ski during college breaks, we applauded spectacular crashes, knowing that a good wipeout reflected a genuine above-and-beyond type of effort. So even though I was barely moving at the time my foot slipped and I got my eyebrows frosted, I figured that I was still way ahead of the 2 million other Denverites who were too chicken to even try to run up the hill that afternoon. In your face, you couch potatoes!

Hmm, after tooting my own bugle that way, perhaps it would be wiser if I didn't mention pigging out at Taco Bell after the workout. Yes, I'm sure of it...let's just end this discussion by saying that "it was a good night on the snowcovered field of self-discipline", and leave it at that. Oh yeah!

But if you're struggling with a decision of whether to go out for exercise while there's snow on the ground, I'd say go for it! You might just end up having a great day!