Mango 5.0

I woke up and it was cold. I knew it the second I was awake. My body kept telling me to stay in bed. I gazed across the bed, bleary eyed, at the clock: 5:26. You have to be kidding? Do you know how cold it is going to be out there? Yes.

I sat up in bed. Not even the dog was going to get up with me at this hour. I went in to the bathroom and drank two cups of water and grabbed my gear from the closet. My new hat and reflective jacket were waiting to be used--my wife's Merry Christmas to me. She insisted on the Mango color (yes, it's REALLY called Mango), because it was brighter, and less likely to get me run over.



"I love that woman," I thought.
The bitter-angry-part of my body that still wanted to be in bed replied, "If it weren't for her, we'd still be sleeping like smart people everywhere."

I went downstairs, made the coffee and headed out the door. Turns out I was right--it was cold...only, not as cold as I thought. I found my stride quickly. I started up the hill at the half-mile mark and was feeling pretty warm. At a little past the one mile mark, I had to take the hat off. At that point I was feeling really good and decided to make it a longer run than I initially planned. I made the right out toward the high school.

It started to snow. I put the hat back on, but Iw as still feeling pretty good, nice and warm. I got to the turnaround. It was suddenly thrust upon me why I was doing so well. The first 70% of my run had been done with a tailwind. There was a 15 mph wind in my face...with gusts of about 30 mph.

"There's only one way home," I said.
"Dumbass," said Mr. Bitter.

I turned for home, then made the longer turn that would make this a 5 mile run, just to shut mr. Bitter up. He did. I climbed the last challenging hill and knew I was cruising for home. I said a prayer of thanks, running through the snow, that I was still strong enough to do this.

I went to the store and made breakfast. I'm looking at the clock now. It's 8.30. THAT is a FULL morning.