Tough Weather, So A Change

 

I have to admit I have been very damn lucky so far this Winter (Technically we are still in Fall, but Winter snow and ice can easily arrive anytime from about October 15th and later.).  I have been able to run OUTSIDE every day up to this point.  

However, because of both my age and general klutziness, I feel the risk of getting injured is far too high if the roadways, sidewalks, and pathways I run on are slippery with snow or ice.  I have fallen painfully a few times while WALKING on these routes when icy over the years, and sadly being a damn klutz means I have even tripped and fallen a small number of  times while running on DRY days.   If I were to run on these routes when it is icy.... I am regrettably all too confident it would not end well. 

So, we had a light coating of snow yesterday afternoon.  When I got up at 5:30am, I gamely got dressed in all my layers and proceeded outside to see if it might still be safe enough to run outside.  I got on the path and started to slowly and gingerly jog a bit to see what it was like.  Unfortunately, the light dusting of snow made it impossible to discern icy patches on the path, and within about two minutes I had felt my feet slip at least three times.  So, I gave up and walked home.  

Normally when this happened in other years, I would go to a community indoor track and run loops instead to meet my mileage.  But, with the damnable Covid-19 pandemic, I feel it is too unsafe to exercise (and breath heavily) indoors EVEN IF the indoor track was open.  It has been closed for a few weeks now due to the upsurge in cases anyway.  

I KNEW this would be a very problematic situation for me, so several weeks ago I forced my penny- pinching self to pry open my wallet and bought a USED treadmill that was being gotten rid of by a family about 1/2 a mile away from us.  

So, when I returned home this morning, I went into the basement where we moved this beast of a treadmill, and I began to double check and triple check how I had put it back together after having dismantled it to get it in my vehicle and back to our house after purchasing.  I also reread the owners manual (again) to make sure I had made the recommended adjustments on the rollers and reassessed  everything on the beast as much as possible and also made sure one more time that the electronic gizmos on it were set up properly and were functional.  

Then I ran my 9 miles.  Treadmills are really not fun to run on.  But, it IS a helluva lot better than not being able to run.  I was happy that the machinery seemed to survive the pounding I gave it.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will work reliably at least to mid-April of next year.  By that time, I should have a very good chance of ice free paths.  

I still will check the weather and paths each day, however.  If I can find days where it is dry enough on the trail, I will still gladly try to brave the cold to be able to be outside running. I am hopeful there will at least be an occasional day where this is possible.  

PipeTobacco