Robert's Blog

i love running in the snow!

as most of you know , i m not a fast runner. i don’t usually beat very many people in the races i enter. i’m thrilled if i’m in the top 50%. therefore, i rarely ever really feel like a runner when i talk about the speed at which i run. i know people who can speed walk faster than i can run. while i don’t run very fast i am very committed to running. this is why i love to run when it is raining or snowing. the uncomfortable times are when other people usually will not run and therefore i usually feel like a real runner for being committed enough to run even though the environment isn’t very conducive for a positive running experience. it’s times like this when i feel like a real runner.

since we had a storm moving in last night (in fact A BIG STORM) i couldn’t miss the chance to run right when the snow began. i went to the plover river trail to run on it before the snow got high enough for cross country skiing (the point area has the best trail system and it is very rude to mess up the groomed cross country ski trails once there is enough snow to ski). it was an amazing run along the plover river with its edges icing up.

yet the truly fun part began when i started to drive home. you see i had been running in winter tights and a jacket. it works perfect for running because its just barely warm enough. while it is great while i am running it is not really something i want to wear into stores and around public. it is also very cold if you are not running. on division street (the main drag from point to plover) my radio died. i thought that was a little weird but it came back on so i dismissed it as static electricity resetting the radio. then it happened again and all the lights on my dashboard came on and immediately blanked out. at that point i was fairly sure that the alternator in my car was dying. i figured it out for sure just about the second that my car stopped running. i was stuck on the busiest street in stevens point during lunch hour and the beginning of a snow storm. i was going to have to get out of the car and push it on division while wearing just running tights and a jacket.

i desperately thought that i might be able to get someone to stop but apparently people don’t respond well to tall guys in tights. three guys finally had pity on me and came over to help push the car to a safe place. i’m not real sure why they laughed constantly while they were pushing the car.

last night i went to the wisconsin dells with pam for a conference that she was speaking at (yes, i am married to an impressive woman). if you have never heard of “the dells” you need to understand that it is the big vacation spot in the mid-west. tons of large resort hotels with indoor (for the winter) and outdoor water parks. anyway, pam was presenting a seminar on assisted living technology with the chair of her department and one of her students. so pam was going to be at the conference and since they provided a hotel for the night i went with her. my only goal was to spend the evening with pam without the boys and then i thought i might run around “the dells” during her conference.

well last night was a fun date. pam left in the morning for her conference and i prepared myself for a winter run. now you need to know my typical winter running attire. actually my tops don’t matter, it is what i wear on my legs that you need to know about. i am a little ashamed to admit this but i have been converted on windy winter days to just wearing running tights on my winter runs. when it isn’t windy or super cold i still just wear shorts – my legs warm up quickly when i start running. unfortunately they don’t warm up at all when it is super cold or especially windy in the winter. i have to wear tights then. at first i wore shorts over my tights. i changed when i realized how much unnecessary laundry i was creating. it was at that point that i decided to just wear the tights. after all it’s a pretty typical thing to see around the point area – you see winter runners in central wisconsin all the time wearing tights and a jacket.

so i was in my tights and windbreaker when pam called and said she needed me to perform tech support on her computer. they couldn’t get the projector and computer working that they were going to use in their lecture (rather ironic that no one in an assistive living conference could operate this technology). well this is part of my duties as the husband. pam regularly says that my job is to open jars, kill bugs, and keep the computers working. so i had to decide – do i run over to the conference in my tights to fix the computer or do i get dress in normal clothes first? it’s one thing to wear running tights for a morning run and only be seen on the street. it is quite another thing to wear tights when you are bending over working on a computer. of course the problem was that pam needed me to fix the problem before they started her seminar. i had to move quickly.

i will leave it to your imagination concerning what i decided to do.

first, I’M FINISHED WITH MY LAST D.MIN PAPER FOR THE “DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS OF MINISTRY” SEMINAR I TOOK! WOOHOO!

secondly, i was kind of attacked while running this past saturday. it was by a dog. this kills me because i love dogs. in fact, dogs usually love me. it’s part of my charm. i like dogs and they like me. except for this dog. he was not a fan.

i actually don’t blame the dog. it’s owner was walking along on the trail without holding on to its lease. the lease was just hanging to the side of the dog while the dog was running around. when i was about ‘100 away i could see the dog running free. he would run off and then come back to its owner and then run off again. it was also at this time that the dog saw me and decided that it’s goal for the day was to bite me. so it ran full tilt in my direction. i screamed for the owner to grab her dog but she was too busy with what was obviously a very important cell phone conversation to help me with her dog. it must have been an important conversation because surely no one would allow their dog to attack a runner just so they could continue a conversation concerning “twilight.” when the dog reached me and jumped at my throat i kneed it in the chest to knock it away. this worked pretty good so i moved quickly into my second line of defense which was to stretch my arms out and look as big as i could. i wasn’t really trying to scare the dog as much as i was trying to get the cell phone talking owner’s attention. it worked. she ran over grabbed the dogs leash and told me “you did the right thing” as she pulled her barking and lunging dog away from me.

i really wish i could tell you that the dog was a toy puddle or something so you could enjoy a fun visual image but the dog was about the size of a german shepherd and it put a decent amount of fear into my day. the only thing i rememer afterward is thinking how odd the lady’s statement was. “you did the right thing.” thanks lady. nice to know that i did the right thing while you were ignoring your runner chasing dog and talking on you phone. it was really not what i was expecting to hear.