It happened on Thursday afternoon. We have had bad weather here in Nashville for the past several weeks and this last week it's been bitter cold with snow and ice. The realization struck me in the oddest fashion, it was the cows. They were staring at me. Six of them to be exact, all grazing on the side of a hill, fence separating us by less than 2 feet and I could see in their gaze that I had "become one of those people".
It all started about 4 years ago. I was as they say, sick and tired and being sick and tired. I got up one day and looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the man that looked back at me. I weighed a whopping 250 lbs and couldn't walk to my car without wheezing. This coming from a man whose family drops dead of heart attacks at about the age I was currently. So, I decided that I was going to run my way into health. I bought a pair of shoes and off I went. I used the Michael White method of running. Run as far as you can, puke, repeat. I wouldn't recommend that method but that's just how I did it. Funny thing it got easier and I ran farther each week. At some point I noticed my belly and face started getting thinner and I didn't sound like Darth Vader after walking up the stairs. I've long held the theory that runners start out with the purpose of just staying in shape, but slowly all the jarring that accompanies running causes small hemorrhages in the brain which in turn makes a runner think, "Wow I think I'd like to run 26.2 miles." Alas I was no different. I did start with a half-marathon though, I ran it in 2:47. Then off to the Marine Corps Marathon for my first. It was glorious. I cannot explain nor will I try on why it was glorious but trust me I consider one of my greatest accomplishments in my life. I won't bore you anymore with the grand details but I've run a total of 5 marathons now, along with a handful of half-marathons, several 10K's and when I want to be totally embarrassed by other men my age I've done a dozen or so 5k's. What makes me on of "those people" though is my desire, no my obsessive need to run. I use to be able to run on a treadmill but now I call it the dreadmill and if at all possible I run outside. If at all possible means I actually still have both my legs and a heartbeat.
Which brings us back to the present. Thursday was bitter cold in Nashville, not as cold as Tuesday when I ran just 3 miles. It was a balmy 9 degrees that day. I ran at Centennial Park and the ducks were walking on the pond as it had frozen over. I passed just one other runner and other than that it was me and the ducks. I stopped running when my teeth starting hurting from the cold air I was breathing in that day. Thursday was different. It was raining, cold (around 31 degrees) and I went for a six miler. The wind was around 10-15 miles an hour and I ran the trail by the river. The trail goes right by a pasture and the cows had moved to the backside of a hill to move out of the wind and graze to stay as warm as possible. As I passed them it was then I realized they were staring at me and I was "one of those people". You know, one of those runners when you are passing in your car you look at your passenger and say, "look at that fool he's out running in 9 degree weather is he crazy?" or you tell your co-workers "Do you know what I saw today?" "Some idiot was out running this morning when it was nine degrees!"
I would always nod my head when someone said that, thinking what an idiot, who does things like that? I bet if they passed cows they would stare at them like they were crazy. Funny it's the same look Sarah gives me when I walk out the door for a run. It's the same look the cows gave me last week.
Footnote: I am proud to say that since 2007 I have run approximately 3,000 miles. That's over 6 million footsteps, approximately 15 pairs of running shoes and 2 lost toenails.
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