12 Degrees

I am truly crazy. By all accounts this was the coldest morning of the year. Channel 5's Ron Childers said the temperature was 12 degrees when I woke up this morning, but I was determined to go try out the new running shoes and get in my six miles. AB, told me she thought she might just skip and stay in the warm bed. I told her I didn't blame her, put my layers on and left. I wore the long underwear, a wick-away short sleeved shirt underneath, my polar fleece pants and a North Face pullover. I pulled a fleece hat down over my ears and wore fleece gloves. The only uncovered part of my body was my face, which was a little cold the first half mile, but warmed up along with the rest of me by the end of mile one. I felt great all the way through the first four miles. In fact, I was quite proud of myself for braving the elements and putting in my miles, like a real tuff guy, a man. Then a part of my body that I would have thought was the least likely to get cold started to hurt. At first I thought maybe my long underwear was just irritating me. I made a few little "adjustments" and kept plodding. My route takes me by my car at mile 5. The "discomfort" was getting worse, but I only needed one more mile. Knowing what I know now I would have stopped, but like an idiot who gets up to run in 12-degree air, I didn't. I refused to let a little pain stop me. A mile only takes another 9 minutes, right? I trudged a half mile up the hill and turned to come back for the last half mile. The pain was getting worse. When I finally got to the car, the pain was becoming unbearable. I was starting to contort my body and gasp for air in that special way that only a man who has experienced similar pain would understand. I thought the warmer air of the van would heal me, but it was only hurting more and more. I couldn't believe it, but I started to think maybe I had gotten frostbite in the worst possible place. I quickly started the car and cranked up the heat. I almost puked from the pain on the car ride home. It was a scary ten minutes. I started to think more children would be out of the question. I said things like, "Oh please God, if you'll just warm it back up I'll never run in 12-degree temperatures again." When I finally got home I stripped down and stood in front of the gas logs. After a few minutes of moaning and groaning the fire in my living room finally warmed everything up and the pain subsided. I'm sure the reader will be glad to know that all is well. I told AB later that now I know where the saying, "I nearly froze my pecker off" comes from. Next time, I think I'll add another layer. 

I'm glad the Transrockies is in August.