My Left Tata

What a great night for a run.  28 degrees, no snow or rain, and just a few inches of snow on the bike path.  I bundle up and strap on my running spikes and head out the door.  Amazing how your thoughts can change over the course of 6 miles.

• Mile 1 – Ahhhh…  breathe in that fresh air.  It’s a beautiful night and it feels so good to be outside
• Mile 2 – Crunch, crunch, crunch.  The snow and ice crack beneath my feet and the evergreens look so peaceful with the snow on the branches
• Mile 3 – Crunch… was that the ice or my ankle?  Ah well… the street lights are hitting the snow and it looks like millions of diamonds.  I’m halfway.  I can make it back home.
• Mile 4 – I don’t remember running down this hill.  I’m now plodding up a hill and the “light, glittery snow” is covering dangerous peaks and crevases of ice.  Are my ankles really supposed to be this flexible?
• Mile 5 – I can’t run on this crap anymore.  Up, down, slide to the left, slide to the right.  Where’s the bike path?  Am I in someone’s yard?  If I run in the road I’ll get hit by a car… but it’s tempting.
• Mile 6 – I’m running in the road just to have an even surface… hoping a car hits me so it can just be over already. My hands are frozen, I can’t feel my ass and I’m concerned that I’ve frozen my ipod.

Now most people might think it silly to keep running in the ice and cold (and did I mention I have a cold?) but I told myself I was going to run 6 miles tonight.  So I did. 

Gavin decided he was going to learn how to ice skate today.  Last year at this time we took him to the rink and he screamed and cried the minute his skates hit the ice.  It was a gamble but we tried again.  At first he pushed one of the training bars around the ice but I could see him looking at the other kids whizzing around.  He fell and looked as if he might cry. I told him it takes years to learn to skate and that we could practice more some other time.  He stood up and fell again.  Within 15 minutes he was mad at the training bar.  I saw him fall and a look of ulimate frustration briefly appeared on his face. 

Then he pinched his lips together hard and furrowed his brow.  He pushed the bar away and started skating to me.  He skated without the bar for the rest of the session and eventually made it across the ice without falling.  Now, I’m not saying he’s the next Scott Hamilton, but he sure is determined.  How amazing is it when you see your own facial expressions, your personality, your drive, your determination (OK – stubborness) in your child?

As Grandma says “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”.  Poor kid!!