The Rumors are True, I'm a beach bum

For those of you that don't know me well, I am from a little paradise called the Rio Grande Valley. I live in a city near South Padre Island, TX. If your wondering, "Do you go to the beach all the time?" the answer is YES. I love the beach. I love the sun. I love wearing nothing but shorts and shades on the beach playing volleyball, I feel I could do that all day. The reality folks is that I'm living in Abilene,TX. It's pretty cold here.

In Abilene, my hands and ears are cold all the time, I get a running nose regularly, and I have to wear a jacket. Not my ideal way of living.

However, I realized something the other day.

I LOVE running in cold weather. Don't get my wrong, I am perfectly comfortable running in 80% humidity, but there is something special about running in 45 degree weather. Does that sound crazy? Absolutely. Let me explain.

Picture this: Its 6 A.M on a Saturday morning (my favorite morning during the week), its 39 degrees outside and the world is completely silent and completely still. You step outside and ask yourself, "Self, why are you doing this?!" then you remind yourself, "Because I am runner, I persevere." Sounds cheesy, but that's me. You begin running up College St, turn on Cedar Crest, then onto 18th street, then onto Campus Court, then off to running a very strategic route you carefully designed. As your running in the cold, your feeling like your gonna quit and turn around, but somehow you just realized that you just ran 1 mile. You keep running. Two miles, you keep running. Ten miles, your still alive. It is still cold.

Running in the cold is sort of like a test for me. How much do I really love running? If I call myself a runner I should be running whenever I planned on it and when it is safe to go out. Right?

There is something about running in cold weather that pushes me; that tests my passion about running.

Yes, I am a beach bum;however, I'm thankful for the cold weather in Abilene, TX. Go figure.

S.