Running on ice

You know what's weird about ice? I bet you do, but there's something even weirder. It's easier to run on ice than it is to walk on it. I found this out yesterday. I got to go on an OUTDOOR run, which was very exciting cause it was finally warm enough (about 30) and not snowing enough on a weekend that I could do it. So I went for a 15 miler outside. And I went to this park that's usually pretty cleared of snow cause I thought it would be a better running surface. And it was, except for the ice. It's been warm enough that all the snow is starting to melt, and then when it's 30 it freezes, and you have patches of ice on your nice running trail. But I'm in the Frozen North, so we just stoically ignore that shit. Ice? Well yes, I suppose I noticed it but it's not worth mentioning. The stoicism actually goes much farther. My arm fell off? Well, yes, I suppose it did, but I've got another one almost as good. A guy could do a lot with a good left arm. But I digress.

So I'm out there running on the ice. There is a certain way to run on ice, as it turns out. You don't do big strides. Nope. That would result in either a total slip/fall or a rather uncomfortable form of the splits. You do more up/down small strides, which work pretty well. And there are people out walking in the relative warmth (see? Stoic). and I notice they're slipping a lot and I'm just running on by. Which makes me feel superior (in a stoic way). They can't even walk on this stuff and me, I'm running on it. So I finish up well, took about 2 hours and 10 minutes (yes, that's a long cold time, but it felt a lot shorter than the Hell Run last month). And then I'm walking back to my car, and there's the ice. And I step onto it and SLIP. Didn't quite biff it, but it was close. Turns out when you're running you've got the up/down part pretty well built in but when you're walking there's more of a front/back component to it. Think about it. See what I mean? Well the front/back part is what'll kill ya, ice-wise. So now I have to take back all the superior thoughts I was having about the walkers on my run. Sorry slow dudes. My bad.