Perfect Running Weather

Mansfield Street
Originally uploaded by littlee.

Every Saturday morning I get up excited to go running with my Frontrunner peeps. We run a scenic loop around the East Rock neighborhood, conveniently finishing about a block away from Lulu's, a tiny cafe that serves seriously high octane java. This morning though, I knew that my Saturday routine was in jeopardy when I looked out my window and discovered that last night's predicted one to two inches of snow had been obnoxiously covered up by an extra half foot of white fluffy stuff. An e-mail from our fearless leader, Amy, clinched it. "New Haven roads are unplowed and/or slippery. All Frontrunners commanded to stay indoors and sip hot chocolate." Feh, I say to indoor chocolate sipping. Slippery shmippery. Don't these people have moms who give them fancy shoe grippers for emergencies such as these? So on went the running togs and the shoe grippers, on when the headphones and the Shuffle and off I went to careen around the snowy, empty streets of The Haven without a care in the world about the slick surfaces below my feet. (For example of ridonculous road conditions, see photo snapped this a.m. just before starting my trek.) It was awesome. Almost made me want to go live in a place where there would always be snow to tromp around in. I got plenty of looks - people driving (read: fish-tailing) by seemed puzzled as to why I had such solid traction while their SUVs swerved and veered down the narrow roads. One poor guy had to watch me run right past him as he sat at an interesection at a green light, the rear wheels of his sedan spinning madly in place. The light turned red again and he just had to sit there as I plodded off down Livingston. So Mom, if I haven't thanked you already, thanks a bunch for my super, extra fancy shoe grippers. No one can stop me now...