Thanksgiving Day.
8 a.m. 43° F.
I haven’t run in weeks. Weeks. I don’t wanna run.
The TV in background is running a Netlix preview for The Irishman. Ah, yes. I’ve been waiting for this flick. I pause to watch the trailer.
The momentum is shifting here, I’m wobbly, a topple back onto the couch is so seductive. Rest DK. Take the morning off.
I stand shirtless in front of the mirror. And stare. Eyes drop to the nipples*, they are firm, no slouching, and in so much better shape than the rest of me. I apply Body Glide, like an amateur cross-country skier rubbing the wax stick on his skis, or in this case my entire upper torso. God knows, if I get going, chafing could run wild. The rest of me may come apart on this run, but there’s no chance Boobies** are going down.
Mind drifts to a short (but moving) 28-minute documentary I watched the night before: Lorena, Light-Footed Woman. Lorena is a 22-year old indigenous Raramuri woman from the Chihuahua region of Mexico (think mountainous territory, no others within miles.). She’s been a top finisher in ultramarathons (up to 62 miles) and runs in Raramuri dresses and sandals. Sandals! And not made by Tory Burch. A notable scene has her opening up a gift from a running shoe manufacturer, a pair of fluorescent orange, slick all-pro running shoes. She delicately opens the package, looks at the shoes, carefully places them back in the shoe box and says: “I don’t think I’ll use them. The people who do…are always running behind me.” And she bows her head turning away from the camera. Don’t you just love her!
And so it goes, Lorena the night before, and the indigenous Connecticut Man on Thanksgiving Day.
On goes my sweat-wicking running shirt.
On go my running shorts.
On go my smart-wool socks.
On go my running pants.
On goes my running jacket.
On goes my Apple watch.
On go my running shoes.
On goes my fanny pack.
In goes my Smartphone in the fanny pack.
In goes the bottle of water in fanny pack.
On goes the Tuk. And it’s a Tuk. Not Touque. Not Tuque. Or whatever else the French Canadians want to take credit for. Tuk was founded in Western Canada in the mid to late 60’s in a town called Castlegar. Don’t like it, re-write the story on Wiki. Continue reading “Running. Not with Lorena.”
