Running with Ski Goggles

Setting: Liverpool,NY in the W-C.

Characters: Shelby and Sarah, (Eichenlaub made a cameo)

When: A blizzarding wintry day

Why: We wanted to run.

I remember it clearly.  Well pretty clearly.  I wanted to go for a run, but the sky was looking ominous.  Any second, three thousand tons of snow would start pouring out of the sky, impeding my run to the nth degree.  I called up Shelby to see if she wanted to run.  She only lived a couple of streets away, so it would be an easy meet up.  We meet at my house, and we set off in our underarmour pants and tops.  As we jog down my street, we see Eichenlaub.  Neither of us had ever had him as a teacher, but we aways seem to strike up a conversation.  Usually, i just acted awkward.  I'm always awkward around educators.  I seem to just always do little dances and say weird things when making conversation.  So after several minutes of doing an Irish Jig, and mumbling about the sky and how I really enjoy long walks on the beach, Shelby and I leave Eichenlaub and continue on our run.

So far, we have made it 8 houses.  It starts blizzarding as we are running.  Our eyes are burning with the intensity of shampoo mixed with formaldehyde and antifreeze.  I say to myself, "Sarah, you could be inside watching Season 1 of Family Matters."  I know Shelby is a popcorn fan, so we would probably sit inside with my cats, a large tub of popcorn, and maybe some berry skittles (my favorite).

Instead of listening to the thoughts in my head, I ask Shelby if we should wear ski goggles while running.  Even though she's struggling to run through this whiteout, she manages a hearty chuckle.  She understands my determination run, and now she is determined too.  We run back three streets to my home and put on our ski goggles.  Since I'm always cold, I put on three more layers of clothing.  I considered using my cat for extra body heat, but she just looked too content laying by the fireplace.  I was also pretty certain that if I tried to run with her, she would give me so many scratches that people would begin to ask me if I had scabies.

 Shelby and I go back out into the tundra.   We jog against the wind and the snow to the top of the neighborhood.  The goggles were mighty helpful, but there was still some skin that was exposed to the bitter cold air.  We wanted to believe that the goggles made us impervious to everything.  Our goggles were supposed to be our invisibility cloak, but unfortunately, this cloak only protected our eyes.

Shelby finally has had enough from our jaunt through the blizzard.  She is just way too cold.  I understand.  We tried to disobey Mother Nature, but Mother Nature always knows best.  We sprint back to my house, strip out of our snow filled clothing, and we take off our ski goggles.  I make two mugs of hot cocoa.  and of course some popcorn.  I dip my popcorn into the hot cocoa, look at Shelby, and I laugh.  We both look so disheveled from our adventure.  I look at my cat by the fireplace, and I realize that my cat would have never worn ski goggles and gone out into a blizzard with me.

I meow.  Shelby meows back.  At least, I've got one cat who will go out into a blizzard with me.