From the house to the truck. From the truck to the classroom. From the classroom to the truck. From the truck to the house. For a whole week. By this past Saturday, I was going nuts. I needed to get out, but it was 39 degrees outside, a cold drizzle falling, and quite windy. Obviously a bike ride was out of the question. That is my mainstay for exercise outside, but this day it was not to be.
I decided instead to take a walk. I pulled on wool hiking socks, sweatpants, t-shirt, and a chamois flannel shirt. Then I got out a brand new FroggTogg outfit I bought in August in case I got caught in the rain on my bicycle. I donned the rainsuit, and then pulled on my hiking boots. After putting on my earmuffs and pulling up the hood on my FroggToggs, I headed out for the walk.
I started passing summer mile-markers. At the one mile mark, I thought, “I could turn around now and I would have two miles in.” But no, I had to keep going. I had to cross four bridges that crossed canals. Each time it proved that the cold drizzle was still coming down. Finally I made it to Chiquita Blvd. which is 2.2 miles from my house. I turned around and headed home. There were still water drops in the canals under each bridge.
I made the 4.4 miles at an 18.2 mph pace which is slow for me. However, I figured that was a pretty darn good time with all the clothes I was wearing, especially the FroggToggs. And as I pulled off the walking clothes, I discovered that I was damp underneath, but not from the rain. I had done a pretty good sweat from my exercise.
Oh, yes, I chose not to ride my bike Saturday. The only person I passed on my walk was a bike rider wearing winter bike clothes. I felt like we had much in common. I wished as I saw him that I had winter biking clothes.
