A moment of January inspiration

In my post-race, post-Disney, general wintertime blahs, I got a dose of much-needed inspiration last night.

As runners, we all understand the benefits to be had from running, and will often run in cold and snow to get them – but sometimes we don’t. Sometimes, even we, who enjoy the camaraderie of meeting others in frigid temperatures, will skip a run or retreat to the comfort of the indoors.

So as last night marked the first meeting of the latest Beginner Running Clinic at The Running Works, hosted by yours truly, I got all bundled up and ready to go – with ten minutes till clinic time, no one was there. But within the next five minutes, every single person who had signed up was there and ready to run. These are people who have either never run, or haven’t run in a very long time, taking their first steps on a frigid night in January, in the snow, on the ice, in the wind. They were a small group, but they were there.

And despite the biting wind freezing our cheeks, not one of them, at least not within my earshot, uttered a single word of complaint. Not one.

My toque’s off to them – but only once I am safely back indoors.