So… the winter has arrived

Today the thermometer pointed out 1^o Celsius outside. So, the winter has arrived. For many months I had wondered how it was going to be when this moment arrived: Will I be able to run in the park? Will I need to do what I hate and join the gym? Will I be forced to stop my routine of exercises that does me so good?

I stood looking through the window... the London grey sky finally showed up. No sun, nothing blue... just grey. No one at the street. Where is everybody? Just I planed to go out? I stood there for some minutes, gaining courage to go. I finally texted my boyfriend... I needed to share the angst. He told me not to go, after all, I was still recovering from a cold. But I needed to.

What I didn’t tell my boyfriend was that by doing so I was sending a message to my body: “it will be cold outside, might not be confortable, we might have to come back earlier, but we are still going... we won’t lock ourselves inside this apartment”. I wanted to tell my body that it has been suffering with this new weather, but it’s not alone. Mind and body are together in that… and when the body chickens out, the mind comes to encourage. It was something so small, but an attitude that meant so much.

Two layers of clothes, thermal top and pants, ear protector, gloves, iPod… and there I went. I warmed up inside my apartment and left home already running. For the first time I was one of those people that wait for the traffic light jumping at the same spot. I arrived at the park. There I was… facing it, feeling it. I could feel the cold passing through my gloves… but I could handle it. The wind challenged my jumper, but at least it was real. There was some cold smoke coming out of my mouth, I could finally see it. My feet were still warm, and I pushed the ground to go further. I was running… I was there… I was facing it… I could nearly touch my fear… and put it inside my pocket. And then my body told my mind: “We made it”.