tuesdays are no mondays

to: charlie
from: laurie
re: puddles they are tricky like that

Running never takes away more than it gives back. Thank you Nike – because if I hadn’t read that billboard in some part of LA I may have stopped running last Tuesday morning.

6:02 – seriously is that my alarm
6:03 – unless I have moved a third roommate into my studio who shares a love for R.E.O Speedwagon as a wake up call – “I wanna keep on loving you”… that is indeed my alarm
6:08 – raining, not enough to go back inside – but enough to make me dream of my shower when this punishment is over
6:15 – 25th and 2nd, a herd of huskies round the corner by my familiar fruit stand – I swear everyday that I will bring money to buy a banana from that sweet man, anyway I digress… these huskies have in effect taken over my imagination.
6:22 – 25th and the FD, by the time I get to the water I have named my husky – Cullen, and imagined bounding through feet of fresh powder and or Frisbee on the beach, and or having such a beautiful dog to snuggle up with in heavenly bed in my NYC apartment.
6:30 – it crosses my mind that my new running playlist is a little Hanson heavy
6:32 – I am okay with it
6:35 – or a little tween heavy for that matter
6:37 – I am also okay with that
6:40 – puddles
6:41 – bigger puddles – blocking the entire path to the Williamsburg Bridge… I see the pretty blond running Barbie in front of me turn around. Out of spite I will not be defeated by this puddle… you need to know how big this puddle is – it really is more of a small pond or lake in the middle of my otherwise barren route.
6:42 – wonder if this would be easier with a husky
6:43 – made it 60% across running on the brick sidewalk – that turns to puddle. There is only one choice now, I lift myself onto the guardrail of the FDR Drive, (still on the park side don’t worry) and inch my way down the fence past the puddle.
6:44 – wonder if anyone has called the police thinking I am trying to throw myself in front of traffic
6:45 – misjudge the depth of the water – think I am in the clear and in fact submerge my entire foot in muck
6:46 – wonder if this would have been less painful with a husky
6:55 – return to the puddle after looping to the bridge. This time I stop. I lovely gentleman from Parks and Recreation is wading into the middle of the puddle, appropriately dressed in wellies I might add and has removed the grate from one of the drains.
6:56 – the puddle is draining
6:58 – the puddle is not an actual puddle
7:00 – the puddle is not more
7:01 – I head for home with a spring in my step
7:06 – realize that due to lack of flashing lights no one has called the police in an attempt to thwart my would be suicide attempt on the guardrail.
7:08 – try to make sense of what the puddle means – does it mean that life would be better with huskies? Or that problems, like puddles are here one minute and gone another? (they are tricky like that) Or that life comes with a little rain? Or does it simply mean that everything in life is relative… how badly I wanted to get the bridge out weighted by concerns for getting wet and doing some highway off roading… since when did running 4.5 miles every am becomes a necessity? Wasn’t there a version of me not too many mornings ago that would have snoozed it till 7 when the alarm went off? Was I becoming my Dad?
7:16 – these thoughts have taken me all the way to the shower, and I remember what I was thinking about an hour ago – how much I would deserve these 5 minutes under the scalding hot water.
8:15 – the apocalypse rolls into town and NYC is hit with a thunderstorm the likes of which would make Jim Cantore’s hair stand on end.
8:17 – I think to myself “I am glad I got my run in before all of this”
8:20 – I realize this running thing is not so bad – I also remember that huskies make great jogging companions, I open up eclipse on a crowded M34 – raindrops fall steadily only my foot – through the cracks in the roof off the bus – somehow I am not phased as I open up an email from Charlie.
8:33 – I reply about my love of huskies, and my gratitude for her presence in my life.