Winter Running Snapshots

Strong wind blowing the snow sideways is not
enough to keep me and Sadie off our 4 mile loop

Coyote hunting mice in the snow

Climbing toward the sun on a clear day.
Sadie's tracks show how she runs back and forth
the entire time. I'll run 5 miles, she'll run 10.

Dear 2010

Dear 2010,

I trust this letter finds you well.

I know you don't reply to fan mail (I'm a big fan already). I know you don't answer prayers. But a friend told me you do, on occasion, take requests.

Please help me keep my feet moving for another year. 2009 was tough. But I walked through the finish line even when I wanted to stop and sit down. Give me the same strength this year.

Please look after Dad. His heart is so strong that it sometimes wants to burst out of its seams. If you hold any sway with your successors, tell them to keep him around for fifty more years.

Please help me remember to tell my family I love them any chance I can.

Please keep Sadie young and strong. She's stuck by my side - through rivers and mud, over mountains and snow.

Please let memories fuel my excitement for the future.

Please help get the Houston Astros some starting pitching.

Please don't change anything about chocolate chip cookies. They're perfect the way they are.

Please allow my running to take me to places I've never been before and to see things I've never imagined before. New trails. New vistas. New towns and roads and cloud formations. Let me see a sunrise and sunset in the same day. Let me smell the air of foreign country. Let my face feel sun and rain and ice and fog and wind and dirt. Let my legs ache on a climb and whistle on a straightaway.

I hope that's not too much to ask for.


Sincerely,

Scott


P.S. I'm serious about the chocolate chip cookies. Don't change a thing.