That’s my dog Rosie.  She was an awesome dog. She died eight and a half years ago.  It sucked.  For a lot of reasons.  I don’t think about her much anymore.  But on occasion I do.  Sometimes I see a tennis ball (her favorite toy).  Or the dog tag I keep on my key chain.  Often times I get sad.  But on occasion I feel happy.  Not everyone gets to have the friends that I do, both human and not.

We had a bigger than predicted snow storm last night, half a foot.  Got my shoveling done early before I found out school was cancelled.  So went and laced up my shoes and got out before traffic picked up too much. No planned tempo run today. It was going to be for the joy of it.  I love running in the snow, I have made that clear to anyone who will listen (and even those that won’t) over the years.  Running down Rock Island Trail under low clouds reflecting the city lights back in a nice orangeish glow, I encountered a guy walking his dogs.  One was on leash, the other was off.  The pooch running amok was a 10 month old Golden Retriever.  We used to do the same thing with Rosie after winter storms.  We would take her out for a walk and down to the trail.  She knew what was up the moment we veered from our normal path.  The leash came off and she was gone.  It was sweet to watch her plow through snow and jump and bound and do whatever the hell else it is that dogs do when they are psyched out of their minds.

But when I try to explain to people why I love running, or why I love running in snow storms, it is hard. (Some) people just don’t get it.  They see wind and blowing snow.  They feel the cold.  They think you are going to fall (you usually do).  Cruising through the shin deep, fluffy powder this morning and barely able to see my feet as I kicked up a cloud of snow, I had a smile on my face.  The same smile you see on the face of that dog above.  When folks ask me why, I think I want to be able to just show them that photo of my old dog.  That foolish look, the who gives a crap attitude, looking goofy but feeling kind of like a badass mentality.  If I could only bottle it.  Maybe people would understand then.  But I doubt it.