Child's Play

I never understood why anyone would choose to run on a treadmill over being outside. I get it when it comes to December in Minnesota or Michigan, but California? What do we have, a chill factor of 43 degrees? Yet, as soon as a little rain or dip in the temp occurs, the bronzed tan beauties head for the great indoors with televised sun soaked trails and authentic "sounds of nature" pumping in their earbuds. But why waste your time with artificial experiences when you can experience the fountain of youth by being outdoors playing in the rain?

Phil and I had so much fun yesterday we decided to go for one more run before we head back to the realities of adulthood that await us after the holidays. It was during this morning's run that I discovered why this is so much fun; it is child's play. Here we are, two grown men, responsible pillars of our communities doing exactly what our moms' had warned us not to do when we were little boys, playing in the rain. After another night of rain, there was no way to get around the puddles on the trails, so we did what any sensible adult would do, we splashed through them with high knees in order to make even bigger splashes! We were playing in the rain, splashing in puddles, knocking soaking branches of trees and bushes back at the other person spraying them with huge droplets, scampering up slippery rocks, sliding in the mud, and jumping bushes. We were blazing new trails. We were engaged in child's play.

So as you head out today to run, skip the treadmill, hit a trail or super wet road and splash it up! It is good to be kid again, if only for a few miles.