Grivet Outdoors

The author manages a quick, frozen smile.

before the ice came, was now bright and shiny and bustled with new life. The sunlight reflected off all it fell upon. The world seemed new, clean, and pure. It was reborn.

The streets were deserted. I was the only fool stupid enough to risk death simply to run in the ice. But the payoff was large. The landscape seemed like my own personal world, filled with a trillion diamonds. The ice acted like a highlighter bringing my attention to things I would otherwise ignore. A holly bush filled with bright red berries glistened festively in the cold. No artificial Christmas display could compare to its beauty in this frozen landscape. The red and dark green was accentuated against the dull whites and blues of the wider frozen world. My eyes would not leave it even as I ran past. A piece of heaven had been brought down to earth. It was so beautiful. Still, the risks of this icy world would not go unnoticed. I heard loud snaps that sounded like gun fire in the distance. Only when I came across large tree branches sprawled across my path did I realize the noise came from mighty branches snapped off of their host trees by the added burden of the heavy ice. It was not hard to imagine what would happen to me if I just happened to be under that tree as the branch gave way. A small shudder went down my spine. I decided to give the trees a wide berth whenever possible.

The following days were clear, and the sun shined brightly, but the vortex kept coming. The

temperatures kept dropping. The twenties gave way to Then I started to adorn myself in three layers the teens, which in turn gave way to the single digits. of clothes, two layers of socks, and a number of The morning arrived where the temperature settled strategically placed hand warmers. Anything that juts somewhere between 1 and zero Fahrenheit with a out needs a hand warmer (a slightly different and windchill of minus 6. It was time to run again. The discreet list for men and women). A handwarmer was rules of the tough guy runs are unforgiving. And this even reserved in a special pocket for as-needed use would be my coldest and most bitter run ever, thus giving this run the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous. My breath ... on the face and nose, even though both were already covered by a thick ski mask. If I injured myself all alone along some trail in this intense cold I could very looked like It took a long time to get ready, and I was quickly freeze to death. Preparation is everything. ice crystals. uncomfortably warm while in my house, but the second

And just bringing a cell phone is I stepped outside made me not enough, something I’ve learned the hard way. Cell grateful for my diligent prep work. phones really dislike extreme temperatures. They shut It was bitterly, mind numbingly COLD. In minutes, off in very hot and very cold conditions. I’ve found that my eye lashes were frozen solid. My breath wasn’t any day below freezing requires special care for cell just misty, like on many cold days. It looked like ice phones. I wrapped mine in a plastic bag with a hand crystals. It was solid and stuck stubbornly to my ski warmer dedicated just to the phone and then further mask whenever I breathed out. The mask was quickly insulated it by placing it deep into a dedicated zipper covered with ice, requiring me to pull it down. My pocket. exposed skin went instantly numb and I was glad for the

extra handwarmer dedicated to my frozen face. The combination of cold and warm made my face flush and it burned like I had suffered a bad sunburn.

My running generated more and more heat and soon the cold seemed to retreat a little. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was tolerable. Only when the wind struck me did the misery level really rise.

Again, the world was empty. The streets were my own, but I tried to stay in the most public and accessible places I could find. I wanted to seek shelter or be found quickly if something should go awry. I wouldn’t last long in this cold if disaster struck.

I tried to distract myself by listening to sounds. Things sound different to me in the extreme cold. Noises seem crisper and sharper. My footsteps seemed louder and subtle noises were more noticeable. My hearing seemed keener. I felt sort of like a super hero with super hearing. I assume the effect is from increased air density in the cold, or maybe it’s just my imagination. Either way, it passed the time.

My mask thawed out and I was able to shroud my face once again. I wondered how the ice had melted in this kind of cold, but I knew enough to take such a gift without asking too many questions.

The requisite hour seemed to pass over an incredibly long time. I’m unsure how far I actually On the way home, Mia follows the track she and the author ran since my GPS watch stopped working, but my made earlier. backup wristwatch diligently counted out the hour and I timed things to where the one-hour mark was To my eyes, however, the snow was unbelievably reached almost exactly when I arrived back home. beautiful. At night, my neighborhood was transformed

I hurried back inside and stripped off all those into some mid-century Norman Rockwell painting added layers of clothes as fast as I could. The warm with the street lights casting brilliant circles of light shower that followed was a luxury I will not soon onto the reflective piles of snow. Chimneys billowed forget. smoke from a thousand fireplaces and families huddled

Then the moist air arrived, and for the first time in together in living rooms as their children stared in days the temperature rose a little as the clouds rolled silent awe out the window at the miracle of so much in (to a whopping 10-11 degrees.) Within those clouds snow. Even the adults gave occasional glances outside were the seeds of disaster that had laid Texas low and to share in the rare wintery spectacle. The scene was left Houston powerless and freezing under a blanket of so stereotypically American that I scarcely believed it snow and ice. to be real. Yet here it was, repeated a thousand times,

Fortunately, Memphis was a little better prepared as again and again, right outside my own backyard. the skies filled with a torrent of thick flakes that made Needless to say, that these conditions were near running (much less driving) difficult to near impossible perfect running weather for me. I took to the roads and in the “white out” conditions found in such a blizzard. trails whenever I could. And this time I wasn’t alone in The snow fell in great waves and was spread out over my obsession as my faithful dog Mia (pronounced Mydays as inch upon inch piled up in embankments that Ahh) loves the snow even more than I do. These snowy were sometimes feet deep. The few salt trucks and adventures would be a run for two. snowplows available struggled to keep the main traffic So, we took off and blazed trails in the virgin arteries open, as residential streets remained buried and snow as my feet sank deep under the endless carpet of treacherous. white. The snow sounded “squeaky” as we ran over it,