A Frosty Trail
I am back on track. Today I went for a 4.08 mile run. It was just below freezing, not cold really but cold enough to make me worry about sucking in cold air when I am trying to get over a cold. As usual the run started off a little chilly, and ended up warmer. As I was warming up I remembered a story my grandpa Chub used to tell me.
Grandpa Chub was a real old cowboy. He had the hat, and the horse, and he always had a lit cigarette hanging off his lip. Our cattle spent their summers in the mountain pastures, and we would ride our horses in to the cattle to check up on them. These rides could last 16 hours, and we covered a lot of ground. When it got colder, I would sit up there on my horse and freeze. I would have rather froze to death than missed a trip to the mountains, so I never complained. Grandpa would finally noticed I was cold, and give me some advice.
He said ” When I was a kid, Old Mr Matthews used to tell me that I could sit up there on my horse like a man and freeze, or I could get off my horse and run behind like a dog to keep warm.”
So I would get off my horse and hand him the reins, and trot along behind the horses with my slippery riding boots on the frosty trails. Soon enough I would be warm enough to get back on the horse. I think I was 18 before I had the courage to complain about the cold, but I never missed a trip because of it!
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