Cool Runnings

Sometimes you just gotta get out and run.

It was 28 degrees when I woke up this morning. Not in my apartment (thank you, Lord, for heat); but that made it even less tempting to go outside.

But I had promised myself I'd run, even if I was only able to survive the cold for 20 minutes. So I bundled up in my winter-friendly running gear, laced up my sneakers (Vibrams probably aren't the best idea when it's 28 degrees outside...), and chose a running playlist.

Dang, it's cold out here.

But block by block as the blood started flowing and the sun warmed me more and more, I began to forget about the cold. I ran to the East River and along the path there. There is just something about being near water that soothes my soul. But when my lungs started burning from the cold air, I headed home, cutting across a basketball court that led to another basketball court that led to a playground in the middle of some of the housing projects a few blocks from my apartment.

Public basketball courts somehow always make me a little sad, because they make me think back to the days of our South Philly outreach to kids. They remind me of the kids I met and the kids I left behind. And they make me want to organize a basketball camp and meet the kids in my neighborhood.

So why don't you?

And all the sudden I forgot that my lungs were burning from the cold; and all the sudden I was running with a smile on my face.

I don't know if it'd really work. I don't know the details. I don't know what it'd look like or if it would even work the same way in Philly. The whole "South Philly cops have bigger fish to fry" thing always worked to my advantage in Philly... it was always easier to ask forgiveness than permission. But I can't help but think this idea didn't just come from me, and there sure are a lot of basketball courts in East Harlem.

And maybe someone at one of them won't mind if we borrow theirs for an afternoon every once in a while....