If you live in Dallas, or really any of the numerous parts of the country affected by that nasty Winter Storm Cleon, you’re very familiar with disappointment about now. Personally, I’m disappointed that the National Weather Service has such a boring person in charge of naming storms, but I’ll save that discussion for another post. Seriously? Cleon? Blech.

Where was I? Ah, yes, disappointment. I’m thinking of the 4,000 people stranded at DFW airport that are disappointed that they are not getting where they thought they were today. And I seriously cannot imagine using airport public restrooms for more than five minutes, let alone overnight and for days. Horrible.

Or the performers for the Children’s Parade downtown that have been rehearsing for months and were so excited. And the show did not go on.

Or the homeless shelter that couldn’t hold their fundraiser. And will be in desperate need of resources as a result. Talk about adding insult to injury.

And then there are the runners. And since this is a running blog, I’ll talk about us. Now I didn’t sign up for the Dallas Marathon this year but I do know what it’s like to train for a marathon. I’ve done it. 3 times. And if I had put it all that work, all that training, read all those articles about nutrition and tapering and speed work. . . . I would be EXTREMELY bummed right now. And let’s just say it, when you’re tapering for a marathon you’re already a little angry and certifiable, so I have no doubt most of you did not take this news well. And your poor non-running spouses!I’m sure you’ve been annoying. You need to buy them flowers or something when this is all over.

And for those of you that this was your first half or full I am sincerely sorry. Cleon didn’t mean to hurt you. He’s just a poorly named ice storm. But he did. And you’re sad. And you have every right to be.

So I won’t offer pithy words of encouragement or try to get you to see how badly others have it. After all, you’re runners. You know about Sandy, and Boston bombings, and injuries that take people’s limbs and now they can never run again. So to those of you that are reading this that are tempted to say that we should just get over it what’s the big deal, please know that we get that us not running is not the end of the world. It’s not even the end of our suburb.

But it’s still a big deal. So go ahead and give yourself permission to mope. And eat extra chocolate. And gripe to a safe person who won’t judge. But put an end date on it. I think Tuesday feels appropriate (because you definitely want to gripe to co-workers some. They love that.)

And then take stock. Look at the upcoming schedule. Consider another race and maybe even register. And look in the mirror and say “Hey, Bad Ass, you’re trained to run a marathon. And you’re awesome.”

And then go for a run.

Happy Running!

Jen