One of the nicest perks of our new house would be the regular running group that came built right in to our neighborhood. They run Monday, Thursday and Saturday mornings and as luck would have it, today is Monday!

I found out about the group from a friend who lives in this neighborhood. He’s been running with them for a while and invited me to join them on a Saturday morning run back in October. I accepted the invite and by the end of the run I was already contemplating what it might take to get our closing date bumped up to that very afternoon.

I emailed my neighborly friend last night to confirm the days and times were still the same and that they were still meeting over the holiday week. When I got the thumbs up that running this morning would be a go, I got my running stuff all set out and ready. The group meets at 6 AM and while I am no stranger to getting up in the 5 o’clock hour – getting OUT before the clock strikes 6 is a whole new ball game.

Yesterday’s journey through my neighborhood streets, to the campus of a large university, through the cemetery and back over the river to make my way home again was great. It was sunny, not too cold and almost all the snow was gone. But when I peeled myself out of bed at 5:40 this morning, I found 6 inches of the white stuff on the ground. The street in front of my house was not plowed and there was one set of tire tracks through the road that showed me just how deep the snow was.

Ankle deep. And it’s still snowing.

So now what? Are they still going to run this morning in this crazy mess? If I was at at the old house, today would definitely be a treadmill day. Do I change out of my toasty purple socks and sexy sweat pants and get in to cold running tights and an adorable pink hat that I knit myself only to find that I’m the only fool that came out this morning? If that were the case, the next step would be to turn around and go home because I’m not running alone in the dark through city streets. Even though the roads are well lit, I don’t know the area well enough to head off by myself when the sky is still black. Well, orange-ish yellowy is more accurate than black really. We’re in the city now after all.

But I digress.

OK, fine. It’s worth the risk. I suited up and off I went, into the orange-ish yellowy snow filled sky, down a tire carved path on the otherwise empty and silent street to make the trek to the meeting location two blocks over. Sure enough, I was greeted by three smiling faces and we were joined by three more folks shortly there after.

Wait. A group of happy, smiling people wearing sneakers and face masks at 6 AM on a cold and snowy Monday morning? Really? Is this a drug run?

I don’t know what it is about running with a group of people, especially considering I barely know anyone besides my friend – but this morning’s cold, wet, orange, snowy and blowy run that was filled with conversation and laughs made today’s run just as good as any sunny and dry Monday morning solo run through my suburban streets or a random treadmill run at an old decrepit gym.

I kept coming back to the fact that if I hadn’t had plans to meet with this group today, I never would have run this morning. I’ve no longer got a gym membership to speak of, so without these plans I surely would have been home this morning wondering what I could do to avoid unpacking or putting away more stuff. There’s no doubt that making plans with a work out buddy can be a powerful tool to keep you on track and motivated and will get your butt out the door when you would otherwise eschew your pink hat in lieu of sweat pants with a large hole in the crotch. (I told you they were sexy.)

Our run took about 45 minutes and when all was said and done I was gone about an hour. Given our somewhat leisurely pace through the ankle deep snow I’m guessing we went about 4 and a half or 5 miles this morning.

My post run breakfast would be an old favorite, fruit cereal.

1 diced banana and 1 diced gala apple tossed and coated in ground flax seed and unsweetened cocoa powder, topped with sliced almonds and chocolate unsweetened almond milk. Who needs grains when there’s fruit to eat?

I enjoyed my fruit cereal while Maxine and her toys enjoyed our generously sized forced air ducts and the big blast of hot air from it this morning.

Looks like I’m not the only one who has found some fun perks that came with our new house.