snow and ice, new visa

482 words
Another new record!!!  I was shocked, well…amazed, when I returned to my room, and looked at my watch. I wasn’t shocked because as I wrote a couple days ago, the body is truly amazing.  While I was running, I didn’t even think I was running that quickly.
I consciously put more energy into my legs a couple times, and one time into my arms, (I hear you saying, “What?!?  He put more energy into his ARMS while he was running?  So what?”  Well, I’m thinking that if I throw the arms out farther in front or back, that will, by Martin’s corollary, get the legs moving farther out and back, thus making me run faster.  Is it true?  Who knows?  Life is 90% perception anyway.  If I THINK something is helping, it is.)  At any rate, I was far from thinking that I was on a record pace.  I may break one minute before I leave this area—a feat that I would have considered unimaginable when I began to run here.  I just got my passport back today after the company organized a year-long multi-entry visa…so I can come and go as I please until next November at least.
Yes, at times, I am running on packed ice and snow.  But as long as I keep the same momentum, there isn’t a big problem.  When you are on the metro, as long as you hold onto something while the train is gaining speed, you can read with no problem.  Inertia dampers—I’d never heard of them until I was working at the Maryland Science Center—I guess they were mentioned in Star Trek when the Enterprise would come out of hyperdrive (or whatever).  “Momentum is our friend”  This was the printed on the back of a biker’s t-shirt as he and his son were riding a trail-a-bike across the US.  In these guys’ world, momentum was something they could ill-afford to waste as they were climbing hills, but in MY world, it’s something to be feared when sudden stops are necessary.
Only one time today did I nearly have a problem with momentum. This was when a couple little peripheral vision-challenged kids stumbled across the sidewalk in front of me.  All was well, though, because it was at a position where the sidewalk had been cleared and the 30 minutes of sunlight yesterday dried the pavement.  I quickly skidded to a stop before I had to do an O.J. Simpson (pre-1994)-style leap in order to avoid making little kid pancakes.  I can’t blame the kids, though.  Imagine the layers were wearing—when the temperature gets below 50°F in the fall, before they take one step outside, they are dressed in three layers of fleece with a head bonnet that comes gives them unsolicited tunnel vision.  Now, when it is truly cold, their clothes are packed on like Sherpas climbing Mt. Everest.