The definition of insanity

...is pulling on over-the-knee black socks, yoga pants, three layers on top including a super-charged, nothing-is-getting-through-this-baby-and-it-damn-well-better-not-given-what-you-paid-for-it shirt, a pullover, and a fleece at 5:45 this morning hoping it'll do the trick and you'll still feel your fingers and toes afterwards...

...getting in the car and driving down utterly still streets lit by the few working streetlights, thinking, "I thought it'd be lighter by now," noticing that the moon is a perfect cutout against an inky sky, wondering if maybe you should just go back home...

...parking the car, pulling headphones over ears and hat over headphones and tuning the ipod to the one motivational song that'll propel you out of the car and into the wind...

...picking up the pace down the hill to the running path by the Kennedy Center, watching the wind whip the Potomac waves into and over each other, seeing other crazies jogging by, waving because you're all so nuts, why not be friendly as well...

...noticing that almost instantly you've gone from feeling like the cold is slicing right through you (cold-weather-beating shirt be damned) to hoping that the wall of wind that smacks you in the face at the top of the stairs next to Memorial Bridge as you run up and down them gets just a little stronger so maybe you can cool down a bit...

...picking up the pace as you cross Memorial Bridge, watching the number of cars slowly increase and the clouds turn up purple and orange against Roslyn's permanently-lit skyline while Underworld's 8 Ball, with its train-chugging steady beat and slow build to joy provide the ideal soundtrack, telling you over and over again that today makes you feel happy...

...coming down the short hill from Memorial Bridge, in the almost-light that you could reasonably fool yourself into thinking is the light at 6 in the evening, not 6:30 in the morning...

...wind pushing at you as you trudge forward, aware that it's getting harder and harder to keep going but if you stop, it'll just get colder and colder...

...throwing yourself into the driver's seat of your car, peeling off layers of clothing, rolling down the socks because you've never been this hot, whose stupid idea was it to wear so much to run outside on a December morning...

...and it's awesome.