A belated birthday run

One of the traditions I've had for my birthday for the last several years is to sneak a quick run in at some point during the big day.

Call me cheesy, but I've always been a believer that your birthday should be a day that's all about your enjoyment. You should do things that make you feel happy, and since I feel better after a good run than I do after pretty much any other activity, it only makes sense.

However, this year would prove to be a problem with keeping the tradition alive. My birthday was on Saturday and I spent the weekend in St. Cloud indulging in one of my favorite wintertime activities: darkhouse spearfishing with my brothers.

Saturday itself consisted of about seven hours on a lake, several speared northern pike, and a smattering of empty beer bottles that were once filled with a home-brewed ale I made at my apartment (a new hobby of mine, a lot of fun if you've got the free time for it).

Obviously, with such activities on the agenda, sneaking in a 20 minute run would be a tough task. I had every intention of going out for a run in the morning before spearfishing, but a late bedtime the night before dulled my ambition.

Since we were out on the lake all day, by the time we finally walked off the ice, I was more preoccupied with getting something to eat than with my running tradition. Exhausted from a long day, I went to bed shortly after getting back to Mankato that night.

So my 26th birthday came and went with nary a run among its activities. Not a big deal for most people, but considering I haven't missed a birthday run since my junior year of high school, I woke up the next morning feeling like my day was incomplete.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the heck out of spearfishing and spending time with my brothers. But nobody likes to see a tradition fall by the wayside.

Feeling the need to make up for my broken birthday routine, I made Sunday a workout day chock full of cardio. Collectively, I ran 7 miles, did a 30-minute workout on the rowing machine and squeezed in a few minutes of jump rope.

Was it technically a "birthday run?" No. But like a belated birthday present from a friend, it still made me feel pretty good.