On Wednesday, I discovered that Netflix has every season of “Breaking Bad,” so I started watching that during my daily struggles on the moving belt of misery. Treadmilling already makes me cranky and I was beginning to worry that after running 30+ indoor miles this week due to the Polar Vortex, I was going to turn into Walter White. Time to get outside and do something that’s good for my soul: a run that feels like playing instead of feeling like work.

I woke up to a soggy, mid-40s morning. (Mid-40s is practically tropical compared to the frigid temperatures the DC area endured earlier this week!) Utterly undeterred, I zipped on a lightweight waterproof jacket and headed out without my phone. No music, no Audible books, just me, the outdoors, and the noises of the run.

And it was awesome.

Sure, the sky opened up and I got drenched with cold rain for the final 5+ miles of my 10.27 mile run, but I was outside! I heard my footfalls on asphalt instead of a relentlessly revolving rubber strip. I felt the wind on my face. I could speed up and slow down as I saw fit without pressing any buttons. If I weren’t running, being out in this morning’s lousy weather for as long as I was would have been miserable, but because I was running, it was joyful.