Spikes

When I was on the high school track team, someone suggested I train with light hand weights. It seemed like an efficient way to get some upper body or at least upper arm strength simultaneous to the lower body work of running.

I started considering what to use for hand weights. I can't remember if I was feeling creative or cheap, but I tried to figure out what I had available. Who knows, maybe I was just in a hurry? I rummaged through the odds and ends clunking around in the garage and found several railroad spikes we'd collected from the nearby abandoned tracks.

Hmmm. I decided if I wrapped them with black electricians tape, they would work well enough. I wrapped two individual spikes for the lightest weight, then I used four, wrapping together pairs for a heavier option. Voila: "heavy hands" for training. I was a sprinter who wore racing spikes on her feet and carried railroad spikes in her hands. They worked well for me back then, and after all these years I still use them--the railroad spikes, that is; not the racing spikes.

The other day I was out jogging with my single spikes in hand on an unseasonably warm afternoon. Because all my years growing up I ran with them on country roads, not thinking about how I appeared, it never occurred to me that anyone would ever notice what I was carrying. But that warm afternoon I stood at a stoplight and some young men pulled up next to me in an SUV. The windows were down. I could hear one of them exclaim, "Look at that! Look! She's running with nails! I'm not kidding--they're nails!"

I glanced down. Hm, I guess they do look like nails, but something inside of me felt like correcting him. They were all staring at me. I turned and said, "Spikes! They're railroad spikes!"

"Like, from a railroad track?"

"Yes!"

"Whoa."

Then they drove on. I don't know if they admired my spikes or thought I was odd, but as they drove away and I crossed the intersection, I felt even more attached to my railroad spikes. They've served me well for many years--a couple of decades, actually. I felt like defending them. I haven't even had to replace the electricians tape after all this time. Besides, if anyone ever tries to mess with me on a running path, why, I've got heavy iron defense weapons at my fingertips.

If I run tomorrow before some storms come through, I think I'll take the doubles. I need to do some upper body strengthening anyway.

Watch out, though. Don't mess with a runner carrying spikes.