I skipped running on New Year’s Day, both in anticipation of a hangover I never actually had and because it was extremely cold outside. Unfortunately, I made the wrong decision, because today was even colder than yesterday. What was I to do? I hate cold weather so much! Surely subzero windchills would freeze the very core of my being. Would I mess up my training so early on?
The answer was, surprisingly, no. The fortunate thing about being unemployed is that I can choose what time of day I get to go outside and freeze myself half to death. So I waited until about 3:30 in the afternoon, when the windchill was a balmy 8 degrees Fahrenheit, suited up, and braced myself for the cold.
Clearly, I would need to be warmer than I was on day one of my training, when it was 33 degrees outside. It wasn’t particularly windy, so instead of the windbreaker I donned the other day I put on a warmer fleece-lined jacket over my synthetic long-sleeved shirt. Other than that, it was my running tights, socks, shoes, and gloves. And then there was the question of what to do with my face and head. I still hadn’t gotten around to buying a hat, but I did have this intimidating ski-mask type thing, something called a balaclava that I had bought a few months back. I was kind of afraid to wear it, but I knew it was probably the only thing that would keep my face from being rather painful on this very cold day. So, I put it on with a fleece headband over it to protect my ears. Then I turned to look in the mirror. Between the tights and the balaclava and the jacket, it almost looked like I was wearing a burqini! Whatever, I was warm and ready to venture into the cold.
The trail was even more deserted than it had been on New Year’s Eve. The snowcover was thicker, 3 or 4 inches. I didn’t see a single bicycle and only one or two other joggers. The sky was a soft winter blue, the way it is in the winter only when it is cold. I once again had to force myself to stay at a slower pace in the beginning warm-up, as I really wanted nothing but to feel warmer.
Once I did finally warm up, though, I was surprised to notice that I really did feel quite warm. It was nice being on the near-deserted path. The few times I ended up running through deeper snowdrifts were challenging but fun. It kind of reminded me of when I was a kid, and still enjoyed the snow and the cold weather. I loved the view of the heavy cloudcover over the lake to the east of me and the impending sunset to the west. The three miles went by surprisingly quickly, even though I’m sure the snow and cold air actually slowed me down some.
Then, when I stopped running, I noticed that the tops of my legs were cold and numb. Strange how my hands, feet, and face were perfectly warm and toasty, but my thighs were freezing! I guess the running tights only work so well. Maybe I should consider the burqini after all; at least there’s extra fabric covering that area. I hear it’s a lot worse for men for reasons I need not explain here. Still, I guess I will have to investigate better ways of protecting the hips-to knees area if I want to be able to run actual long distances in this kind of weather.
Even though today’s run was only three miles, I still feel much more confident in my ability to train in the winter than I did last week. It probably won’t get too much worse than today’s weather (although perhaps I shouldn’t jinx myself) and it should progressively get warmer as the training progresses, assuming we don’t have a freakishly cold February like we did in 2007.
In case you are wondering: no, I probably won’t blog about every single training run I do. It will only be the significant ones. Which, for right now, are most of them.
Why the Hell Not? 