But as perverse as it sounds, I enjoyed my run this morning. A relatively short one at 5 km's but after the slow slog through the snow on Christmas Day morning, I needed to clear out the cobwebs. -13 C did that quite nicely. We runners sure are hearty. Or stupid. Some mornings I can't make up my mind.
Maybe it's the strange thrill we get when we that driver in a nice warm car shaking her head at us running outside. Yeah, that's it!
Truth be told, I love running in the cold. And that from a guy who absolutely loves summer heat and especially sweating it out on a hot beach. Just ask Dan Cumming who's seen my obsession with capturing a lounge chair on the beach at Rondel Village to catch all the sun I can.
Running in the cold though brings it's own kind of special experience. From dressing: Layering up with full head and face mask; the first 5 minutes or so when my head is screaming, 'What the...!!'; to the final few hundred metres when I can feel the icicles and frost around my face. It's...exhilarating!
Running in super cold temperatures also means no dawdling. Once I get my body temperature up and start sweating, stopping would be, how do I say this nicely, 'not so good'. At super low temps my sweat seems to keep me warm...as long as I keep moving. I'm not sure of the science involved in this but it seems to work.
About the only challenge to running when it's super cold outside is keeping my fingers and toes warm. I run with ski socks that generally do the trick for the 5 km runs but I just haven't found the perfect pair of gloves or mitts. Inevitably the fingers get cold and all I can think about is getting home. Pretty good motivation to keep moving.
And if you must ask, no, I don't do treadmills. Never have and likely never will. Those things really scare me!
So rain, shine, hot cold...running is an outside thing for me all year round. Now, time for a hot shower to warm up!
Until next time...
ThatRunninGuy
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