Battling The Cold

This afternoon Jason and I braved the low temperatures and headed out for a 5 mile run. Fortunatly we don't have the snow covered sidewalks that our running compadres in Wisconsin are dealing with so we don't have to worry about that aspect of winter running.

The temperature however was only about 18 degrees with a "feels like" 5. I don't know if I really trust the "feels like" temp, I think it's just a way to make it seem like it's worse that it is. I arm myself with three layers on top, tights on the bottom, thick smart wool socks on my toes, gloves on my hands and an ear band to keep my ears warm and I head out. I was correct in that it wasn't actually that bad out. My legs got a bit cold as we got about half way through the run, but other than that it was a beautiful day out. There were quite a few other bundled up runners on the path including one gentleman with a beatiful golden retriver running in the opposite direction. I always feel happy seeing other runners out there on not particularly wonderful days and want to talk to them, so I told him that I thought his dog was very pretty, he said thanks, smiled and kept running. Which is great because sometimes when I smile and wave at other runners they look at me like I have a screw loose...

It was just one of those runs where you love being a runner. I always have days where I wish I wasn't a runner (not many though): my legs hurt, or it's really cold (or hot!) out, or work has consumed 14 hours of my day or life happened and I have to rush through my run and just get it over with so I can do the 18 other particles of stuff that seemed to pop up. Not today though, it was just one of those runs where it just goes.

I love when that happens.

I love those days.