Monday, December 7, 2009

My Kind of Weather

The weather gods teased the Northeast with some snow on Saturday. No major accumulation just enough to cover my lawn and to get everyone complaining about how much they hate winter. Truth be told, I have a love-hate relationship with old man winter. I can certainly do without the shoveling, scraping ice off the car, and juggling work schedules becuase daughter has a snow day.

When it comes to running, the cold weather is my friend. Safety always comes first, so if the roads are not safe because of ice or snow I won't chance it. This morning however, I was chomping at the bit to get out there. I put on my tights, compression base layer, half-zip pullover, fleece hat, and warm gloves and headed out around 5:45. There were some icy spots on the road but nothing dangerous that forced me to turn around and go home. I haven't run more than 10k since coming back from my injury so I was hoping for 7 or 8 miles today. I love running around my neighborhood in the early morning. I get to see the town wake up. Papers are getting delivered, people getting making their morning bagel and coffee runs (no pun intended), dogs getting walked, you get the picture. I ran 7.74mi in 1:05:26 (8:27 pace).

The cold air felt invigorating. I find that the cold air is better for my asthma than warmer air. During Tuesday night's Tweet-up run, EG mentioned how she's never trained thorugh the winter for a spirng marathon (she will be running Boston in April). I told her that I prefer to train in the winter. As long as you dress right, the cold should not be a problem. There is nothing you can do to make yourself feel cooler when it's 90 degrees and 100% humidity. So I'll leave you with this, don't be afraid of cold weather. Get yourself some quality cold weather running gear, get out there, and enjoy it.

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