Cool Runnings!

Cool Cold Runnings, more like!

I've been running since this past spring.  But for the last three weeks or so, I haven't been.  It's gotten too cold to run--especially at night, after work--without some warm clothing.  And not having ever been a winter-time runner before, I had none.  I had a pair of heavy cotton sweat pants the origin of which I don't really recall.  But no top.  I went running a couple of times wearing a long-sleeved shirt instead of a t-shirt before it got too cold, but eventually that wasn't enough.

So this past weekend, the lovely and talented snippy bought we two sets of running clothes as an early Hannukah present.  So this past Monday I started running again.  I'd been itching to get back to it.  For one thing, I knew all that hard-won endurance was dribbling away--conditioning slips fast if you don't keep working at it.  For another, I missed it.

I like being able to run for 30 minutes without melting down, despite never having thought of myself as an athletic person.  I like it that when I feel the need to hustle around downtown or elsewhere, I can do it without getting overheated and out of breath.  I enjoy the feeling of being able to finish a 30 minute run and have my breathing return to normal in short order.  I like the feeling of accomplishment when I finish another 30 minute run.  And I like it that I've lost some weight since I started running.  Not as much as I'd like, but enough that snippy and others have mentioned it.  Yay me!

I didn't want to lose all of that.  But it was too cold to run without some warm exercise clothing.  But now I've got it.  Two sets of Russell Athletic "Therma-POWER" clothing.  Which is quite warm...as long as the air is still.  When a stiff wind comes up, though, it cuts thru the stuff like a knife.  So I'll eventually have to add a windproof outer layer.  But later.

Now my running ensemble consists of jogging shoes, socks, shorts, a t-shirt, the outer layer of Therma-POWER gear, some cotton gloves, a knitted headband to keep my ears warm and a fannypack to carry my wallet and cellphone in case of emergency.  Oh--and the stopwatch I use to time myself.

I get home from work, change into my running outfit and head out into the cold and the dark, and often the damp as well.  I'm not going to run when it's raining heavily, but damp?  I can do that.  Running thru the dark, from one pool of light below a streetlight to the next, is a very different experience from running in daylight.  I pay a lot more attention to watching for cars when I cross streets or intersections, for one thing.  There are a lot fewer young women out and about to eye as well--the average count is pretty close to zero these days.  (Sometime I'll have to lay out the rules girlwatching when I'm running--because there are rules, of course.)