I went out for a run this morning with Jan, my running partner. She arrived for our scheduled 6 mile run this morning and it was c.o.l.d on Cape Cod. Perhaps not as cold as say, International Falls Minnesota, but cold for Cape Cod, as in 20 degrees F. But as I often tell her, "runners run", so off we went for our Sunday morning long run.
Jan and I thought we were dressed appropriately. I piled on my Nike fleece-lined tight fitting top and matching pants, merino socks, Asics jacket, hat & matching gloves, and a fleece scarf. Jan did likewise. And we were freezing. Really freezing.
Running in the cold weather is daunting. The cold attacks you, the wind pummels you. Muscles take longer to warm up. What normally takes 2 miles to feel warmed-up and ready to kick into high gear, takes 3-4 miles on a January run here. Running along the canal now isn't feasible either. The wind blows off the water creating a wind chill factor that prohibits any more than a 3 or 4 mile run. We tried that a few weeks ago; the wind chill was brutal, cutting our run short although we did attempt it. The porta-pottys on the canal road are closed for the off-season as well, so the last thing we want to do is get 7 miles down the canal and realize we have to run 7 miles back and then drive home in order to do our thing. Then there's the ice. The roads around here have been icy for most of January; some roads get plowed & sanded, some do not. There's also something called "black ice" here on Cape Cod that's basically frozen dew that can't be seen until you are in the process of slipping and falling on it.
So we run in my neighborhood. It's loaded with hills, regular & black ice, snow, dogs (whose owners think it's cute to let them run without their leash because who'd be out at this hour anyway?), and of course other hearty Cape Cod runners. But we never really warmed up this morning. Our times were unprintable. It took a lot of hot coffee, a hot shower & a couple hours sitting in front of a fire in my fireplace to finally increase my body temperature back to normal.
So I went shopping for warmer running clothes. UnderArmour? Nike? Tight-fitting or loose? Polyester? Silk? Fleece-lined? Tights? This should not be this hard. All I wanted was a pair of tights to go under my fleece-lined running pants. I finally found what I was looking for: Nike tight-fitting running pants to wear under loose-fitting Nike running pants.
The weather for the coming week is forecast to be stormy & altogether miserable so I don't know how much running we will do. But my new running pants should hopefully help my leg muscles warm up and stay warm while we try to regain our times from last summer. We thought running in 90 degree F heat was difficult, but I'd rather run in shorts with Mister Fan than in this bitter cold.
But runners run, so we did.
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