Cold Weather

The biggest thing I talked about with other new runners when we started talking about winter running back in November was... how do you do it?

What do you wear? How do you stay warm? How do you not die?

It was around 7 degrees this morning... but sunny! 

I remember way back when, when I got my running pants, that I thought "Ok, now I need to get serious about this winter business". HA! I didn't buy a single thing after that. Things just worked themselves out. 

Above, I'm wearing a singlet, long-sleeve base layer, weird leggings from Target, cold-weather pants, and a windbreaker. If it's above 10 degrees, I'll skip the singlet, lest I die of heatstroke. I add on top a carhartt hat, a fleece neck thing I found in the basement, and gloves with a windbreaker mitten flap. Socks. My trail shoes, because although the wind goes right through them and they offer no waterproofing whatsoever, they have good traction on the snow & ice. I never got around to buying winter shoes with slush protection or whatever, but as long as my socks are wool, it doesn't matter. 

YES my legs are cold and YES my arms are cold and YES I grow lots of icicles on my eyelashes and YES my fleece thing gets full of boogers and frost but HEY. It works. 

You "not die" by keep moving forward. You watch out for ice. You learn how your layers work. It definitely wasn't as steep a curve as I thought it might be. 

I'm really glad I sucked it up and did winter running. Definitely not my number one choice of activity, but the payoff has been huge... and there is NO EXCUSE for me not to run anymore :)