Running in February

Prior to this blog, I started a Word document that I thought would serve as my running journal (something that the running literature strongly recommended). It didn’t. I wrote one entry. This post is a slightly revised version of that lone entry, an entry that I wrote after I completed a 3 mile run on a bitterly cold February morning.

12 February 2015

I woke up this morning at 6 AM and debated if I should run outside. When I checked the temperature, it was 6 F but with the wind chill, it felt closer to -17 F.

Hmmm. This would be a good test for Sunday [where I was registered to run my first 10K]. This would be a good test to determine how stupid I am. It doesn't sound that windy outside. Besides, the other weather app had it at a balmy -8 F [Real Feel]. What the heck! Let's see what happens.

I put on my running shorts, running pants, t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, jacket, mittens, running mask, fleece hat, and stuffed my fleece gloves in my pockets. I covered my nose and cheeks with Vaseline and out the door I went.

I know this is exactly what you envisioned after reading that previous paragraph.

Overall, the run was not too bad. I ran slower today than yesterday, but that is to be expected (9:04/mi vs. 8:41/mi yesterday) given the conditions. The mask worked well. It is weird sucking in the fabric with each breath ...  it was a slobbering wet mess by the end.

My upper body was cold for the first mile but warmed up to a respectable temperature. The mittens made my hands sweat and I took them off after the first 1.5 miles.

My legs were borderline cold. They were not as bad as they were on Saturday when I ran in shorts [my cutoff for wearing shorts is a Real Feel of 20 F], but I could feel the cold.

The sweat in my eyebrows froze. The brim of my fleece hat also froze.

Speaking of which, at one point, I took off my fleece hat because I was too warm. Can you image my frustration when I finished my run to realize that my hat had fallen out of my pocket! Having no choice, I turned around and retraced my route at a very slow trot. The hat had fallen out of my pocket about a half mile from my apartment.

In short, I'll run on Sunday if the temperature is very similar. I will wear the same gear.

Post-Script

I ran the 10K but without the fleece hat, my mittens (I used fleece gloves instead), or my glasses (I placed them in my pocket before the starting gun fired). The temperature at race time was 1 F but with a nasty windchill that made it feel like -11 F. I finished in 0:53:54.

Approaching the finish line.