A whole new level of cold

Day 120 – January 4, 2008

I always can tell when the temperature dips below 15F. Below 15 you can feel it in your face. Below 15 you can feel your breath freezing in your nostrils. It just isn’t pleasant. Today was one of those mornings where you wish you hadn’t complained when it was 80F for an August run. I know the last couple of days I mentioned how cold it has turned, but those days were bearable. Today the cold was downright nasty. Now I know that in some places 12F in January would be a warm spell. I get that. But this is Virginia – we’re wimpy when it comes to cold. I grew up in Pennsylvania and can remember mornings when it was 15 below and I still had to go out and feed the cows – but I sure didn’t go running on those days. I can’t even imagine living in the upper-midwest where the temperatures can drop below -40F. I guess those runners must use treadmills.

So, how cold is too cold to run? I doubt I will find out living here in VA. I’ll probably whine about it, but I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who will remind me of my SIUCB mantra. And it’s not like I haven’t run at 12F before. A few years ago I did an 11 mile run on a morning just like today. When I finished, I had frost on my hat. So if I can run that far when it is cold, surely I can run a little bit to keep the streak going. But hopefully, this will turn out to be the coldest week of the year and I won’t have to find out.

Chris

Day: 120 Time/Date: 6:50 AM 1/4/2008 Weather: Clear, 12F
Run: Amicus 2 Mile Miles: 2.0 Time: 14:28 Pace: 7:14 min/mile
Miles to Date: 447.9 Total Running Time: 54:59:18