We’ve now gone over a week without any significant snowfall. That is the longest time without snow this winter. But, after a few days of a warm spell, it has gotten cold again . . . very cold. My Mom had an early (8:00am) appointment this morning with her eye doctor. This was the temperature reading when I got up this morning.
The Temperature When I Woke Up This Morning (NOTE: 1F = -17C)
I put on long underwear, two shirts, a fleece pull-over, hat, mittens, and scarf just to get in the car and drive 15 minutes to downtown Syracuse. Now, I don’t mind cold weather but it is hard to breathe normally when the temperature is that low: The cold air “burns” your lungs. Now, because I am a) glutton for punishment or b) of questionable sanity, I went out for a run in this weather late this afternoon.
I ran 4.2 miles just around sunset. When I got back to the house it was a mild 10F (with a wind-chill of 0F). I think that is the coldest weather I have experienced while running. Normally, I will start out a little chilly or cold and as I run I will warm up. On this run, I never got warm. Well, my core (upper body, chest, neck) got warm and a little sweaty but my legs never felt warm. I have taken to using a fleece neck gaiter as a mask and that has made a huge difference in how I feel running. I breather in and out through the fleece face-mask which keeps the stinging cold air from going directly into my lungs as I run.
Although, it was so cold tonight the condensation in the fleece started to freeze. In fact, the exhaled moisture started to freeze on my eyelids. (That has never happened before.) Finally, when I got home and took off my wind-proof running jacket I saw white snow flakes all over the fleece vest I was wearing as an extra insulating layer. As it turns out, it was so cold my sweat was freezing in the layer of cold air between my fleece vest and outer jacket. Weird! But, for all my griping about the cold weather, after the run I felt really good from a physical standpoint; I felt energized like I do after most of my runs or whenever I go snowshoeing.
I am going snowshoeing tomorrow night at a regional park—They open their snowshoe and x-country ski trails during the evening when there is a full moon—and the forecast is calling for a balmy 24F for the early evening temps. Yee-Haa!
(NOTE: While cold weather bothers me I would rather it be too cold than too hot.)
