Ice, Ice Baby
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
So, normally I'm in total agreement with assessments like this one. Essentially, stop whining about the cold, bundle up, and get out there. Because you inevitably enjoy it once you do. You're chilled for a few minutes at the start, and then, eventually, the blood starts pumping and the winter air suddenly doesn't seem so biting. In fact, because of that warming factor, running and snowshoeing outdoors are two of my favorite ways to enjoy the outdoors during all those months that precede and follow spring and summer.
So...
Last Thursday, I got home from work early. The sun was shining. I had pent-up anger to deal with as a result of work and other things. I also had a few new songs on my Ipod that I was jonesing to run to, and a new pair of kicks to try out. Oh, and I had two overly-excited Vizslas that I needed to do something with, exercise-wise, and not enough time to take them out to the barn before a 6:30 meeting I had to attend that night.
All of these things together necessitated a run. Nevermind that people had been talking for days about how bitter cold it was supposed to get -- oh, um, right about 5 o'clock on Thursday night. Or that my mom was already talking about how she was hoping for a snow day on Friday because of the cold. Or that leaving work, my car barely started and then, once it did, the radio was a garbled mess for a couple of minutes, trying to warm itself up.
Nevermind any of that, because I sure didn't.
Instead, I pulled on running tights and my fleece Patagonia pants over them. I layered on three shirts under the fleece vest that zipped tightly over it all. I put the dogs' coats on (Yes, they wear coats. Not for a Paris-Hilton-dressed-up-dog effect, but for functionality. The coats aren't cute, and the dogs are darn near bald) and smeared Vaseline over their paws.
And the three of us set out. Excited. To the tune of Wyclef's new tune, "Sweetest Girl" (which I just can't get enough of lately). That was, until we turned the corner and were hit head-on with the fiercest winter wind that I've felt in a long, long time. I couldn't catch my breath. And the dogs, almost dragging me down the sidewalk with their bounding only a minute before, were suddenly fighting for space behind me...their little ears folded inside-out and red from the wind. A woman standing outside of the hospital -- smoking -- shook her head at me as I passed. I was in too much pain to shake my head back at her.
I told them that we'd see how things went. If nothing else, we'd turn around and call it a day.
But once we hit the bike trail bordering the Arboretum, the wind subsided. It was still damn cold, though. I looked at my Garmin. Eight minutes in and my feet were already completely numb.
A greyhound of a runner turned out of the Arb and passed me by like I was standing still, his long legs soon carrying him out of sight. This, I decided, was what I needed to do. Get on my toes. Sprint. Get warm. Or, if not warm, at least get home more quickly.
And so the plan was hatched: run like hell, get home, get warm.
But a hitch in the plan presented itself in the form of sidewalks masquerading as ice rinks. And wind. And the sky darkening faster than I thought it would, turning my 3-miler into a 4-something-miler (I don't run on most of the bike trails after dark). And the fact that I couldn't sustain 8-minute miles for long. And my Ipod quitting because it froze itself. Oh, and my thighs and ass going numb in addition to my hands, feet, and face. I literally almost froze my ass off.
For four miles, we struggled -- Newt, Leonard, and me. I would run until I thought I might puke, stop briefly to catch my breath, feel terrible that I was making the dogs stand still (and hop around in an alternating three-legged dance), start running again until I thought I might puke, and repeat. Et cetera, ad nauseum. My four-mile tempo run had turned to the interval run from hell.
That night, as the dogs continued to lick their poor little paws, Chief of Stuff asked how things went. I told him that I had good news and bad news about the new shoes, for one -- good news was that I got to try them out. Bad news was that I'll have to take them for another spin to find out if they're comfortable or not, given that I couldn't feel my feet one iota. And when I checked the weather that night, I decided that running in that sort of cold was unnecessary and a little crazy. Sure, according to the NYT article, you're probably not going to die of hypothermia or frostbite when exercising outdoors for a short period of time, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't try to avoid either one. The dogs would have been better off climbing the walls for one more night, and I'd have been better off on the treadmill. Lesson learned.
Stats:
- 4 miles
- 8:38 average minute miles
- Outside Temperature -- 6 degrees
- Wind Chill -- (-)28 degrees
Posted by Erin 8:48 AM
I'm due for a good, long run.