After the half marathon came one of the hardest parts of running... not the mileage, not the scheduling of runs, not the sore muscles, but what to wear while running in the cold!!!!
Since I have lost weight, it has been hard for me to keep warm this winter. I wore 2 pair of socks almost everyday through the coldest parts, I usually had on a dress shirt and a sweater, and for the first time in my life I wore gloves to school every single morning. I looked like an Eskimo at recess everyday because I would wear my jacket, gloves, hat, scarf, and then wrap it all up with a blanket!!!
As you can imagine, it was a bit cumbersome to say the least, to attempt an 8-20 mile run wrapped up in a blanket and scarf!!! Once again, I found my self researching, asking running friends, and visiting running stores to find out what to do. Clothing, like everything else I had learned about running however, was a relative topic... Some people like to run in shorts and no sleeves even if it was 30 degrees, while some people wrap up like they are on an Arctic adventure for their 60 degree runs.
For me, I decided to start with the running tights and a pair of shorts on top, with a long sleeve running shirt. My "long distance" running coach, Cpt. Jake, quickly informed me that the tights with shorts on top was a big faux pas. I didn't really care at first because it was warm, but as I looked around at the Turkey Day 8k, I saw LOTS of faux pas!!! My tights gave the kiddos in our after school program something to laugh at as I headed out of school to run each day!!
As the winter got colder, I quickly added a "toboggan" and gloves. When the wind was really bad I added an extra shirt and an Under Armour pullover... A few times I even had on one of those ear muff head bands underneath my hat.
The coldest temperature I ran in all winter was 21 degrees with no wind. I mentioned no wind because the 21 degrees was not all that bad due to the calm air around me... The 35 degree run with a 30 mph wind was by far the worse!!!
I have run in the rain several times, but thanks to my North Face rain jacket it was never that bad. One run started off with clear skies, but soon started raining, only to change to heavy sleet and snow, and then back to rain... All over the course of a 2hr 16 mile run. It was an awesome run, but there were parts of me bleeding that day that had never bled before!!!
Now that Spring is sneaking back into the picture, the shorts have made their return only to expose my untanned, ashy white legs. I am looking forward to a nice "run" of spring like weather to keep me going right on into the summer heat!
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