it is currently 15.6 degrees fahrenheit in pittsburgh tonight. this morning was about the same, maybe colder since they delayed schools yet again. i didn’t mind the school delay. it meant that my run this morning was seen by a few less people than normal. and that’s good, when i know the only thing people thought when they saw me was, she’s crazy! well, yeah, i guess i’m a little crazy, running when temps are in the single digits, possibly below 0 with windchill.

and speaking of people who judge me for running, the other day a man coming out of his house when i ran by actually guffawed at me. “oh, this is just nuts!” he guffawed at me. and i said, “well thanks for your encouragement.” and it was 34 degrees that day! so i dedicate my supposed craziness to him.

frankly, i’m trying to be crazy. crazy about running. a friend of mine who is a long-time runner put together a training plan for me to do the glacier ridge trail race. and by do, i mean just finish it without having to be med-evac’d out of there… oh, and before the 5 1/2 hour cut off time. this training plan has me running 5 days a week. and today was one of them. and so was yesterday.

i started this plan about a week and a half ago, and i figured that to cop-out now just because of some nippy temps would not help my prospects. when i asked said friend her opinion of whether i should stay inside in my nice cozy bed instead, she said that i’d have to double up on some other running day and that running in the cold feels great. so run i did. and it. was. cold… but it didn’t stay cold for very long (well, it kind of felt long at the time), and i managed to get pretty sweaty. sweaty! and i was definitely happier than all the poor people waiting for  buses. but even more amazing than sweating when it’s 5 degrees? i saw two other runners out there in the freezing hell too.

two! at least i’m not the only crazy one.

Posted on January 23rd, 2013