Testing the run in the frozen north

Sooooooo, today I opted for the outdoor run. After church this morning, I asked my husband to take a drive around the block so I could check out the roads. And I'm glad I did because they were pretty darn clear. The question now was WHEN to run. At that time it was 10:30am and just 11°. I was thinking of waiting until early afternoon. The high was expected to be 19° and I've run in that temperature before. I just had to pray that there would be no wind later today.

The husband walked the dogs soon thereafter and gave me the threatening ultimatum phone call.

"You better go now. The sun is out and there is no wind. This is your best bet."

I was elbow deep in Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. It wasn't going to happen.

As it was, I'm glad it didn't because by the time I DID make it out, around 2pm or so, the temperature had risen to a balmy 17°. Let's do this!

Two layers below the waist, three above, plus a hat, a hood, balaclava, gloves, and a neon cover shirt for visibility, and we are off.

I FB'd my sister first, because she wanted to test the output from Runmeter. Then I made my way.

My fingers suffered immediately. I had to pull them out of the fingers of the glove and ball them up inside the glove. But after a mile or two, it settled out. It was gorgeous! I actually thought for a brief moment that I OVERDRESSED. But, upon the turn around, I realized I did not. It was damn cold. There was just the slightest of breezes out of the northeast, and when it is 17°, a slight breeze is like death. Going home was hard. And slow. But I finished the run, despite it all. I had no plans to do speed work or anything, just get the 10k in so I got the feeling of how the Polar Dash might go. After today, I'm thinking there won't be any PR's next Tuesday. I think I'll just be lucky to finish at around 50 minutes. And that is OK.

Here are the chilly details.