16 degrees with wind chill temp at 1 degree. Winds at 15 mph.

This is day four of my #writeandrun31 challenge. I really have no doubt that I can do the mile every day. Physically I can do that, and more I assume. The challenge for me is getting off my ass and doing it. That’s a mind game. It’s pretty easy, though, to be able to tell myself that for god’s sake it’s only 10 damn minutes. Get up. Do it. So far so good, but I’ve only had one day in the four where I was working. The other days were New Year’s Day, Saturday and Sunday. So, two underlying challenges lie ahead: running each day before work (because I know myself, and I will not do it once I’m home), and running in the FREEZING cold. There are always the days that I meet Carl for a run after work – those are not the issue. I’m used to taking my stuff, changing at work, meeting him and getting our weekly runs in BEFORE I get home. This other challenge is for the days that he and I aren’t planning to run together.

Anyway, back to today. Sunday. No problem. Except that it’s cold. Really fucking cold. I know what I’m really doing. I’m proving to myself and others that I can maintain my running habit in the cold winters of New England. But that’s for another post. 😉

Home after my 16 degree mile.

It took me more time to get dressed to run my mile than it did to run my mile. Plus I hemmed and hawed about for at least an hour. So silly! I made better choices today in terms of clothing (it’s not like I don’t have proper running gear for all kinds of weather – trust me, I have more running clothes than work clothes). I wore two layers on the bottom, and three on top, including a lightweight North Face jacket, a scarf, a hat, headband (for my ears – hats don’t cut it for me), and two pairs of gloves (tight-fitting ones under mittens). The clothes that touched my skin were wicking, as they should always be. Truth be told, I was a little warm when I got back. But I think those items, or slight variations of them, will work for me in this kind of weather. I do need to make one major adjustment. I hate the scarf. I need something to keep my face warm, but I can’t stand breathing into a scarf that gets wet and cold and makes me feel like I can’t breathe. Plus my glasses get so fogged up when I’m breathing into the thing I can’t see anything! The picture to the right is when I came in after the run, so my glasses fogged up with the warm air, but this is what happened on the run when breathing into the scarf. No good. I guess I’m in the market for a face mask?