“I love you, but you’re crazy.”
Fargo gets pretty cold in the winter. I’m not shocking anyone with that statement. This past week, we had some of our chillier days, with a few down to the single digits. So what did I do on the coldest day, when the temp reached a balmy five degrees? Eagerly layered up and ran outside, of course.
Let me back up and explain a bit.
For the past several days…well, almost weeks…well, really, most of the month of December, I’ve battled various colds. I hate being sick. Up until I had a small child who goes to daycare, exchanges loads of germs, and brings them home to us every day, I rarely got sick.
Not only does being sick just make a person feel crappy, workouts are pretty much nonexistent. And I love my workouts, whether they come at 5 a.m. on a weekday or a later morning run after Abel goes down for a nap on Saturday.
All – yes ALL – of this for one run. #worthit
This week, I started feeling a tiny bit better, enough that I gave our elliptical a shot for 20 minutes to see if I felt better. I did. So the next day, I was eager to break another short sweat.
I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I went for a run so, as you can imagine, I had the itch. After an end-of-day meeting allowed me to get home a few minutes earlier that usual, with a small window of daylight left, my urge to run was even greater. There was just one issue – it was five degrees outside.
But did I let this stop me? Hell no. I layered up, putting on all my best, warmest stuff, forced Burton into his sweater, and we were out the door.
Oh, an outdoor run. How I had missed it. Was I a little worried about aggravating my sickness? Sure. Did my eyelashes partially freeze together? Of course. But did it feel great? You betcha (in the words of a true Fargo-nian). I love winter running and know how to make it really enjoyable.
Funnily enough, I never once felt cold. The right clothes – and mindset – really do the trick. For tips on layering for cold-weather runs, I’ve got you covered.
As I was running, I thought about how people always say runners are crazy. We get up super early to squeeze in miles before work. We sacrifice weekend for long runs, recovery naps, and icing. We spend a lot of money to run a lot of miles for enjoyment. Most of all, as I demonstrated, we brave some of the toughest elements without much thought – in fact, with enthusiasm.
While most people couldn’t bear to spend 30 seconds outside in five-degree winter weather, I voluntarily went outside with the intent of spending several minutes in it…for pleasure. Yes, I think it’s true: we runners really are a special kind of crazy.
Are you crazy for running? Or do you believe runners are straight-up crazy? The comments are all yours so leave one. Or tweet me @LindsayIRL.