Update: Becoming a winter runner

One of my early posts was about my goal to become a winter runner, and since it's now February, which is usually one of Washington's most wintry months, I thought I'd post a progress update.

I haven't been able to run as much as I'd like, since it's dark until just before I leave for work in the morning and gets dark again before I get home in the evening, and running on an unlit trail in the dark isn't safe in any weather. So during the week, I've been making do with the gym. But I've gotten out most weekends to do between 7 and 10 miles, and when I was at my parents', my mom and I ran whenever we could (that's us above, post-run, with our friend the snowman melting off to the right).

I just got back from a 7-miler in this morning's 40-degree sunshine, and I have to say that it felt positively balmy after the cold snap that lasted through most of January and kept the weather in the 20s or lower most days. The sun was out, and with the wind at only about 10mph, I had my sweatshirt and gloves off and my sleeves pushed up past my elbows before I'd hit the two-mile mark.

It wasn't my best 7-miler, or even one of my better ones. Between the bone-chilling, windy cold, a surplus of translation work and being sick, this was my first outdoor run in almost a month (yikes) - the longest I've gone without running in nearly a year. Despite feeling something like a rusty old bike, it felt good to be out, getting my heart and my legs pumping and watching the sun sparkle off the surface of the Potomac.

One winter definitely hasn't transformed me into one of those runners who get out and run whatever the weather - in the dark, in sub-20-degree weather, in rain and sleet. (Although I did run while it was snowing once! Completely unintentionally - I was a half mile out when it started, and decided I might as well tough it out for another 7.5. Lesson learned: snow stings just like sand does when it hits your eyes, but on the plus side, it melts afterward.)

But it has toughened me up - my "no way, no how" temperature is about 30 now, an improvement of at least 15 degrees. And I find myself resenting the gym more and more as the winter goes on, revving the elliptical machine up to 85rpm and wishing I were outside, so I could get a real workout. In short, I feel like I've had the best first season of being a winter runner I could've hoped for. I'm looking forward to spring, but knowing I won't dash back inside at the first sign of winter weather this fall feels pretty good too.