10 degrees and dropping

I dressed up in my cold weather running clothes as soon as I got home from work tonight. I knew if I didn't immediately go out for a run, I would end up snuggled up on the couch with a book and a cup of tea. It was about 10 degrees and dropping when I got home from work, so I headed right out.

Cold weather running is interesting. I know that I'm supposed to be a little bit cold when I step outside, so that when I warm up I don't overheat. But when it says 10 degrees on the thermometer it is so hard not to bundle up. Can I stand 5 minutes of being extremely uncomfortable so that I will feel comfortable later in the run? No, not this time. I went against all of my knowledge of exercising in the cold and piled on the layers. Face mask and all.

When I walked outside I knew I had overdressed because I felt relatively comfortable. The only thing that told me it was in fact 10 degrees, was that the inside of my nose was freezing up within seconds of stepping outside. Actually my nose was the only skin I was baring to the air. Within a few minutes of running I felt the blood rushing to my extremities. I ditched the mittens and one of my layers. And the face mask is just cumbersome when you are trying to get oxygen to your lungs fast. That came off too.

After I warm up, it really doesn't matter what the temperature is, I sweat. So I ran for about 45 minutes, sweating my ass off and feeling like it was about 80 degrees not 10.

Ahhh.. Alaskan winter.. finally. Well, yesterday I was whining about how warm it was, and today I am running in 10 degrees. Tonight it's supposed to go down to -10. Just what we need to get some big fat ice building up. Maybe tomorrow I'll head down to the Turnagain Arm at lunchtime to check out how the climbs are coming along. If these temperatures keep up we may be climbing down there by the end of the week.