Running in a Winter Wonderland

Today I did the impossible. I became a Winter Runner! The last 3 months of my running training had been leading up to today as the last milestone before race day. This morning, we were scheduled for our longest practice run yet, 21 km. Imagine my surprise when I woke up at 7am, looked out the window and saw a veritable BLIZZARD outside! What had yesterday been green, covered in leaves and mild, was now full-on winter. So I did what any reasonable person would do. I went back to bed!

There, I tried to get over my shock and concern, until I finally decided that nothing could dissuade me from this last big training run. After all, we were going to run the course itself to become familiar with the route. After a hot bowl of Oatmeal and digging out hats, gloves and warm wear, I was off. My sweetheart, Lorne, offered to give me a ride to the Running Room, just so I didn't have to worry about the adverse driving conditions. Truthfully, he loves winter driving and playing around with the grip on his tires so I think he couldn't wait to get out onto his "Winter Playground" with his Subaru!

My group gathered in anticipation at the store. Staff were giving weather updates but most of us were mesmerized watching the snow coming down in bucketfuls. Surprisingly, a large number of people from my clinic chose to show up this morning. At least 20 runners came out, and many of them we hadn't seen in a while! The run itself was actually quite incredible. Somewhere around the 6-8km mark the wind got quite bitter and cold, and the snow started coming down at a angle that pelted it directly into our eyes, but we kept on running. Since this was the first real snowfall, the paths weren't yet icy or frozen. The main challenge was the slippy snow, since most of the pathway hadn't yet been plowed, and the leg lifting involved in running in about 7 centimetres of snow. It was a whole new workout for us, since we were used to a clear path where no leg lifting was required!

Somewhere along the course my friends noted how this was actually a perfect way to greet winter and the first snowfall, and how great it felt to be experiencing it first hand rather than watching out a window from under a cosy warm blanket! I must agree wholeheartedly. So, we did it! It was a long slow training run with walking breaks, but amazingly, we still managed to finish in 2hrs and 21 minutes, which was excellent for the conditions. I ran in with Jen just ahead of Adam and Jessica, so we even ran back out to find them and run them in toward the finish line. It was an amazing experience!

It's funny to think of myself as a Winter Runner because I never have before. When I took up running in April of 2004 with my friend Karen, I always thought I'd be an April-October outdoor runner. Apparently I was wrong! I never really thought I'd like running in the cold weather, and I was always concerned about the freezing air triggering my lungs and my asthma. But I guess I was just limiting myself, because in fact, the cold isn't so bad. Once you get used to it, you barely notice it. Also, my internal furnace probably turns on after about 10-15 minutes of activity after which I often overheat! When properly dressed, the cold doesn't have to slow me down at all! And the run today was the most magical, spiritual, incredible way to enjoy my first true Calgary snowfall...

See you on the pathways! Yup, even throughout the winter!