Bald Runners Unite: January 2010

Okay, this will be fairly short and sweet. I have not blogged in a while but this one will be short and then back to recap The Columbus Marathon and then pick up from there.
Dateline: Sunday, January 3rd
Columbus, Ohio
I went out for a run last Sunday morning. I got up early and left by 6:10 a.m.. Okay, so your saying no big deal, I do that all the time. True, but I'm just not used to it when it is 6 degrees F outside with a windchill of -6 degrees F. I have figured out that I absolutely love running in the snow but just aren't so fond of the sometimes bitter cold temperatures that can accompany. I checked the local weather radar before I left and I have run plenty in cold and snowy weather so I knew how to dress. Warmly and in layers. I had on a warm knit hat, a fleece neck gaiter that I could pull up to cover my nose. In fact, I could pull my hat down and the gaiter up so that only a slit for my eyes showed, which I did. I had on my Pearl Izumi jacket (love the Pearl), my Craft baselayer (love it more), a duofold heavy knit long sleeve top over that, my Brooks winter running pants, my asics knit running undies with a goretex wind-proof/water-proof panel to cover the twig and berries (I can't tell you how much I love these), wool Darn Tough socks, and my Pearl Izumi syncroguide II shoes. Oh, and my Pearl Izumi lobster gloves, with integrated terry backs for nose wiping. If you think I like Pearl Izumi gear you are right. I was introduced to their stuff back when I raced Road bicycles and they make great performance gear.
In fact, here is what I looked like after my run:

So, I left at 6:10 a.m. and when I

first hit that outside air it literally took my breath away like I just got a light kick to the nads. Ouch! Kind of like that first time that one of your kids accidentally hits you there without knowing it and it not really being a hard knock. But a knock none the less.
Once I got used to that freshly kicked feeling I was fine, in the relative sense of the word. Fine as in "that set of thumbscrews fits me just fine". Find as in "I love creamed chicken casserole just fine" the first time you go to your would be mother-in-laws house. You get the picture. You are trying to convince yourself that it is not as bad as it feels but given the choice I would choose for it to be 60 degrees and sunny.

I always like that sound of my running shoes "crunching" through the snow. It seems like the colder it is the louder and crisper the "crunching" is. Well, it sounded like I was running through a field of freshly laid Frosted Flakes. The quiet of the morning combined with the apparent volume of the "crunching" made me think "If I was a hunter there is no way I could sneak up on any prey. They can hear me coming 1/2 mile away for Gods' sake". However, I discovered that there is something that is very peaceful about that scenario. It is quiet and actually hearing the sound of my contact with the frozen earth is kind of humbling. I didn't necessarily think that way at the time but now that I reflect on it, I really enjoyed that aspect of the run.
I ran from Bexley, just East of downtown Columbus, towards downtown and turned North on High St. and ran up High St. to the OSU campus, took a right on 17th ave. and up to touch Ohio Stadium (the Horseshoe) making that my turnaround and headed home.
As I was running back I encountered that thing that used to be a tailwind but was now a headwind blowing cold air right at me. WOW! Another kick to the nads.
My eyes watered, there was a little snow coming down, and my eyelashes were freezing to each other. Not fun, but easily remedied by rubbing them. I had been breathing through my mouth for some time now and the neck gaiter that I had pulled up to cover my nose had developed a frozen crust on the outside by this time. It made it easy to remove to take drinks from my semi-frozen water bottles as I could just grab the stiff cloth and pull down. I have to say that at this point the only part of me that was really cold was my hands and I had to keep moving my thumbs and fingers around to keep them warm. The rest of me was not too bad. As I was about 12 miles in to this 16 mile fridgefest I had to utilize a maneuver known as the "farmers' blow". Now, for those not familiar with this I will explain. Since ones nose can run more than usual when it's cold one has the need to blow ones nose. Since I don't have a hanky, I need to improvise. If you take your right thumb and cover your right nostril and blow, you will get "nasal stuff" shooting out of your left nostril and if you hold left thumb to left nostril you get the same from the right nostril. This is also know as the "snot rocket" as sometimes it can really move depending on the voracity at which one blows. Then you just take the back of your glove and wipe. Mission accomplished. When I completed this maneuver as I passed a car I swear I thought that I broke the side window of the car because I think from the time I blew to the time it accidentally hit the parked cars' side window, it froze. You get the picture.
And another really odd thing happened right about this same time. I was fairly close to CCAD, the Columbus College of Art and Design and I heard the strangest noise, blackbirds calling from a large tree. I don't mean one or two either, I mean many, many birds. I would guess that there were probably 15-20 or so. I found this odd because I have never experienced this in this dead of winter. I guess I always figured that most smart birds flew South for the winter. I guess not.

So, I continued my run back home, and was exhilirated yet quite glad when I finally got home. I felt really good but I can tell you that there is nothing better than the last mile or so of that run thinking about the nice, hot shower to come along with the warm breakfast.
Life is good.
Here are a few other photos that I took that morning as well: