A survival guide to cold weather running

My favorite movie is Forrest Gump, for many reasons, but one of them being when he is on the long jourey of running across country, through georgous deserts, in front of majestic mountians, and along the most beautiful country side you have ever seen. I long to be able to do that in my running journey. But I can't. Because I live in Ohio where it can be very beautiful, or very very crappy. Lately it has been very very crappy. Cold, and windy and raining for almost four days now. Tonight we are supposed to get our first snow.

As a serious runner, or someone who wants to become a serious runner, giving up when the whether sucks is not an option. And if you live in Ohio, neither is waiting for the rain to go away. (Four days of this? Really!) So we need to know how to survive it. Work around it, be proactive about the process of running.

The first thing I can suggest is to plan accordingly. Check your weather a week ahead, a day ahead, and at the begining of the day. Since things are constantly changing, you need to stay as up to date as you can. On days such as today, the whether said this morning that the temps were going to drop all day, so I knew the earlier the better (although I found watching this sweet documentary FORCED me to post pone my run till 3 :))

Whether wise, the other thing I can suggest is to dress accordingly, for temp, time of day, and distance. I always stand on my front porch for a minute to see how it is outside. Sometimes it may seem colder then it is, causing you to wear too much. I'm a habitual over dresser, always having to change course and run home to shed some clothing. I still haven't figured out why I do this, but I'm working on it.

When it comes to time of day, I find this most important on summer mornings and winter nights. How many times have you gone out for a wonderful summer morning run, dew on the ground, chill in the air, so you put on pants; just to have the sun pop up and all the sudden your on fire! Sucks. Same thing with winter nights. While it may be nice and breezy on a sunset winter run, once that sun hits the horizon, its like the temperature drops ten degrees and your stuck without a sweater. So bring one.

As far as dressing for distance, this can be fairly easy and complicated at the same time. Isn't everything with running? If you are only going to be logging a 3-skees (my dad used to say skees -like ski's- after his run distance and I thought it was cool), you can probably dress for how you feel standing out on the porch. By the time your body is fully heated you'll be on your way home, so there is no need to dress for change. But if your going further, anywhere over 5 in my opinion, then you need to think about how you are going to feel in the long run (get it, long run... long run...). When I did the turkey trot this past Thursday for Thanksgiving, it was so cold that I was bundled up and was afraid to take of any layers at all. But thankfully my husband, the one who gets to listen to the brunt of my complaining, was there and he reminded me of all the times I have come home talking about how over dressed and hot I was on a run. So I stripped down to my running shirt and capri tights and bounced around for a few minutes at the start. Sure enough within 1/2 a mile, my body was warmed up and I felt great.

Running in the winter can be a fun experience, but not all the days are going to be great. So find balance, plan ahead, and embrace every aspect that a runner's life has to offer. You can always shower when you get home.