When figuring out what to wear for an outdoor run, the common wisdom is to dress as though the temperature were 20 degrees (Fahrenheit) higher than the actual outside temperature. When I set out to run this morning, it was 60 degrees outside. Even though I was in Chicago and it was technically the dead of winter, I had to pretend it was 80 degrees out. I went running in only shorts and a (synthetic) T-shirt, when less than a week ago I had to bundle up like I was about to go mountain-climbing in the Himalayas!
It was a fairly comfortable run of six miles, which was great considering I had not run anything more than four miles since the marathon. It was somewhat difficult for the first three miles, though. I panicked just a little bit: “Jeez, Amanda, I know you’re a bit out of shape, but just three months ago you (sort of) ran a marathon! And it was thirty degrees warmer then!” I said to myself. I wondered if maybe it was because I wasn’t acclimated to run in temperatures as warm as 60 degrees, but I knew that was bogus because I had run on a treadmill not long ago. My answer came to me at the halfway point, when I turned around and was no longer running straight into a 20 mile-an-hour headwind. It’s always nice when the answer is simple like that!
Sadly, I will probably not see this wonderful, mild weather again for a couple of months. Although it’s not that uncommon for there to be a short period in January or February when the temperatures shoot up to the 50s or 60s, it is pretty uncommon for it to happen several times in a season. Tomorrow temperatures will slowly fall back to seasonable levels. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
1 Comment
January 10, 2008 at 5:31 am
this is crazy.