I would rather be in the warm

At seven fifteen this morning, I left the warmth and comfort of my home and set off on a run around the area. Holy hell, it was cold. Ice clung to car windscreens. Patches of frost lay strewn about the pavements. People huddled in bus stops wearing hats and gloves and scarves. The scent of de-icer filled my nostrils. The temperature hovered just below zero degress for the duration of the run.

Pretty good, all things considered.

Luckily, the agonies of being outside wearing skin-tight running gear fade away pretty quickly, once you get started. By the time I reached the bottom of my road, I no longer felt cold. (By the end, I could no longer feel my fingers, but that's about normal for being outdoors in freezing temperatures).

The thing that surprised me the most was how much it hurt to breathe. Inhaling deep gulps of cold air is pretty damn painful. Icy oxygen reaching the insides of warm lungs feels like someone jabbing at your throat from the inside. While this sensation does come to a pass fairly quickly (within the first mile or so), it feels uncomfortable for that length of time. Like, really uncomfortable.

So I finished the run and hopped in the shower and turned the heat up and felt my skin try to tear itself away from my body. Turns out that cold sweat, cold skin and warm water is the exact recipe to cause extreme pain. My chest and stomach turned bright red and it felt like dozens of needles were being driven into my skin over and over, all at the same time. Note to self: have a cold shower first and turn the heat up slowly.

Despite all the discomfort and pain and aches, I now know that it's possible to run in freezing conditions. This is good. I can hold onto this knowledge. My running gear does a damned fine job of keeping me warm in spite of the chill. I know I can do it - and my mileage is better than on the treadmill. If push comes to shove, I'll be out there in the dead of winter, panting and sweating while people watch, clutching mugs of hot chocolate and wondering why the hell anyone would be running in these temperatures.