11:38 a.m. - 2008-01-06
been a long time
It doesn't take a long time to make an entry but I still haven't managed to do it. I keep putting it off for one reason or another and the days turned into weeks and damn near turned into a month. I had to go back and read my last entry to find out where I left off.

I'll begin with the 2-4 inches of snow we were to get on that Sunday. It was an upgrade from the 1-2 originally forecasted. What we actually got was 8. It did snow, so I'll give the forecasters credit for that part of it. It was accompanied with a 30 mph wind which made Sunday unrunnable to me. I had also come down with a cold which was in full bloom so I was of no mind to go out and kill myself anyway. The cold reached its peak 2 mornings later at about 6 am. I was finsihing up my work day, nose running like a faucet. No amount of blowing could empty my head of gook. I sneezed and actually blew a snot bubble out of my left eyelid. I had to take off my glasses to wipe the lens. I only wish I had a video of it. It was as entertaining as it was disgusting. Anyway the 12 hour workdays continued on. Although the cold subsided somewhat, I was able to rationalize not running until the following Friday. That would have been about December 21st. My head had quit running like a waterfall but the sinus discharge turned green and then a brownish yellow. I wondered if there was some sinus infection going on there and if I should try to see a doctor to get some antibiotics. I queried a budding nursing superstar on D-land. She seemed to think the cold was on its way out. "But I'm not a doctor and this is not an official diagnosis!" Part of the education seems to be covering your own ass. She's learned her lessons well.

As it turned out she was right. I ran again Sunday and then on Christmas morning. Christmas morning's temperature was about 15. I found that my toes got kind of cold in these running shoes. They're all mesh around the toes and I have a tendency to have kind of cold digits anyway. I was trying to think of a way to keep my toes warm. Winter will get much colder than that and I'm of no mind to run inside on a treadmill. It was all I could do that day to stagger through a half hour. All the momentum I'd made leading up to and including the 10 miler Dec 2nd had been lost.

I stayed on the horse and got out again on Thursday. The Christmas rush was over and I was back to a 5 day work week again. Typically 8 hours a day and no more than 10 hours.
Sunday the 30th I went for 3.5 miles at Homer Lake forest preserve. Lots of deer and geese and the temp was just around freezing. There was sort of a heavy wet snow falling for about the last mile and it was a really pleasant day to be out.

New Year's day was a little cooler again. Temp was in the upper teens. Wind howling out of the west at 25 to 30 with a light snow. Wind chill was zero-ish. I bundled up with lots of thin layers. I also slapped one of disposable hand warmers on the tops of my shoe's toe and wrapped the toes of my shoes with duct tape. It looked a little strange. Rather than spend any time running into that wind, I just ran straight north for 15 to 20 minutes, cut through a strip mall parking lot going west and then came back home from there. While it was good not to be running into the wind, the snow was being blown into the windside eye. So I closed my left eye one the way out and my right eye on the way in. None of the other runners laughed at my taped shoes. Mostly because there were no other runners. I figured there'd be a million of them out at least for a day trying to fulfill their New Year's resolutions. Instead they must having been nursing hangovers and shaking their heads at the lone runner going down their street. The one with the goofy looking toes. But the tape thing worked. My toes felt fine.
Here's my taped shoes by a regular pair:

I needed a little more protection for my face. Towards the end of the run it was difficult making my mouth spit properly. Think of sitting in the dentist chair and and spitting out the rinse with your mouth all numbed up. Except at the dentist the drool doesn't freeze when it rolls off your chin. Whoops! I just realized you don't spit at the dentist anymore. They have some high powered suction thingie that takes care of it. You older folks will know what I'm talking about.

So Thursday the 3rd I went out about 7am wearing a hat with sort of a wide chin strap on it that covered most of my head. The actual temp was 0 when I walked out the door. There was little wind to speak of so the wind chill wouldn't have been much cooler. There were other runners out that day. Curious! Shoes once again worked well and the hat protected me a little more. At this point all I'm really doing is getting exercise. So much time in that weather is making sure to step somewhere that isn't glare ice.

That brings us to today. Suddenly the cold disappeared and this mornings run was at a temp in the mid 50's. The shoe pic above was taken this morning. So as you can tell I got to go for a run wearing a pair of shorts...in January...unbelievable. Tomrrow and Tuesday the temps are to be in the 60's. It's supposed to rain like a cow pissing on a flat rock. But if there's a time where it's just drizzing or looking ominous, I'll be back out there.

That's it til next time. I'm thinking it'll be in less than 3 weeks.

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