Turns Out I'm a Minnesotan After All

So I've been a little bummed lately. Since the clocks fell back a couple of weeks ago, I leave home when it's dark in the morning and leave work when it's dark in the afternoon. On top of that, the beautiful long fall we've had is finally over, and winter will soon be upon us. There have been snow flurries several days already with a couple of mornings of actual snow that has stuck around overnight. Our temps are now in the 20s to mid 30s, and I know it's only going to get colder. Getting ready for a run takes twice as long because I have to put on so many clothes, and after I get home, I have to camp by the fireplace to try and scare off what I like to call "exercise chillies."

Today Steve and Borsch had convinced a bunch of people to come out and do a track workout. I had a long run on the books, so I decided to do a few miles ahead of time and then just run the rest on the track so I could still see everybody. I checked the weather channel this morning, and they were saying that the temp was 31 degrees with a 15 MPH wind. I put on a tank top, light under armor, and medium weight shirt on top with shorts underneath pants for my bottom half. I also brought along an ear band and mittens. I stepped outside and knew it would be a chilly run. I'm not sure what the wind chill was today, but it probably wasn't much higher than 20. But a funny thing happened. My body is just used to this, and even though I'm almost always cold while sitting at home, I was warm within a couple of blocks. A half a mile into my run, I had to shed my pants and tie them around my waist. I was running in shorts. My first really cold run of the season, and I did it in shorts. My body just knows. I really don't know how it does it. I ran the next 3.5 miles in shorts, and I was comfortably cool. I had to put my pants back on while waiting at the track, but I was a little sweaty by then, and even Minnesotans have limits.

At the track, Steve and Borsch were waiting at the start line, and Ryan was there too. Turns out he did Steelhead. He saw Steve cheering and saw me finish. It's funny how you can travel 8 hours to do a race and meet a guy who lives 5 miles down the road! Before long, Iron Girl Nyhus and Greg joined us along with Jen, a really cool girl who got her ears talked off while running with me. I just stuck with the long run theme and ran a few more miles while everybody else did intervals.

Jen and I on our run. I talked the poor girl's ear off! I hope I didn't scare her away...

We said our goodbyes, and Steve, Borsch, and I ran home to pick up Steph for her birthday meal. I had the most amazing strawberry French toast:

Yummy! That giant ball is real whipped cream.

I'll be doing my intervals this week in shorts again, but they will be indoors. Dome running starts at the Metrodome on Tuesday. 600s, here I come!