There were several reasons not to run today.
1. The snow had been coming down all day, and the flakes were big, like pieces of foam.
2. My only clean sports bra was rib-crunching small.
3. And I woke up immediately thinking about last night's margaritas.
But I went out anyway.
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My legs felt heavy by the time I got to Prospect Park—probably on account of the margaritas—so I thought maybe I'd just run the loop then head home. (I always think I'll just run the loop then head home—it always amazes me how quickly a running mentality can change.) But, I was amped to run more by the time I got through so I headed to the bridge.
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Picture: Brooklyn Bridge.
At this point, I started noticing how ridiculous my outfit was for this weather. (The super small sports bra was the least of my worries.) I don't really own weather-appropriate running attire, so, like always, I wore a bunch of layers to fend off the cold. It usually works fine. However, today my outer layer was getting pelted by snowflakes which melted upon impact. And, it being a cotton hoodie, this meant the sweatshirt was slowly getting wet.
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Picture: Near 23rd Street on the West Side Highway running path.
And as the snowfall started to picked up, and the wind along with it, my sweatshirt started accumulating a nice layer of white. It got damp, and the fabric got heavy. But, I wasn't that cold. I even got a new wind and picked up my pace around 10th Street and ultimately made it up to 23rd before heading back down to Houston and over to the 2nd Ave. subway stop.
Picture: www.mapmyrun.com
When I trained for my first marathon, I was still living in Los Angeles where, even in November, the only climate-related obstacle is heat. I was part of a training group that had a couple different factions in different parts of the country. When we all came together in Honolulu for the race, I learned that the team from Chicago had been training in cold, windy conditions along Lake Michigan that caused the water in their water bottles to freeze during runs—I thought they were completely nuts. I thought, thank god I live in a place like L.A., I might never have started training for any sort of run had I been in a place like Chicago.
There are so many reasons not to do something. I'm glad I've been able to overcome the weather barrier. It's never as bad as you think. Even with a cotton hoodie.
