First Below Zero Run of the Season

Been meaning to get this post out quicker but that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes, and after Gail's comment about my cold weather running I figured it was time to get er done so to speak. So here it is,

Finally got my first below zero run of the winter season a couple of Thursday night's ago with a base temperature of -0.2 Celsius with a wind chill dropping it to -5 degrees. It was good to get it out of the way, as there is always the hesitancy of how the bare feet will react to the cold the first time you go out. I have found that no matter what amount of preparation you do will take those thoughts away until you just get out there and start running. I think it also solidified some of the opinions of my fellow group runners at City Park, that I am indeed a little quirky as well. But it was kind of funny, it wasn't the bare feet that got their attention (I guess they are used to it now), but the fact that I was also still wearing shorts. What can I say, I don't like overheating. The following information is something that I cannot stress enough, the number one rule of running barefoot in the winter is to keep your core warm, as long as your core is warm you will stay warm so layering is very important.

It was a good run, I went out with Elaine and Harold for a chance to catch up on the events of the last few weeks. For I hadn't been out and also because I knew they would be running at a comfortable pace and I would not have to push myself to hard to keep up with the likes of the 'quicker' group. The plan was just to do a loop of the park, so a quick 5km run which suited me just fine as I have not ran in almost 2 weeks due to one thing or another.

As we headed out into the darkness, we all realized that none of us had a headlamp to light the way through the unlit park. Oh well, form and a light step would be very critical for this barefoot runner tonight, not that it isn't at any point.  As we waited to cross Portage to get over to the park, for some reason I was getting more odd looks than normal, yes I was bare from the bottom of the shorts down, is that really that strange, its only November in Winnipeg.

The concrete sidewalk was a little bit cool on my feet, but I knew once I got going that would change fairly quickly. We headed across the bridge and decided to stay on the roads to try to take advantage of the limited lighting that was available to help guide our way. This was a good choice, as when I looked over at the pathway as it hit the tree canopy vision would of definitely been a big problem. Traffic was limited so we were able to pretty much take up the entire road which was kind of nice. Not having to worry about traffic is quite the bonus when you really have to concentrate where you are planting your feet.

As predicted my feet warmed up quite quickly once we hit our stride, it was interesting my gloved hands were colder than the lower portion of my body, funny how that happens. It was a good run overall, it still amazes me how the body adapts to the situation at hand and provides you with what you require when you need it. No issues along the way, I did end up stepping on one fairly sharp rock that I did not see but that is the advantage of a light and quick step, I wasn't on it long enough to cause little more than a 'Whoops' reaction.

I did get some looks and finger pointing from traffic as we waited to go across Portage, but I guess that would be expected, yup it's the crazy guy from Winnipeg out again.

Also got out for 3 more runs that weekend before the snow started to fly, so I totalled about  25km of barefoot running in temps around the -6 degrees range. Unfortunately, I was not able to get out last week with the fresh snow, but I expect there will be lots of opportunities in the upcoming weeks.

Stay true to your running and enjoy every minute of it like it is your last..

On on

Bob