Breaking some personal records, I feel obliged to share my experience. As I have established my only available route in a previous post, I will keep it short this time.
Last Saturday I had my first run of this year and because the sun had shown her face a couple of times already, I decided to up my vitamin-D production and went for the shorts instead of the long underwear and pants. The temperature was only slightly below freezing and I believe there was some snow lying around, but it was either dealt with by the winter service or already heavily compressed by the many steps of hordes of recreational weekend rambler. As a measure of caution I greased my feet and ankles, just in case the sun were to melt some of the snow close to the lake. It was more or less an uneventful run. Nevertheless my naked feet, ankles, calves, knees and partly thighs made it difficult to hide the fact that I was again carrying my shoes in my hands and of course that I had completely "forgot" to shave those uncovered parts. The latter though seemed less interesting to the conscious mind of the many people I passed, but one never knows what the subconscious made of it. The former instead got their attention about what just happened to them. I assume most of those people had at least once in their life a joyful experience being barefoot and as age first destroys the newest memories gathered (lots of old people walking this trail), there was plenty childhood memories left to put things into their personal context and either provoked a thought or two when walking alone or started sharing their thoughts with whomever they were walking with. I for myself was happy that I had not been dragged into any discussion and only answered their attention with a smile whenever possible. I had to look on the trail most of the time, the last thing I wanted was to fall over a rock or root when passing by, after all I wanted to preserve some dignity for myself. In the way I was running, rather fast and springy, I realized how much I enjoyed the fresh air around my legs. The snow got to me eventually, so I finished with 11.5 km on my virtual odometer, not going for the last extra trail along a small fen. I got the usual pain beneath the sole when walking afterwards but nothing really painful but still decisively different then before the run.
Short: -1 °C, not much wind, 11,5 km
Though we had some warm days after New Years Eve in Germany, where no winter run would have been possible, the cold of the winter is greeting again with temperatures down to -10 °C in the night. Although announced to be accompanied with snow there hasn't been much of it yet, at least not in Berlin. The pavements to my trail and the trail by itself where dust-dry, though the former had some agonizing grit on it and the later just very small parts of snow, it really was dry, weird dry. Cold and Dry. Sadly, spreadsheets and leaderboards, like the one in the winter challenge have a bad influence on my sanity. I seemed to have lost my first place for most kilometers of an European runner or in other words Mikkel took my previous sixth place. Yes, one can make up all kinds of leaderboards, if just for motivation and I certainly can't win them all. For example most kilometers for a female runner would take such an effort in changing my already established sex that I just am not interested anymore to participate in the female leaderboard or never was, but the sixth place over all or first for European runners seemed to invoke some envy. Not that it really matters, as there are so many participants from different age, sex and climate with different runs that it is hardly a fair competition, but rather a informal tool for motivation. In this regard I would like to suppose a longer top list, mine seems not to be able to change its view to the lesser ranks, which just makes me more anxious to stay in the top 10.
Long story made short, I only had a couple of kilometers to run to gain the sixth place from Mikkel, so I decided to take the shorts again. Although it was dry, I decided to grease up to the calves, though not as much as on the feet. I took some time for preparation to gain a desirable body temperature. As a side note, though I had only shorts, my torso was protected by four layers of long arm shirts and jacket, my hands by two gloves, and my primary sexual characteristics by two short but tight underpants, the more sporty ones. I probably shouldn't talk about my underpants at all, a detail nobody needs to know. To prevent premature sweating I put on most clothes after my warm-up. Still, the moment I went out, I got a new understanding of cold. I had experienced numbness of my feet before but I had no idea how this would translate to the legs. I'd say they were immediately cold, not in a painful way, but in a very noticeable way and the wind wasn't helping either. Surprisingly my feet didn't give a damn, no numbness not even coldness or have they just gave up without me noticing it from the very beginning of the run? Either way I made my way through the grit contaminated pavement to the trail, passing the first lake, than the second and well the fen as well, with the wind straight to my face and legs. This time I had the distinct feeling that more people were doubting my sanity rather than cherishing their barefoot memories. When people wear two pairs of socks, thick gloves or mittens, hats, probably long underpants and what not all and still don't feel the warmth of their beloved homes, I don't question their thinking when they get passed by some sparkling naked legs and feet. I was very much surprised myself, that the dry condition made such a profound different when running in the cold. There were some snowy parts and I immediately felt the impact on the sole of my feet as the familiar cold from my previous runs. On my way back, I had the wind from behind, my hands and head started to sweat and my legs didn't feel that cold anymore, rather comfortable. I run 13 km in -6 °C to -7 °C with average wind of 10 km/h and gusts up to 20 km/h most noticeable, which makes a windchill of -11 °C and over all in SHORTS. The legs took some time under the shower to warm-up and the feet felt a little sensitive, other than that every thing is fine.
To the records, I equaled my longest run with 10 °C less than before and raised my coldest run to -11 °C and of course the less important sixth and made-up first place are secured again.
Happy Winter Running to all!
