The answer to that question as you can see from the picture it never was. This was also a question that I asked myself frequently as I live in Ohio and the winters can be and most often are cold. I started asking myself this sometime mid to late November as the mornings started dipping into the thirties. Luckily we hadn't had any snow... yet. It was on the way, and I would have to deal with that when it came around. I decided after a run that was down near 25F that I would have to figure out an alternative to running outdoors. That is when my sister sent me a link to an article about winter running. After reading I realized that with a different approach, and some new gear I would be able to run well into the winter without having to think about a change of venue for my runs. I can remember one such run where after I finished I posted to my Runkeeper account with this comment: "Did I really just run in 12 degree weather? What was I thinking. Good run though.", and that wasn't the coldest day that I ran on, it was just the first really cold day. In case you are wondering, the coldest day that I went out on was 4F on my thermometer on the porch, but Accuweather said it was -6F with the real feel of -12 or -14. After a while you get use to the cold and learn to embrace it. I wouldn't trade my winter running for anything now. It is always quite, very few cars, and great time to reflect and focus on what steps are needed to improve or what may be the next step along the voyage.
OH NO IT SNOWED, it was just a matter of time what was I going to do now. Run, of course, that however was easier said than done. With that first light dusting I found that running on snow covered streets wasn't too bad but what about when they are covered with ice, slush and inches of winter. That would be where a very handy piece of outdoor shoe equipment would come into play, Yak-Trax. They are like snow chains for your shoes, giving added traction without affecting your running stride. I couldn't have done some of my winter runs with out them. I am sure you are all thinking it couldn't have gotten that cold, or you must have cut your running down. Absolutely not, I maintained six days a week and mileage of 15 - 20 miles a week. Although, not all of them were fun such as my run Thanksgiving weekend. On one run it was around 45F and raining so hard I could barely see due to all the water. I was drenched and cut short on my run. I felt ripped off because it had been so short, and as soon as I got back inside and sort of dry it stopped raining. So I went out and did it again. Fun times. This however is nothing like running during and after snowy conditions. Snow presents a whole different set of issues, such as kamikaze snowflakes, limited visibility due to large dense flakes, and quickly icing conditions from vicious ice snow. Snow is a master of illusion this way, it wants you to believe that it is pretty and harmless to lull you into thinking thoughts like "it is so pretty" and "this will be a beautiful clean run". For the most part that would be true, if you weren't going to be running in it. Because, all of a sudden out of nowhere a snowflake dive bombs your eye, then another, and another until your eyes are watering so bad you can barely keep them open and are afraid you will be blind by the end of your run. More than once I found myself being pelted on my face by stinging little ice pellets or running near blindness because of falling flakes. This is not meant to discourage anyone from running in the snow I loved every venture out feeling blessed that I could, and didn't wimp out and stay in bed.
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