Brrrr! It’s cold outside

Being cold is not my thing. Like everyone else in Alberta, I have to suck it up over five months of winter. But that doesn’t mean I have a free pass to be lazy and inactive. There are no excuses when you are a semi-competitive (with yourself) so-so trail runner. You gotta get those miles in. 

With this in mind, I headed to the Penhold Arena for a run on Sunday. I haven’t run at this track, above a hockey rink, for over a year now. I used to run here quite frequently in 2013 during the crazy deep freeze. Our last few winters have not been too cold, which means I had no excuses for running outside. The last week was brutal and of course, I really, really wanted to run. Funny how that always seems to happen. 

I digress … I headed to Penhold on Sunday morning. It was a big challenge as I acquired the habit of running in the middle of the day. My work days have been quite longer lately so I cherish every extra moment in bed. My weekend mornings usually start with a pot of coffee and an hour or two with my latest book. 

No excuses

Right so here I am staring at the door. Thankfully there wasn’t a big crowd to watch what looked like a girl’s game. Spectators are not supposed to be on the track. Signs are everywhere. Still they look like a deer caught in headlights when you run past them. One elbow from me and all the people knew their place in the arena. (Truth. It happened only once.) 

Let me tell you, it was much colder inside the rink than I remembered. It didn’t help that it was -28C outside. My responded to the chill. I ran fast. My Garmin does not work inside the arena so my plan was to run for 30 minutes and to finish up with stair repeats. Surprisingly running around circles for half an hour went by quickly. 

The stairs were an added bonus. 

Some news … I signed up for Iron Legs 60K next August.