She Runs by the Seashore

The cold certainly has been putting a damper on my running.

I started out 2015 strong, thinking maybe I’d make January the month I do my monthlong running streak (it’s one of my 2015 goals). I ran each of the first five days of 2015, and completed 21.07 miles. It certainly didn’t hurt that the fourth day — Sunday — was 70 degrees here in Salisbury, Maryland.

But I skipped Tuesday — when I didn’t want to run in the dark alone after work, and by the following day, I definitely didn’t want to go outside for any longer than I had to. I briefly considered running the following day, but I looked on my phone and saw the predicted temperature of 12 degrees for 7 a.m. and decided against it. So, I ended up skipping three days in a row — unfortunately without doing any other exercise in its place.

I’ll do my monthlong streak in a warmer and lighter-out-for-longer month.

As I write this post, according to the weather app on my phone, it’s 27 degrees out, and I just finished a five-mile run. Although it was certainly cold, I dressed warmly and having the sun out helped. The run was pleasant; I mostly don’t like running in the cold when it’s dark out.

I canceled my gym membership in November as I just rarely went because I much prefer running outside to other types of exercise or running on a treadmill. The treadmill would have been nice to have this week.

How do you feel about running in the cold? Enjoying the freezing temperatures, or counting the days till Spring? (It’s 69 more days, by the way.)