Running Cold in the Cold

Liz and I did a long run today. While she’s been pretty good about braving the cold weather, and doing shorter runs during the week… I’ve taken a slightly different approach. And that different approach is not running.

I want to keep up my progress. But the cold has been really problematic, and I’ve been reticent on spending money to get the gear necessary to go out and run in the Chicago winter.

Luckily for us, today… the weather was in the mild 40’s. So we suited up, ate some rice crackers with peanut butter, and headed out.

A view of the path, leading in to downtown Chicago.

We headed north from Hyde Park, and Liz showed me some of the paths she took when she was doing her marathon training earlier this year.

While the two of us ran five miles while we were at the lakehouse last week, it didn’t quite dawn on me the actual distance.

I’m very much out of practice, and more or less doing these long runs cold – after doing very little prep.

It surprised me to realize that 5 miles is around 8K. So the last two weeks, I’ve just been running an 8K out of nowhere, with no practice and no warmups.

Pretty surprising, all told. Today on my run, I was listening to the automated playlist that Spotify makes each year, indicating my favorite and most-played songs from 2024.

I haven’t fully updated all the old posts from Georgia yet… but during our time there, I had just started running. And was actually struggling with running 2 minutes at a time, without getting winded.

During that time, earlier in the year, I listened obsessively to The Weepies. And that’s why it ended up on my 2024 playlist.

It’s difficult to fathom the difference between now and then. Earlier this year, I remember expressing trepidation to Liz that I couldn’t run 10 minutes without stopping. And now, on a December day in Chicago, I’m somehow able to just do a full 8K run without much thought or preparation.

What a difference a year makes.

Related:
Forest Path, 5 Mile Run
Marine Corps Marathon 2024, Day 5: Race Day, Dinner at The Dubliner