January Chill

Sunday, January 13, 2019 · Mike Davis

Good morning…

I recall a bunch of years ago Kathy and drove to Manchester with a large bag of can goods to support a can good drive hosted by Runners Alley. Along with the charitable part was a Saturday morning run and Kath and I were always about supporting Runners Alley with our hearts and our feet. While many dropped off numerous bags of can goods, no one was there to run aside from myself, Kathy and Runners Alley owner Jeanine Sylvester. Not to make this a fish story (where the fish get bigger with every recital), but if my memory serves me correctly, on this particular winter day, the temperature was around minus 5 degrees.

Yesterday’s temperature’s may not have registered in the negative range, but the real feel was closer to zero than 10! Our Saturday morning Winter Pacers run had previously been canceled as most of the group are running in the Snowflake Shuffle today, but when I saw the “real feel,” at 8:30, I was happy not to be out running. I took advantage of a quiet day to work on updating our website material and was thankful to have the comforts of heat. Around 5:00pm I started to trade texts with my good friend Doug and eventually it led to him asking if I wanted to go out for a quick 3.1 mile run? With the real feel around 4-degrees, I responded immediately with: Yes!

As I stood outside waiting on Doug, the chill through my running pants and gloves brought back memories of that Manchester morning. Not quite as bone chilling, but definitely standing there, I felt a similar feeling of the craziness of it!

I won’t try to pretend, I miss running in the south, where I can run in shorts most the time and do not have to navigate ice and snow. However, once Doug and I got running, the chill became bearable and I was happy to be out there moving. As I continue to comeback from a long absence from running, my running pace has been a happy 9:30 on average. I believe the near zero real feel pushed us as we averaged a pace of 9:02! Doug and I would argue as to who was the reason for the pace, but I am pretty sure, Doug was the reason!

I am thankful Doug asked me to run.

Lots of cold running ahead, but the getting out part is the hardest! And best.

Have a great week!

God Bless!