Running and Weather

I woke up this morning at 5:30 when the cat settled onto my shoulder, his black, fuzzy face just inches from mine.
I reached for my phone and pressed the weather app. 27 degrees (-3Celcius)! That's practically a heat wave considering that I ran on Tuesday morning and it was 7 degrees (-14Celcius).
The app warned that snow or freezing rain were forecast for 7 a.m.
By the time I got out of bed, dressed and was dancing in the kitchen to Pitbull's "Time of Our Lives" before I headed out the door, it was 6:30.
As I headed down the walk, I felt a few thick drops hit my face and my lashes. Snow or rain was starting, but the roads were clear, so I joyfully ran about a mile and a half before the snowy mix increased. Soon, my hair was dripping and my fleece jacket hung heavy on my shoulders, but still, I was sweating from the run.
I stopped inside a bus shelter and pulled my fleece off, tying it around my waist.
I headed back toward home, feeling the icy material sticking to my thighs.
The black asphalt was shiny in places and I wondered whether I might slip. But each step felt fairly secure.
Then about half a mile from home, I felt a foot slide before the other one found a secure anchor. I stopped running and slid my feet along the street. Yep, solid ice.
I headed for the sidewalk, figuring I'd walk the rest of the way home. But the sidewalks were even more slippery, and as soon as I started walking, I felt the wetness of my clothes on my skin, the temperature still hovering around 27. Without the body heat from running, I felt sure I would soon succumb to hypothermia.
This was one of the first times that I felt like I had truly put myself in danger: soaking wet, 27-degree temperatures with icy roads.
There was nothing to it but to continue running in the hopes of keeping my body temperature up and getting home sooner.
So I headed back to the road. I changed my running stride. Rather than a lope, I was nearly running in place, bouncing up on each step then landing just inches in front of where I'd left. I was afraid to stretch out, picturing me ending up in a split if my front foot slid.
As cars passed close by, I tried to remind myself that if I fell I should roll toward my shoulder, rather than landing on my nose, like I did in September 2013. I figured, if I hit my head, I could just try to roll to the side of the road then the school kids would be on their way soon and they'd find me before I froze to death. (Yes, strange thoughts go through my head when I'm running alone in the dark freezing rain.)
Finally, I made it home. As I had run, I had come up with a plan. I knew that I couldn't hop into a hot shower with my skin so cold. I've experienced that burning and itching before. But I couldn't stay in my wet clothes. Luckily, I don't work until the evening today, so when I got home, I stripped off all my clothes, hung them on the clothes hamper and climbed into bed under the covers.
I stayed there for at least half an hour, until the skin on my stomach and thighs didn't feel cold to the touch any more.
By the time I finished a hot shower and got dressed, I was nearly human again. Earl texted me from his walk to the bus, "It's dangerous."
I tried to tell him.
I love running, but I know I need to be more aware of my surroundings and the weather before I take off in the mornings to enjoy an unfettered run.

The Long Winter

If I were an elementary school teacher, I would definitely have a time period each afternoon where the kids put their heads down on their desks and listened to me read to them from Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter. Did your teachers ever do that? I have such a warm feeling inside when I remember a teacher taking the time to read aloud to us each day.
The book, The Long Winter, is so apropos for this year. It tells the story of Laura and her family on the Dakota frontier during a series of blizzards as food and fuel ran short.
Here in Ohio, we've had more snow fall that stayed on the ground, beginning in November than ever before.
We've had the coldest weather I can remember, with temperatures dipping down to -17 degrees, and that a straight thermometer reading, not counting the wind chill.
On Tuesday night through Wednesday morning, we had a big snow. Even with our increased snowfall, we usually stop after three inches or so. The other night, the snowfall must have been six to eight inches with a nice crust of ice on top.

I went out to shovel the snow, since my classes were cancelled and Earl still had to go to work. The snow was deep enough along the front steps that it looked like a giant ski jump rather than a set of stairs.

Underneath the ice, the snow was heavy and wet. So perfect for a snowball fight or building a snow fort or snowman. But I had no one to play with in the snow. The temperature was pretty perfect too, about 28 degrees. I had on layers, but didn't wear a winter coat. By the time I finished, my thick sweater and knit cap were wet from the snow that continued to drift down.

I cleared our sidewalk and the neighbors on either side.

Then I went over to another neighbors house; she's in her late 70s and I knew she'd be out to try to shovel. The heavy wet snow was not anything she should tackle.

As I shoveled my way up to her door, I saw another woman trying to clear out her driveway where the snow plows had pushed the snow from the road. The snow pile was up to my waist. We worked on that for awhile until she was able to get her car through. 

I had one more neighbor to help before I  could abandon my shovel.

Earl walked past on his way to wait for the bus. Since the county had declared a Level Two snow emergency, the bus would be free.

He waited for nearly an hour before he came home for the car and gave a ride to several of his companions waiting for the bus.

Our little city does pretty well at clearing the roads, and good thing because today the temperature plummeted down into single digits and it's supposed to be even colder. 

Extreme Cold Weather

The cold weather has prevented me from running outside for nearly a week.
The school kids got a day off on Tuesday because of the extreme cold. The temperature was -17 Fahrenheit on Tuesday morning, that's -27 Celcius, and the wind chill was -30 Fahrenheit.
Wednesday morning, the air had warmed up to -9 degrees. That's -23 Celcius. Every school district in the county was closed except one other town and us.
Our town doesn't have school buses. Instead, everyone is close enough to walk or they get dropped off by their parents. The superintendent said he doesn't close school for cold weather unless the wind chill is at -18 degrees. Did he want to walk to school at -17 degrees?

These are snow rollers -- apparently a rare snow phenomenon. 

I thought it was still too cold for kids to walk to school. I decided to prove my point by walking to the coffee shop, which is actually closer than the school.
I set off in my warm boots, hat, gloves, scarf and winter coat.
 After nearly a mile, my cheeks were so cold, and my thighs in my corduroy pants were burning hot, in a way that thing probably feel right before frostbite. (Earl joked that maybe my corduroys rubbing together caused a spark, and I forgave him for the fat joke.)
I walked into the Starbucks just in time to keep from freezing.
I could see one of the barristas making comments about people being crazy to walk through the cold weather for coffee. I explained that I was trying to prove a point that the superintendent was wrong to have school that morning.
My son is lucky because he can drive to school. But there are plenty of kids in the city who can't get a ride; their parents leave for work before the kids go to school.
Standing at the Starbucks thawing, I called Earl and asked him to pick me up. He was just out of the shower and came to get me. Then we drove up toward the school to see if anyone needed a ride.
We found Tucker's friend Sam walking toward the school. He hopped in the backseat and we delivered him at school.

When the snow is just wet enough and in an
open place, the wind catches it and causes
it to roll up like a rug. Isn't this cool?

As we headed back home, we saw another boy walking. We stopped for him and ferried him up to the school too.
I also felt really bad for the crossing guards who stood outside to make sure the kids crossed the street safely.
This morning, the temperature had climbed all the way up to 3 degrees Fahrenheit (-16 Celcius), so I pulled on two pairs of running tights and an extra fleece.
I ran for about 34 minutes in the cold before returning home. It felt great to get back out there, but when I walked in the house, the sweat from my run, the cold outside and the warmth of the house all came together to hit me with a wave of nausea.
Still, I'm happy that I could run once again.
The weather forecast calls for some snow tonight. I'm still planning to get out there and run before the predicted storms next week.

To Gym or Not to Gym?

We gave up our YMCA membership last spring to save about $65 per month. The Y is 10 minutes or so away by car and Earl was working evenings so he would be left home without a car while I worked and Tucker went to school. I wanted to find a gym that was close enough for him to walk to. Tucker also wanted to work out here in town (not that he would walk to it, being a self-respecting 17-year-old). So they both got memberships at a small gym that has 24-hour access. The cost is about the same as what we paid for our family membership at the Y, but I'm glad they are going regularly.
As for me, I decided I would just run and not join a gym. And that has worked well up until this week. As the temperatures dipped down below 0, I had to find an alternative way to run.
I signed up for a gym trial at the fancy LA Fitness gym about half a mile away. Still, the temperatures forced me to drive to the gym for my trial membership.
I ran on the treadmill both yesterday and today. Yesterday, without a television screen in front of the treadmill, today with a television screen. The channel wouldn't change so I was stuck with CNBC -- some business news program at 7 a.m.

Me and Najah running in the snow in December.
We kept running outside as long as we could.

Some thing I forgot since last running on a treadmill. I sweat a lot when I run inside. Although the temperature beyond the glass might be -2, inside the sweat is soaking through my clothes and dripping down my face.
Some thing I forgot since visiting a big gym. The people who work out in big gyms look pretty even when they're working out.
I do not.
I can clean up okay. In clothes, with some make up and my hair straightened, I look attractive. But I don't want to worry about looking attractive while I run. My hair falls out of my ponytail and then gets plastered to my face from sweat; my face turns bright red; my thighs are definitely chubby but they can run several miles.
I run in the same clothes that I have had for 10 years. I don't see any point in upgrading when the clothes aren't worn out, and they still work just as well. That means I'm not too fashionable. Everyone else in the gym is fashionable, except a woman I saw in some sort of culottes and I figured that was a religious decision.
The first day, I didn't consider that I'd be running in shorts. I've been in running pants since November. And a few miles in, the skin on my thighs started to rub raw. Okay, that obviously means I just need to run more, not that I should stop!
So today, I put a pair of  tight, Spandex-type shorts under my slick running shorts. The spandex shorts would keep my thighs from rubbing, but I didn't count on how the running shorts would look over them. I probably would have looked better just in the Spandex shorts as the other shorts rode up.
Maybe no one noticed, maybe I was the one judging myself, but I felt ugly. No one wants to go to the gym and feel ugly.
That probably means I need to find a different gym.
The gym has a lot of weight machines, but they seemed to be fairly occupied by guys with big muscles who carry around gallon jugs of water. Too intimidating.
Unfortunately, the forecast calls for more weather too cold for running outside. I'd better find some place to keep running until spring finally arrives.

Morning Blunder

This morning, I did something good to help other people.
I was driving home from my run at the gym when I saw two middle school kids walking in the dark with their backpacks on. The temperature on my car thermostat said 2 degrees.
I wondered if they didn't know school was canceled.

I'd woken up that morning around 5 and pulled up the local weather station with its list of closings. It listed every school in the county, including ours because the temperature hovered around -2 degrees Fahrenheit. That's -18 Celcius.
Two weeks ago when the temperature dipped down this low, they closed schools for two days.
I had driven past the kids already and was debating whether I should go back and say anything to them.
I turned the car around, stopped and, on my phone, pulled up the page for the local weather station again. I double checked that our school appeared on the "closings" list.
Then I drove back down the road, rolled down my window and told the kids, a brother and sister, that schools were closed. I asked if they wanted me to give them a ride back home since it was so cold.
We live in a small town, so that's not as dangerous as it might seem to big city people.
I also told them my son was a senior in high school.
They climbed into the back seat and told  me they were in 8th grade and 6th grade.
"I'm going back to bed," the boy, who was in 8th grade, told me.
I dropped them in front of their house, about half a mile back. Then drove home.
As I pulled into the driveway, I noticed that my neighbor was pulling out of her garage. She teaches at the Catholic schools, and I wondered where she was going. My list said the Catholic schools were closed too.
That's when I got worried.
According to the list, my college was closed, so I was in no hurry to take a shower. I had all day.
I came inside and searched for the closings page on the computer. The list showed only a few school delays and closures. Our school district and the college where I teach were not on the list.
"Oh, no," I told my husband. "I just told those kids there was no school. I don't even know their names."
At the same time, I needed to hurry to get ready for work.
I called my friend who lives down the block from the kids. Her 6th grade son knew them and called them. Then her son, a senior in high school, picked them up and gave them a ride to school.
She saved the day for me, and for them.
I figured out finally, that the page I was looking at on my phone was the page of closings from two weeks ago. It called up the same page I'd looked at without refreshing it.
I nearly caused a number of us to miss school.
It's fairly embarrassing and is a reminder to me not to meddle in other people's business, even if I'm trying to be a helper.