The few, the foolish and the frozen

“Frostbite is a cold injury in which an area of the body is frozen.

-  The Merck Manual of Medical Information Second Home Edition

A little while ago I just got back from a run. It was a beautiful, sunny winter afternoon that just beckoned to me come out and be in it for awhile. Oh yeah, according to the source I checked it was -17° out. Compared to the -24° that it was early this morning, however, this was the warm part of the day. So, I layered appropriately, through on my wind suit, donned the balaclava, put on my Gortex-insulated trail shoes, broke open a couple of hand warmers and slipped them into my gloves, put on a pair of sunglasses and headed out the door. 

Running in the bitter cold is sorta like this

Ed after a run last week

 I didn't plan to go far, just a short two and a half mile out-and-back course I do when I want something light and easy. The wind was to the west and given I was running north naturally caused my balaclava to fold over my exposed nose. For the bit where I was running due east on Schofield Street I actually felt rather warm-ish - until I reached the long bridge. With no trees to block those piercing gusts, running the quarter mile across the point where Lake Chetek meets Prairie Lake was challenging enough. But compared to what it felt like on the way back it was a cakewalk. Everything after the turn-around point was brutal. It was like getting stung by some angry hornets all the way home.

There really is such a race

Within twenty-five minutes I was back inside none the worse for wear. My nose was a little tender but a few hours later I have no telling frostbite blister to report (which is good as it would be a little difficult to cover up.) To those who ask why on such a dangerously cold day I chose to head out the door anyway, I've been thinking of a reasonably cogent response ever since I headed down the road a few hours ago. Would it make any sense if I simply said that the road called to me and I simply responded? Or if I mentioned that one of the items on my bucket list is to one day run the Antarctica Marathon? When I saw on the news this morning that presently our area was only three degrees warmer than it was at the moment at the South Pole how could I not go for a run? If I can't run in this cold, how can I ever run in Antarctica? And what if I said that the looks I got from most if not all of the drivers of the vehicles who passed me this afternoon was worth the price of admission? In every case, their head would turn my way as they saw me, their eyebrows would rise or their lower jar would fall a bit and I could clearly hear what each of them was thinking: “What the heck is this fool doing out here on a day like today?”

Exactly. Why run on a day like today where it's so cold outside exposed skin will freeze in minutes? Just to answer that question: What fool is running outside today? This one -the only fool running outside in Chetek today and I think that counts for something. 

But at least I kept a shirt on