This past week was one to remember. We probably had one of the shortest fall seasons on record and winter temperatures arrived one day later. One short cartoon mentioned that Texas runners did not run on Wednesday as they were busy looking for their winter running clothes. This is a bit of an exaggeration as it did cool off a bit, but a light jacket or long sleeved shirt was all that was really needed for most everyday runners. A few runners may have donned a knitted sock cap to run in, but that is sort of a fashion thing now so nothing unusual about that. It usually takes a period of a few weeks of near freezing temperatures before runners resort to putting on tights for their legs and gloves on the hands.
There was another report in the news this past week that mentioned over half of the United States is under a snow or blizzard warning. Runners in central and south Texas have a hard time imagining running in snow. Blizzard conditions are so rare for south Texas runners it is difficult for them to even imagine what it is like. About the only source of a blizzard is what they have seen in movies or television programs.
Having grown up about 60 miles south of the Canadian border in North Dakota, blizzards were a regular part of winter. As a youngster it was fun to hear that there was a blizzard coming. For a young kid that meant there was a chance that there would be no school that day. When the blizzard came and the schools closed, that was a good day for kids. What did we do for that day? We went to school. We knew that the custodian would be there and nobody would be in the gym. Someone would bring a basketball and we played a game of basketball or some made up game all day. After the wind had created huge snow drifts we went out and dug snow caves in them and felt like we were Eskimos. The one downside as you grew older was that after the blizzard you had to shovel off the sidewalks and driveways of all the snow. I was unfortunate in that we had a long driveway and that turned into a full afternoon task.
Even in high school, you used the snow for a fun day outside. One favorite we had was playing tackle football in three feet of snow. You were bundled up to stay warm and that made it hard to even move, much less run fast in deep snow. It was like playing football in slow motion. Getting tackled with all that warm clothing on and falling in a snow drift made for soft landings. It was some of the most fun football I have ever played. It was below freezing temperatures, but with warm clothes and moving all the time, we never really got cold.
I visited my parents one Christmas after living in Texas for a number of years and the temperature dropped below zero degrees. I just had to find out what running in below zero weather was like. I asked a few runners that lived there what I needed for a cold run. One item was a cover for the mouth. When you breathe in very cold air it can do some damage to your lungs. I bought a mouth cover that had an opening in the end to let the breath out, but warmed the air up enough to keep from any danger to my throat and lungs from below zero temperatures. It worked OK even though there were several times I had to pull it away from my face and get a good breath of air. I also was told that it helps to put a scarf over your face to keep from frost bite on your cheeks. I had my experience with frost bite on my cheeks, ears, and feet growing up playing school yard ice hockey so I had some idea of what that was all about. I had on a runner’s rain suit that worked to keep the wind out and warm clothes underneath to keep warm. The one problem was footing. Running in several inches of snow over ice makes for some serious slipping. For most of my try at running in below zero temperatures in a few inches of snow, there was no problem. I just had to be cautious when I hit an icy spot and my foot slid when it hit the ground. One of the best things about running in very cold weather is that a warm shower afterwards feels so much better.
I have had some experience running in cold weather in Texas, but nothing as cold as below zero temperatures. One year, the Dallas White Rock Marathon had temperatures in the mid 30’s at the start of the race. I knew that it would warm up into the low 50’s before I finished. I had a tee shirt, a sock cap, and cotton gloves to start the race. It was a bit cold for the first few miles, but very comfortable for the rest of the race. It was interesting to see all the jackets, trash bags, warm ups, etc. along the way after about 5 miles into the race as overdressed runners shed the starting clothes when they warmed up. There was a crew of volunteers that followed the race and picked up most of the good warm up jackets and shirts that some of the runners might want returned after the race.
There will be more cold days ahead for runners as some forecasters are saying it will be a cold winter. Nothing severe, so any runner in central and south Texas should be able to run every day if they so choose.
