Cold start: A runner’s experience in a Chicago winter

These are some of the lessons I learned while trying to run a race in Chicago in winter:

• Planes won’t fly if they have to land where the wind is blowing at 40 miles an hour.
• Don’t give your rental car back if you aren’t sure that you will need it again.
• If possible, avoid driving for more than 4 hours after eight at night on the day before the race.
• A treadmill presents a serious temptation to see how fast you can run.
• One’s muscles remember the speed games you played on the treadmill two days later.
• Trying to thaw frozen legs in the first mile is like defrosting something in the microwave on high. Your lungs may burn, but the parts that must run remain frozen.
• Thirty-two degrees may sound pleasant until it is Fahrenheit.
• Do not wear your entire wardrobe even if the temperature is 0 degrees Celsius.
• Don’t even try changing the location of your bib number to a more appropriate inner layer of clothing while running at full speed with frozen fingers.
• Just wave at the knock-kneed girl passing you. Do not try to keep up.
• Do not try to imitate the running style of a guy looking like he is taking a stroll in the park while passing you.
• Eight miles is more than 10k. 2.8748k more, to be precise. That is a lot if your legs are programmed to stop at 10k.
• For a memory to become sweeter, add a bit of suffering.

Keep running

Stephan