Miles and Miles of Fartleks!

Time of departure: Left the car 11:00am-ish
Return: Back to the car 12:40pm-ish
(I didn't check the time on either end)
Temperature: Between 5F and 10F
Wind Chill: Somewhere about -8F
Route: At the Forest Preserve at Milwaukee and Devon up to Dempster and back. 8 miles.
Running buddies: Matt, Eric, and Peter.

Environmental commentary: It was sunny. If I could have remembered where my sunglasses were, I probably would have brought them. The sky was a pleasant light blue, the air was crisp in that pleasant wintry way. The path was plowed for the first 0.2 miles, but was covered with snow the rest of the time. Running in snow is like running in sand. It's harder work, feels like there's an added ankle workout, and yet it feels easier on the joints because there's more cushion. The bridge over Oakton Ave was covered in snow which made it runnable. Under the snow there was still that ice sheet. It's not runnable without snow.

On a totally unrelated note, there is dog who lives above me. I've lived here for all of, oh, seven months or so. And until just a few days ago, I've never heard this dog bark. He didn't bark. He would moan. MOAN. Moan as in, I'd be taking a nap on my purple couch and his MOANING would wake me up. Would this bother me? Surprisingly, no. I got such a kick out of the fact that he MOANs, I'd just wake up laughing. My moaning canine neighbor... But lately, I don't know what's going on in his life. He 1) hasn't been moaning but 2) he's taking up barking and sumo wrestling, I think. I'm not sure about the latter activity but it involves some heaving pounding like someone's body is being thrown down. Anyhow, he was just wrestling again... Reminds me of the upstairs neighbors I once had who were into clog dancing.

It was evident from the number of prints in the snow that the trail up north in Skokie had had more usage than the trail in the city. We saw some cross-country ski tracks. And we saw 4 deer...but what differentiates this run is that I got bored. Me. I got bored. So then, after 5 miles or so, with 3 to go, we started doing fartleks. Oh, what fun!! Yes, and we fartleked all the rest of the way until we only had about 1/4 mile left. Then Matt and Eric took off...and Matt left us all in his snow drift.

Oh, another interesting piece, and this has nothing really to do with sky cover, is that Matt got hot. So he ended up running the second half of the run carrying his hat, gloves, and sweatshirt. What did he have on his body? A long-sleeved T-shirt from climbing up some Chicago sky scraper. And, well, pants and shoes, of course. To compare, I was fully dressed in ECW wear, Eric had 5 shirts on, and Peter had 2 pairs of pants plus shorts. Just to give you an idea.

Clothing: ECW. Plus I tried the Yak-Trax. I didn't like how they articulated with the ground; I could feel it in my knees so I took them off. Eric loved his though.
How did I feel? Well enough. But afterwards I could feel that my right first metatarsal-phalangeal joint felt inflamed. I had tweaked it at Bikram Friday night during a standing posture and the running didn't help it.

When we got to the restaurant I changed into dry clothes. It was a good thing too because even with dry undergarments and hot date tea (my favorite! really, there are dates in the bottom of the cup!) in my hands I could feel the cold in my body. It's interesting because it has to be the cold is leaving my body. Well, actually, I suppose it is that the heat is coming back in...No, perhaps it is just that my body is un-numbing itself. But anyhow, what it feels like is that there is cold spreading through my body like frost spreads across a pane of glass. It is not a happy feeling.

People tally: I forget exactly, but we met one friendly and beautiful sheepdog named Harry. And we saw at least one runner. There weren't very many people out.
Destination: Amitabul. I had the Spicy Kim Chi Tofu Bi Bim Bop. Next time I'm getting the soup Eric got with RICE PADDIES. Oh, how l love thee, Brown Rice Paddies!
What do I like about running? You can talk while you run. And when you run out of things to talk about, you can Fartlek!