Dawning Realisations

I sat watching the sky, waiting for the sunrise. Waiting for the day to begin; it was already 8AM.

I was up and ready for the day.

The day, on the other hand, was not ready for me.

I watched as the sun began to rise; the sky slowly brightening to the east. As the sky brightened it highlighted the oncoming cloud bank from the west, dark and foreboding as it approached.

Before the sun could make an appearance above the horizon, the dark grey cloud bank enveloped it, swallowing the sunlight. A harbinger of the season approaching; winter and winter’s cloak of darkness.

The dark cloud bank was also a harbinger of another one of winter’s companions; snow.

Under the slate grey pall that passed as daylight, I donned my running shoes and headed out for my Sunday run.

I managed to complete my run before the sky felt compelled to favour the city with its first dose of winter.

That was about two weeks ago; I haven’t run outside since.

It’s not that I dislike running in the winter – ok, it certainly isn’t my favourite thing to do.  It just takes more effort, mentally and physically. I have to weigh the tedium of the treadmill against the "wonders" of winter - the poor footing, the wind-chill, the down-right-bone-chilling-cold.

A consideration made easy for my weekday runs - which all take place well before the sun even hints at approaching the horizon; “when you can't see where you’re putting your feet outside, best to run inside” is my philosophy. Last thing I need is to hit a patch of ice invisible in the pre-dawn darkness and end up giving myself a concussion.

So it is, in the winter, that my Sunday runs are generally preceded by an hour or two of me sipping tea, consulting the current weather conditions, peering out the window at the still-dark morning and sighing heavily. Is it too cold to be outside? What’s the wind chill? Is it snowing? What does the footing look like?

So the debate begins –

Inside and face the treadmill tedium or outside and flirt with frostbite?

Inside or outside; either way, hibernation is not an option.  Depending on the conditions and my mood one or the other wins out and I dress and head out.

This is my new running reality.

Welcome to winter.