A Quick Note on Snow Days

So as a teacher, I have been the beneficiary of far too many days off in the month of January.  When I return to work on Monday (yes we are off Friday) I will have had 10 consecutive days off due to weekends, holidays, and snow days.  Read that again...10 CONSECUTIVE DAYS OFF.  I've hardly worked this month.  While that is both exciting and depressing, I have to admit that this 10 day stretch has led to a resurgence in my training, and with it, my motivation.

One of my favorite stories to tell from back in the prime of my running career is of one Sunday night, when I didn't have to be at work until late the next morning.  Well, this evening I had decided to continuously push off my long run throughout the day, constantly making excuses why not to run.  I had to eat lunch, had to walk the dog, had to meet my girlfriend, eat dinner, etc...  Finally, it got to be 11:00 at night, and I still hadn't run.  I was laying on the couch, starting to doze off, when my guilty voice in the back of my head spoke up and told me I had no reason to take the day off.  I had the option, right then, to either fall asleep, or get in a short run.  For whatever reason, I got out the door and, instead of a short run, I ran 13 miles through a park that was virtually pitch black.  I finished just before 1:00 AM.  Looking at my old running logs, this was about 3 weeks before injuries derailed me, but I put a note about hitting some miles in the middle of the run at 6:10-6:20.

The reason I tell this story is because I just now had a similar experience, albeit with a much shorter run.  Today was a snow day, and on snow days I can be very lazy.  I kept putting off my run all day.  I needed a small lunch, I was waiting to run with my friend.  Then he called and pushed the run back, at which point I decided on a day off and went out for pizza and beer around 8:30 PM.  Then at 10:00, I got the call that tomorrow would be another snow day...enter my cold night run.

The temperature at the start of my run: 6 degrees, with a wind chill of -4.  Start time was just after 11:30 PM.  Temperature at the end: 5 degrees, wind chill of -6.  Time at the finish was 12:15.  I ran a total of 6 miles in 41 minutes, felt great doing it, and ended up with an awesome ice beard (see image).

So the moral of the story is: well, I don't really know.  I guess you can say, it's never too late to get in a run.  But I guess we're not all lucky enough to get 10 consecutive days off work.  If I had to work tomorrow I would have been asleep 2 hours ago and my run would have been skipped.  But I can tell you I'm glad I got it in.  It's very rewarding to come very close to taking a day off, only to sneak in a run at the last minute...and a good run, at that.