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| See Rod's feet? They're that way for a reason. |
What happens when you sign up for a race in the middle of
winter? It means that you have to train outside when it is cold. What happens
when you sign up for a long race in the middle of winter in Chicago? It means
you’ll have to run many miles outside in the freezing cold. It also means that
you run the risk of catching a cold and not being able to run the race and now
you’ve done a bunch of cold weather runs where your nose practically fell off
for naught.
I am in no way implying that I caught a cold because I went
and ran outside in the cold. I realize it doesn’t work that way. I place
catching of said cold squarely on Mr. H. And Mr. H. caught his cold that he so generously
shared with the rest of the family (he’s a giver that one) from the play place
we went to on Southport to entertain baby H. because staying in the house one
more minute with a 2.5 year old just wasn’t an option.
So the cold-weather running wasn’t the culprit. However, I
do think it helped heighten the chances that we could catch colds because
running 12 miles taxes your immune system just a wee bit. Doing it in 20 degree
weather along the lake front path in Chicago probably taxes it just a notch (or
several notches) more. So despite the fact that Mr. H. and I are pretty damned
healthy, and we take lots of vitamins and drink electrolytes after our runs and
wear appropriate clothing and all that, our immune systems kinda took the day
off and said the heck with it, and we got colds...the week before our race.
What’s even worse, these colds settled in our chest. And the
conventional wisdom is that you can run with a head cold but not a chest cold. So even though Mr. H. was bound and determined
to be miraculously healthy come Saturday morning at 10 a.m., he was not. And I
wasn’t about to push myself either, even though, dammit, I trained for this
half marathon and not running a half marathon after you trained for it really
sucks.
So this post was going to be an update on my most recent
race. But instead it’s a cautionary tale to all you would be cold-weather
runners out there not to f’ing bother. You’re just going to get sick and then
where will you be? You’ll have shelled out money to run a race in January that
you can’t run without risking the loss of a lung or passing out somewhere
around mile 8. Not to mention all the money you’ll save on cold weather running
clothes (tights, jackets, hats, gloves, thermal underwear for Christ’s sake!). So
just stay inside slowly going crazy with your husband and your 2-year old until
March or April or May – this is Chicago after all.
