This recent cold snap brought to mind something I wrote a couple of years ago.........
We've got 23.4 degrees to blame for it! My toes are occasionally sore and my fingers are regularly numb. I’m sure all runners have been noticing things aren’t as comfortable as they were a few months ago.
Yesterday I set off to run the regular four miles to work. The temperature was still in minus figures on the centigrade scale, and a delicate dusting of snow decorated the world with picture-postcard gorgeousness.
But the beauty hid a silent danger; sheet ice lurked everywhere. As I set off it felt like the soles of my trusty trail shoes had been swapped for ball bearings. I tried to run at a steady, even pace, but every few seconds my feet were slipping and my legs were thrown in all directions. I looked like a drunken Michael Flatley trying overenthusiastically to rush through a desperate climax of Riverdance.
Somehow, miraculously, I made it to work still upright, nothing broken and no outward signs of frostbite
23.4 degrees!
Warm clothes, unworn for months or even years, are being dragged from the bottom of the wardrobe to help avoid hypothermia whilst out running. I’ve re-discovered the joy of Lycra tights, gilets, jackets and beanie hats. I have, however, drawn the line at the knitted leg warmers, just to avoid the embarrassment of being seen looking like one of the ‘Kids from Fame’. Although if I remember rightly they had hair! Lots of hair!
23.4 degrees of tilt!
As I write this the last few days have been particularly cold, with last night’s temperature dropping to –100C. As a result I have become something I never thought I would – a ‘man who moisturises’! Running this winter has caused chapped skin, mostly around my mouth and chin, but also, bizarrely, my eyelids are sore and dry. I was starting to acquire the aesthetic beauty of The Thing until MrsRTS kindly bought me some creamy stuff in a fancy-dan bottle that I rub in morning and night. It’ll never get rid of the wrinkles (even a trowel and a cement mixer full couldn’t do that), but apparently ‘I’m worth it’ . Or something!
As I write this the last few days have been particularly cold, with last night’s temperature dropping to –100C. As a result I have become something I never thought I would – a ‘man who moisturises’! Running this winter has caused chapped skin, mostly around my mouth and chin, but also, bizarrely, my eyelids are sore and dry. I was starting to acquire the aesthetic beauty of The Thing until MrsRTS kindly bought me some creamy stuff in a fancy-dan bottle that I rub in morning and night. It’ll never get rid of the wrinkles (even a trowel and a cement mixer full couldn’t do that), but apparently ‘I’m worth it’
Having said all that, it’s worth remembering that here in Britain we live in a temperate climate, and the weather is rarely hostile. It’s not as if we’re running the North or South Pole marathons. And we’re unlikely to enter the bonkers world of extreme environment ultra-endurance mentalist Sir Ranulph Fiennes. (I understand most of his toes and a few fingers are in a shoebox under his spare bed. But then if you hold the record for the longest unsupported trek across the Antarctic continent you’re bound to have the odd cold-related incident or two).
23.4 degrees of axial tilt!
That’s the cause of it all. 23.4 degrees is the angle between the axis of the earth’s rotation and its orbit around the sun. The result of this tilt is that for six months of the year that it takes our planet to travel around the sun, one hemisphere is angled towards the hot orange glow, the other angled away from it. Then for the next six months the effect is reversed.
In short, it is the 23.4 degrees of axial tilt that gives the Earth its seasons, and is responsible for the winter that we in the northern hemisphere are currently experiencing. It will also be responsible for the rejuvenating spring, the lovely warm (hopefully) summer, and the colourful autumn to come.
But a cold winter is no reason to hang up the running shoes and just sit in front of a warm fire with a mug of hot chocolate until the trees are leafy and the lambs start gambolling. (That’s not to say don’t sit in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate. That sounds fantastic! Just head out for a run first and you’ll enjoy it all the more.)
What my moisturising, Kids from Fame, Lycra wearing, Riverdancing antics show, are that it is almost always possible to get out and enjoy running, as I know many people reading this will continue to do this season. You just have to find the right clothing to suit yourself and the conditions.
Winter makes a land of beauty, a world of contrasts. Dark leafless trees, sometimes bejewelled with frost or snow, grasp upwards at an often-clear sky, and become living silhouettes against azure-blue cloudlessness. Dusk and dawn, often the best times to run, offer majestic celestial paintings of sky-blue pink and fiery orange as the sun timidly rises and all too quickly sets.
Crunching of crisp snow underfoot, and plumes of steamy breath are almost poetic in themselves, and more than make up for chilled fingertips.
So don’t fear the winter. It’s only the Earth, tilted at 23.4 degrees, breathing out halfway round its lap of the sun. It’s a beautiful world, and a beautiful season. Go and run in it.
Respect The Season.
That's a beautiful way to look at it. Despite the icy dangers that await our running at this time of year, the beauty of a snow dusted environment is not to be missed. It can fairly liven up even the most mundane of running routes and turn it into something quite picturesque! Having said that, I am hopeful that the weather will soon go one way or the other. I would welcome the safety underfoot from clear, ice free pavements and trails but would also welcome some full on snow so that I can dig out the MicroSpikes and get out on some snow runs - Either way works just fine for me!
RTS once again a fantastic blog, thanks :)
is it
just me
that's reading it
a bit strange? :o)
Great post (if oddly formatted!)
We've had no snow here this winter, I'm missing it!
Apologies for the previous formatting issues. Something went bonkers somewhere between the cut and the paste. I believe I have mostly corrected it now, apart from some aberrant boldness. But where would we be without aberrant boldness?
aberrant baldness?
top post.
Mr RTS bought you one pot of cream? No, no no. My previous experience of ladies unguents are that there's a different pot for the time of day. The bare minimum is a day cream and a night cream, however also available in versions for elevenses, lunch, tiffin, early evening. Mrs DaftB was most bemused when one evening I came in from a winter run and used her pot of morning cream. Pffft silly me.
I wished I could run but with the amount of clothes I put on to keep warm I normally end up looking like the mitchellin man. And as for cream the only kind I could find was the squirty stuff in the fridge ( and Mrs Gam won't play).
Love the blog - as always. Loved the comments too! Like Mrs Gam, I don't have cream but have noticed my skin suffers more now I run. I use Mr RN's cream or the gandchildren's eczema cream. :0