Winter Wonderland

Well winter has made it's abrupt entrance and the questions about running in the cold weather have started, no your lungs won't freeze so you still can run. I would say that this is probably my favorite kind of weather to run in. To me the air has a texture that you feel when you breath it in. I have lived in places where this is the norm for winter so I'm sure that helps out. That also helped me learn that my lungs aren't going to freeze and trust me I have run in much colder weather than we are currently enjoying.

As far as do we meet in this kind of weather for our workouts, we do. If the roads are bad however we won't. It's supposed to snow tomorrow so if it's bad out on the roads it's likely that I won't be driving to Kirkland. To run in these temps I would recommend a hat, a nice base piece for your upper body and maybe a cotton shirt over the top as the cotton will draw the moisture away and with it this cold it's nice and dry out so the moisture will evaporate, plus the cotton gives you a denser layer to help keep the cold out. You may also want to put a light shell on or vest to keep cold out a bit more. I would also recommend a pair of pants or tights and don't forget gloves or for those who's hands get a bit colder I use mittens as they keeps your hands warmer.

I was in Spokane over this past weekend for the USATF Club Cross Country Championships and with the wind chill it was anywhere from 10-15 degrees with a nice 20 mph wind blowing pretty steady and not a single lung was lost in the competition.  I put together a slide show from the race if you would like to see www.clubnorthwest.org

I'm  having some computer issues today so I'm unable to post the midweek workouts.  Most are just continuing on with the same thing from last week. Those training for Napa are on hills although I'm not sure of the condition of the winter hill and whether or not it's got ice on it so we may have to make a game time decision on that workout.

The roster is rounding out nicely now that the new year is approaching with a little over 100 of you having made plans for next year so the training groups are starting to get a little fuller.

With the new year approaching I myself have made some plans for next year and will be adding someone to help me out with our crew. Her name is Regina Joyce and she has been running for many years and has a great deal of experience as she has been one of the areas top local runners.  I'm excited about working her as I think she will help bring some fresh ideas and a lot of energy to the group which will free me up some and allow us both to work with you a bit more one on one. She'll be attending our workouts starting tonight so come on out and meet her, she is much nicer than I am ;)