It’s that time of year again, WINTER.  It’s cold, it seems like it’s always dark and it produces various types of frozen precipitation.  As runners we can choose to hibernate or we can embrace it and likely even enjoy it.  

As an ultra runner, it’s actually pretty difficult to hibernate during winter.  This is the time I need to build my mileage base back up for those big spring and summer races.   Don’t get me wrong, I’ve totally avoided the great outdoors during several winters in the past  but I love the relationship I have now with winter running way better.  

You may be thinking how does someone who needs to run 50-60 miles a week for training avoid winter running?  Oh yes, the answer is the treadmill.   I’ve run full marathons in one go on mine.   I actually used to LOVE my treadmill, a lot, but that was more because it allowed me to get miles done while still caring for my small children at the time.  The reality is that number of miles on the treadmill is hard and honestly kind of sucks.  However at the time, I thought facing the elements would suck way more.  

So what changed my winter running ways?  Colorado.  I am not saying moving to Colorado is the answer for all of those scared to get out there in the harsh weather.  But we can all learn a lot from Coloradans.   They have a saying here that most people definitely live by “there’s no bad weather, just bad gear.”   There has yet to be a day where I don’t see countless people running by our window, regardless of what’s going on outside.   I think like most runners, when I see people running I want to be out there running too.  It really motivated me.  I invested in some better gear and got some micro spikes for my shoes.  As it turns out, for the most part, winter running is really fun and really beautiful.  The runs themselves may be significantly harder than the same run in non-winter conditions but that will just help you be a better, stronger runner.  Then those runs will seem so much easier after winter is over.  

Lastly, gather up some friends and get out there together!  I have several groups of running friends.  We set our times and locations for our runs and we hold each other accountable.  Nobody wants to be the one to back out because of the cold or the snow.  So we stick to our plans no matter what and then we feel awesome for getting out there.