Category: running

I don’t feel like blogging about anything serious at the moment even though there are tons of things going on in the U.S. and the world. At the moment I don’t know what to say on the current events that I feel passionate about. Therefore, I decided I would briefly write about running in Wisconsin in the Winter. If you don’t run when it is cold or snowy then you typically aren’t going to be able to run in Wisconsin December through mid-March. According to Ranulph Fiennes “there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” So here is how I run in the Winter.

• Layers. It really isn’t very difficult to stay warm when run in the Winter. Once you get started your body is going to produce a lot of heat. When in doubt I like the Runners World What To Wear Guide for a general guideline of what to wear, Usually if it is above 10° I wear two technical shirts and a windbreaker. If it is colder than that I reduce a technical shirt and pull a lite fleece under the windbreaker. If it is in the negatives I add more technical shirts nd a thicker fleece. This has worked all the way down to -20° with a windchill down to -40°.
• Socks. Buy some good Merino wool socks and sock liners. I like Darn Tough Vermont socks. The ski socks are particularly nice for Winter running and they have a lifetime warranty.

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  Visibility. Since it gets dark pretty early around here it is difficult to run on a work day when there is full daylight. In addition to the lack of daylight the roads get more narrow throughout the Winter because of the snow berms that develop on each side of the road from the snow plows. I have been almost hit by cars a couple of times because of not being visible in these conditions. So I decided to correct that situation with some high visibility products. My RoadID bracelet offers a small amount of reflectivity but serves as my in case of emergency identification. My main reflective sources are reflective wrist and anklebands, a running strobe or two, and/or my ASICS Storm Shelter Jacket (I’m wearing it in the picture with this post). The ASICS Jacket has 3m reflective material woven throughout it and is those VERY bright.

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  Traction. I am a klutz so maybe it is just me but Winter can get a little slippery. Naw, this video proves it isn’t just me. Things get even worse when Spring starts to come around with its thaw during the day and refreeze at night routine. So I wear a pair of Yaktrax. They usually last a few seasons and you can find them on sale for a better buy.

I’m not able to maintain the same mileage in the Winter that I do during the rest of the year, but I able to run enough miles to maintain my base level of running fitness. Also it feels pretty hardcore to run when it is snowing heavily.

I have run a few races as a part of Team World Vision raising money for clean water. Two weeks ago I ran the Eau Claire half marathon and saw that they had a large group of people running as a part of Team World Vision. I talked with one of the leaders and became convinced that we could do the same in Stevens Point. So I have decided to start looking for people who would be interested in starting this up and making it a thing in the Point area. We happen to have a wonderful half marathon in Stevens Point every year, the Justiceworks Just Run half marathon and 5k. The Just Run already supports a great agency, how much better would it be if we ran in such a way provided clean water for others? I think it would be a great thing and want to see about getting some others to join me.

So here’s my plan.

• Try to get 7 other people to do this thing with me. Talking with the Eau Claire group they said that 8 people was enough to get the whole thing started and growing for the next year.
• Register for the Justiceworks Just Run halfmarathon for September 5th at 8 am (that’s the Saturday of the Labor Day weekend and the Jazzfest) – Right now it is the early bird special rate of $50.
• Get people to buy a Team World Vision jersey. I have my old one but I think I am going to buy another one because it is a little big for me now. It fit over my gorilla suit when I ran the Bock Run in March.
• Start Saturday group runs June 13th, twelve weeks before the race. We’ll train as we want, individually or with others, during the week and then have group runs on Saturday where we all meet up to begin and meet afterward for coffee or lunch.
• Start raising money for clean water.
• Run the race and celebrate.

I’ve done this once before and it was a lot of fun running a race where people recognized the shirt you were wearing and cheered you on based just off what they knew the jersey represented. I think it would be real cool to turn this into a thing in Stevens Point. Anyone with me?

Yesterday I was running on two of my favorite sections of the Green Circle Trail (the Paper Mill and River Pines sections). It was a beautiful Fall day, which made for enjoyable running. When I was running over the footbridge that traverses the Plover River I looked down and saw that someone had written “Stop and Take It In” right in the center of the bridge. You can see a photo of the script above.

As you can see from the image below, it was really good advice. I love Wisconsin in the Fall.

for some reason my mom seems to worry about me running. so i figured i would post a photo of where i have been recently running on the green circle trail. this should make her feel better. this is for you mom. this is the most danger i have ever faced while running. that is except for the winter when there is ice on the road. the ice is much more dangerous.