Changing seasons

I love the beginning of the fall. Mornings are crisp, days are mild, and the changing leaves are eye catching. Mountains become snow capped, but I am not need to be bothered with it… yet. Don’t get me wrong, I really do enjoy having four seasons. After growing up in Los Angeles, it took me a while to adjust to true “cold weather.” Even after living in Spokane, WA four years and Denver for five years, I still battle the idea of layering.

I do understand the concept of base layers and building on these quite well; however, I tend to have such a difficult time being comfortable in changing weather. The change in seasons almost seems like the hardest time to dress for running because you just never know what you are going to get (especially with crazy weather patterns in Denver). I appreciate the simplicity of running in the spring and summer. All I need to know is that I will be wearing a pair of shorts and either a short sleeve shirt or tank top. I might carry a long sleeve shirt, just in case. It takes about three minutes to figure out what I am going to wear, I get dressed, and I run.

When the season starts to change, getting dressed for running becomes almost agonizing for me. I tend to run cold to begin with and find myself getting angry while running if I get too hot or too cold. Rather than taking 3 minutes to get dressed, it takes much longer. The layers come out, and copious notes need to be kept on what I was dressed in and how I felt in whatever degree weather with notes on wind, rain, sun, dark, etc.

Although I dread dressing for the cold months, I continue to do it (it is much better than running naked). There is something refreshing (and a little BA) about continuing to run outside regardless of what the weather is like. I mean, who really wants to be stuck on a treadmill for a 20 mile run?

So, regardless of how much I hate having to layer and waste time in the process, I know spring will come again and I will be back to running in a tank top and shorts. Hopefully my winter efforts will hopefully pay off and I will be back to complaining about planning for extra water for long runs on hot days. Until then, it is time to embrace being able to use all of my running gear as I run on!!

On a side note, I still do plan on writing about the Gore-Tex Transrockies Run...