Observations from a cold weather juggler

Despite the fact that Chicago is experiencing an incredible deep freeze (-3F yesterday), the streak is still alive. Yesterday’s 5+ mile joggle marked the 21st day in a row. Michal tells me last year he had a streak of 27 days of joggling so that is my next immediate target.

And while I bundled up again as suggested in this cold weather running tips post and I followed the six tips in this other cold weather joggling post, it was still hard.

A couple of things you may notice when joggling in super cold weather.

1. People in cars beep and smile more. There must be something inspiring about a bundled up lunatic juggling down the street because you get a lot more reaction from passing cars. People look & point at you. They either have big smiles, puzzled squints or their mouths are open in disbelief. Mostly, they’ll beep their horns and give you a thumbs up. It’s warming enough to take the numbness out of your fingers.

2. You’ll be passed by more runners. This makes sense when you consider the type of people that would go out and run in sub-freezing weather. Only die-hard runners are out and they tend to be quicker than your casual jogger. Fret not. Joggling in this weather is about surviving and doing it. It’s not about speed.

Oh yes, there was another tip about cold weather running that occurred to me.

+Change clothes right when you get home. I just took off my coat, gloves, and extra layers but didn’t change completely. This gave me a chill that even a half hour in a warm shower didn’t help.

Geez I can’t wait for this cold weather to break.