cold O-h-i-o

It is bitterly cold up here in northeastern Ohio, but the late February snow storm has left my hometown and my running trails looking rather starkly, icily, beautiful.

Finally - A Winter Run

In Cleveland, no one is talking about Global Warming any more. Nope. Winter is back and its here with a vegenance.On Tuesday morning the Lake Erie “Snow Machine” turned on.

And it was a day more fit to be one of these cute little guys …
<p align=”center”><a href=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/Penguins.JPG”><img width=”300″ alt=”Penguins” title=”Penguins” src=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/Penguins.JPG” /></a></p>
<p align=”left”>… instead of a runner.</p>
<p align=”left”>But we Cleveland, Ohio runners are made of sterner stuff. A little bit of snow and cold can only make us stronger, right?!?</p>
<p align=”left”>This is the scene that greeted me on Friday morning …</p>

<p align=”center”><a href=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/view1.JPG”><img width=”300″ alt=”Winter” title=”Winter” src=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/view1.JPG” /></a> <a href=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/view2.JPG”><img width=”300″ alt=”winter 2″ title=”winter 2″ src=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/view2.JPG” /></a>
Just lovely, eh? It was 25 degrees. Wind chill of 8. I don’t care where you live, that’s cold. (Unless you are an Emperor Penguin. Or an Alaskan. Or a Husky.)

Of course, extreme conditions call for extreme measures. That’s why I broke out my running snow tires.
</p><p align=”center”><a href=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/snowtires.JPG”><img width=”300″ alt=”stabilicers” title=”stabilicers” src=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/snowtires.JPG” /></a></p>
Stabilicers. Snow chains for the feet. (No, I didn’t run in shorts. When I turned on the Weather Channel and saw just exactly how cold it was, I beat a hasty retreat for more sensible wind pants.)

These babies worked awesome by the way. No more fear of slipping. But they are a bit heavy and do go click, clack when you run over dry pavement. A small price to pay for good traction.

The run featured white out conditions typical of Lake Effect snow. Lake Effect is weird. It comes in bands. One minute its white out (I had several of those on my run), the next minute the sun can be out and shining. This is what it looked like when I was done:
<p align=”center”><a href=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/view3.JPG”><img width=”300″ src=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/view3.JPG” /></a></p>
And this is what I looked like:

<p align=”center”><a href=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/IceWatch.JPG”><img width=”300″ src=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/IceWatch.JPG” /></a> <a href=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/SnowyJenny.JPG”><img width=”300″ src=”http://www.learnedfoot.goellnitz.org/photos/SnowyJenny.JPG” /></a>
Hope you enjoyed this virtual winter run!</p>

at THREE AM???!!!

I haven’t been sleeping well the past two days. I’m not sure what’s up. I only know that it takes me forever to fall asleep and then I keep waking up again and again.

So I was not real happy to get awakened last night by a SNOW PLOW at THREE AM. Not plowing the streets, mind you. That I would live with. We need safe streets for the runners at four am. No … this was a private snowplow plowing a doctor’s parking lot and making enough noise to wake the dead.

Said lot does not start getting cars in it until after 7. Can’t the plow wait until a REASONABLE hour? People SLEEP at three am. No one even is out RUNNING at three in the morning. (At least I don’t think so … to be honest I’ve never even seen anyone out the few times I’ve done it at 4:30)

I’m getting tired of winter. It came too early and is showing no signs of leaving. Its colder than usual and the snow just isn’t going anywhere. Just to give you an idea, the temp has been below average (sometimes by as much as 20 degrees below) every single day this month.

dashing through the snow

Dashing through the snow … in my Asics Gel Enduros ….

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A SNOW ADVISORY FOR LATE THIS EVENING THROUGH THE DAY SUNDAY. SNOW WILL DEVELOP LATE TONIGHT AND CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING BEFORE TAPERING TO SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS SUNDAY AFTERNOON. BY MID AFTERNOON SUNDAY MOST AREAS SHOULD SEE FROM 3 TO 5 INCHES OF NEW ACCUMULATION.

Ah Cleveland in December. Running will be fun, fun, fun tomorrow morning. Anyone want to help out this poor new lawyer and send money for some snow shoes? The Weather Channel’s Fitness Comfort Index for tomorrow morning: 1 (all morning). If you won’t send snow shoe money, at least hope for no wind.

Usually the snow gets old right after January 1st. Right now, its getting old already. Its going to be a L-O-N-G winter.