January Running

Running in January is always hard because:

• It's cold.  Very cold.
• Now it's icy too.
• The sun is never out.  (Sunrise today was 7:45am and sunset was 4:57pm) 
• The track at the gym is full of all of the people.
• I can only run on a treadmill so often. 

Given those barriers, running has been going surprisingly well so far this year.  I've made a point of getting out and running any time the weather is halfway decent.  I've made a point of getting to the gym at not busy times, and my mileage is staying where it should be.

One of my goals for the year was to take more pictures.  (Picture taking fell off dramatically when I got my Garmin and stopped taking my phone on runs with me.)  I've made more of a point to have my phone with me on runs, and to get some snaps from time to time.

The Mississippi River from St Paul.  It was around 11* when I started that run, but remarkably ice free.

Minnehaha Creek, earlier in the month. It took a long time for the creek to freeze over.

The creek today. Almost totally frozen over.

For my 1 mile days, I'll go outside in just about any weather.  This day was about 5* and had some kind of wind chill or another.  Still easier than fighting on the track at the gym.