Running in the snow

I’ve been wanting to write a blog post about running for a while now; things like that I finally registered for a few upcoming races in and around Zürich (which I hope I planned correctly, not like last year), or that I finally managed to find a schedule that allows me to run both in good and bad weather, or other boring things like this.

However… what I want to write now about is the morning run I had today. I woke up, planning to run at work during lunch or something like that, then I looked outside: snow! For the first time in about a month or so, real, serious snow falling, and white all around.

I didn’t want to miss this opportunity, so I first checked the temperature: 0°C (±2°), which is fine (I don’t have gear to run at -10°C, for example), maybe a bit wet but acceptable. Got dressed, and went outside. Even the alley to the apartment building was not yet cleared ☺.

So I went on my usual 10K run to work and it was, by far, the best run ever—or at least the best for the past 6 months, my memory is short ☺. It was wonderful, snow falling down, the woods black and white, and a bit of wind. I managed to run about one thirds with both eyes open, about two thirds with just one eye open (heavy wind from one side), and some short streches with both eyes closed, due to heavy wind from ahead. I also had a better pace than expected; about 20 seconds slower per km, which is good, given that running in snow is harder than on clear ground.

One surprising fact: usually I cross on average about one other runner each two-three hundres meters. However today, in the entire 10K, only one other runner. On top of that, a few people seemed surprised at work that I chose to run on such “terrible” weather. Why were people so “scared” of snow? To me it was wonderful, I felt completely like a child again, being able to plough through ankle-deep, pristine snow, ignoring (or rather enjoying) the cold wind, forgetting everything else.

Too bad the snow half-melted by evening. I miss winters with lots of snow…