I had this idea....


Mid-week I thought about posting some patterns that I have written. Technical difficulties got in the way. That, and lack of initiative to figure out how to create links.

What was I going to post? A pattern for a hat in fingering weight/sock yarn with a small peerie. Perfect for active outdoor sports (or, in today's "dangerous windchills" for wearing under the down hood). Also a mitten pattern that gives numbers for a variety of sizes. Interested? Email me.

Ran outdoors this morning. Even I was a bit daunted by the predicted windchills. Yesterday at noon it was near 30 degrees F at my house (thermometer is in the shade on the north side of the house), then the wind picked up and the temp began to drop.... Woke up to -18 at the "big airport" (where official records are now kept) and -14 at the house, with temps a tad warmer at Sky Harbor (little airport) which is at the same elevation as my running route. Winds gusting to near 30 mph from the west. We shall not discuss windchills, but they were in the -40's, so I hear.

What to wear to protect my face? My last run with nasty winds my cheeks were getting 'nipped' and any efforts to pull my neck gaiter over my face resulted in me feeling as if I was suffocating. Last night Jon suggested I get the hood off of my old down coat. Perfect solution. It zips off, the bottom has a velcro piece that is at least 3 inches wide, and there are - gasp - hood strings - so that it can be cinched down. I wish I had brought a camera along! I am sure I reached some kind of fashion height with my outfit. Umm, did I mention this is a rather puffy coat? Yeah. Held it all in place with the aforementioned neck gaiter and topped it off with my LL Bean pullover windbreaker (forget what they call it - mountain anorak maybe). Had my usual layers underneath, though added another pair of winter-weight tights (though lighter than my sporthills) to the mix, topped off with windpants. Even managed to shave some time off my usual pace for this distance - despite the layers. Warm and toasty the whole time, even had to vent the hood while running back into the wind.

Huge change from the run on Friday! I was wearing the minimal winter gear for temps below freezing, and ended up shedding one layer of mittens early on. I am building mileage for a race in May, so am committed to doing some long runs on the weekend. The forecast was not pretty for Saturday so I opted to get my 7 miles in Friday afternoon. I had plotted a course that was about half roads, half trails and included lots of hills (the goal race is very hilly) and started at my front yard. Then Jon called and suggested I just run down to the airport and he would give me a ride home. Hmmm. Got on gmaps.pedometer and started looking at route options. Easiest was to leave home and run to the airport. Worst thing about that route: first mile is downhill. You pretty much lose 500 - 600 feet in less than a mile. Yeah, I live just about at the highpoint of the ridgeline in Duluth, Sky Harbor is on Park Point, just about at lake level.

I took this as an opportunity to put the heart rate monitor on and try to run a nice easy run. Did pretty well, though what feels easy to me still has my heart rate up in the mid-to-upper 160's. One of these days I will take the time to figure out my true max heart rate. I think it is a bit higher than the 173-178 that the formula's predict. Other than the hill, the next worst part of this run is that it is flat for the next 6 miles. I considered bringing along a cd player, then discovered the headphones had been borrowed. Well, lots of time to think and listen to the world around me.

One thing I noticed as I ran the roads - truckers gave me the widest clearance, young people, especially young women, seemed to be oblivious to my presence on the road. I could touch their cars if I had reached out, and I am short! I like the idea of encouraging drivers to give pedestrians and bicyclist "three feet" (http://bikingduluth.blogspot.com/). Most often there was not traffic in the oncoming lane, so no reason to be so close.

Not much to see in the way of wildlife - some rock pigeons perched on the powerlines along Railroad Street and a bald eagle (they seem to be around a lot this year).

On the knitting front:

Bird mittens languishing in their bag; scarf has taken a back seat to a healing shawl, because I can work on it while reading and I wanted to break into the Quarry from Knitpicks. Finally got the right needles and stitch count for this. Still no idea who the recipient is to be. I am sure by the time I am finished that will become obvious - usually does.

Entertainment for the day:

Freeze drying my running clothes.

I try not to put my technical fabric stuff in the dryer and our basement is way too cold to get stuff to dry in any type of reasonable time frame. Seems odd that hanging it out on a below zero day would dry it faster, but it does. Gets rid of a lot of moisture, so that the clothes are only damp once they thaw out. Almost didn't need clothes pins today, the stuff was freezing as I walked out the door. Had to be pried off this evening.

Stay warm!