You think you know cold?

This is what I want to say to everyone. Pretty much the entire country. "You think you know cold?!? You think you're cold!!??! Boy, do I have news for you!"

This weekend was the coldest I have ever lived through in my 4 1/2 years in northern Minnesota. AM temps were -25 and -24, respectively. I can't even begin to describe that to someone who has not lived it. This is the kind of cold where exposed skin is at risk for frostbite in about 5 minutes. It frosts your windows on the inside, and makes your car sound horrible. It's basically weather that you don't go outside in.

I know weather and temperature is a relative thing though. Having lived up here for awhile now, I swear that I will walk around in a t-shirt when it's low 60's, probably even high 50's. If I were still living in Florida, that would definitely be sweatshirt weather. It is here too, but only if I'm going to spend lots of time outside. But then again, maybe not. If it were a sunny day and I was running or being active, I'd probably peel my sweatshirt off.

Just the thought of that has left me pinning for warmer weather...

Needless to say, my long run did not happen...outside at least. I sucked it up and ran 1.5 hours on the treadmill. Let me tell you how much fun that is! Oh wait, no it's not. I managed to get through it by watching a movie on Netflix and putting a towel over the time screen. So the first time I looked at my progress, it had already been 48 minutes! That's awesome! Then, of course, I was checking the time every 10 minutes or so again after that. But that's ok. I did it, and I hopefully won't have to do it again next weekend. We'll see. The only problem with running long distances in 10ish degrees is that my water bottles freeze at the end of my run, just when I need them the most!

I am starting to worry a bit about the Polar Dash, coming up in 3 short weeks. The temps in Minneapolis are supposed to get much warmer in the next 10 days or so (we're talking mid 20's! that's incredible!). I'm just hoping that those temps stick around for the race. Keep your fingers crossed that things warm up a bit for us!