I generally like to stay positive, especially when I know I could be influencing other peoples’ moods. And I will always love running and generally enjoy changes in seasons as it keeps the routine from getting stale. However, two months into winter I’m sort of over the new and exciting challenges that it brings to running. I need to blow off a little steam about things that are bugging me about running right now. Once it’s off my chest I’m sure I’ll feel better and be able to enjoy running in slushy negative temp conditions again. So here is a list of a few things I (don’t hate) but dislike about running in the winter:

1. My constant failure to get my layering perfect. When the days fluctuate between -5C to -25C within a twelve hour window, it’s really a crap-shoot whether you’ve dressed appropriately. Even if you are perfectly dressed for half of your run, chances are the same combo won’t work once the wind hits you from another direction. Just today I had the annoyingly unpleasant sensation of being too hot on my upper body while at least two of my toes were completely numb from cold.

2. Lack of sidewalk space. Most of us city runners have perfected the sidewalk dodge, and are pretty good at judging other pedestrians’ pace and patterns so we can zip between people, strollers and dogs without breaking stride. In winter though it’s a different story. On most sidewalks right now there is room for about one and a half people to pass with snowbanks lining the path on both sides. If absolutely everyone is looking up and follows courteous passing rules (one foot each in a snowbank while turning sideways) then it all can work. Mostly this doesn’t happen though. The other day I was running along the sidewalk and coming towards me were a mother and her young son. I committed to the side of the boy, thinking there would be more room, but then noticed his eyes were covered by his toque and scarf and his head was bent down to protect his face from the blasting wind. His mother and I both saw what was going to happen, but there was nothing to do. There was nowhere to go. Instead of diving into the nearest snowbank I simply stopped and braced myself for the full impact of him walking directly into me.

3. My poor skin. I know I’m going to sound vain here, but is there anything less attractive than dry, pale, weather-beaten skin? Especially when that skin is on your face? As I approach 40 I’m already concerned enough about every new wrinkle and line. I feel like the skin on my face suddenly just gave up all at once – like the elastic in a bathing suit which suddenly lets go. And yes, I blame winter.

Ok, I’ll stop there. Winter running can be glorious, gorgeous and fun. There is a lot to love about it, and mostly I do. There, see? I feel better already. Thanks for listening.

Like most runners, I have many obligations which I have to fit around my daily runs. I try to run in the early mornings so that I’m not taking from any other bucket, but that doesn’t seem to stop my unending need to multi-task in order to cram everything into my days. Through trial and error I’ve learned which tasks can be combined, and which cannot. I will share my list with you so that you too can be an efficient runner and don’t make the same errors I have in trying to combine the wrong activities.

Activities: Eating and showering.
Scenario: You’ve come in from a long run and need nourishment asap. You also have to be out the door to an event in 15 minutes. No time to re-fuel and shower, so why not combine them?
Result: Soggy food mixed with soap and hot water.
Status: Multi-tasking Don’t

Activities: Making dinner and doing squats and lunges.
Scenario: Everyone’s hungry but you haven’t done your strength training yet.
Result: Dinner is on time and you have thighs of steel.
Status: Multi-tasking Do

Activities: Blow-drying hair and talking on the phone.
Scenario: You’ve just taken over an hour of time to yourself by running and showering, and are about to head out to your next activity, but you owe a call to your friend/sister/aunt.
Result: One-way yelling conversation because you can’t hear and your hair ends up frizzy anyway because you couldn’t hold the brush and hairdryer and phone at the same time.
Status: Multi-tasking Don’t (you’ll have to text her from your event)

Activities: Going for a run and catching up with a friend.
Scenario: You’ve missed the last five group get-togethers with your girlfriends and you failed on catching up over the phone because you had to blow-dry your hair, so you schedule a run-chat date.
Result: Your run flies by and you have great one-on-one chatting time with your bud.
Status: Multi-tasking Do

Activities: Looking after kids and getting work done on a computer.
Scenario: The kids have a PA day but you have a deadline and think you may be able to get some work done while kids entertain themselves.
Result: You can’t focus because of shouting, unsupervised arts ‘n crafts has left you with a two-hour clean-up job and everyone’s climbing the walls.
Status: Multi-tasking Don’t

Activities: Looking after kids and getting a workout in.
Scenario: You slept through your 5 a.m. alarm, it’s the same PA day and you have kids with you all day. This is the easiest one! Take them to a pool and sneak in some 30 second pool-run sprints, take them to a gym and do burpees while they throw balls, take them to an indoor court and play “chase” while doing wind-sprints.
Result: Kids are happy and tired out and you got some high-intensity cross-training in.
Status: Multi-tasking Do

With some creativity and an open mind, combining your to-do list really can allow you to fit everything in. Just make sure you get the combinations right – it can be either Win-Win or a giant fail!

I don’t usually write race re-caps because I tend to think they’re a little boring and self indulgent, but I will make an exception for the one I ran last week. As the former women’s Beer Mile world record holder, I was invited down to Austin, Tx to compete in the World Championships. Although I had been in Beer Mile retirement for the past 15+ years, I decided to have some fun and try my best at making a convincing come-back. I did hold out a fair bit of hope that I could place well. I’ve kept up with running competitively, and although I’ve had my ups and downs, I currently feel like I’m about as fast a runner as I was 15 years ago. My only worry was the beer drinking. I do still enjoy beer, but I like to sip one or two in an evening. Let’s just say that in my 20’s my beer drinking was a little less civilized. However, people who are in the know say there is an “X” factor to good Beer Milers – they’re not always the fastest runners or chuggers, but together they can be the best. Physically, I look and feel similar to how I did 15 years ago, so whatever that “X” factor is, I should still have it.

The entire experience was amazing. As my friend (former Queen’s track buddy Suzy G) who accompanied me down said: “we played hooky from life for three days”. The organization and professionalism by Flotrack, the event organizers, was incredible. I was picked up at the airport, taken to my hotel, and then pointed in the direction of one of the nicest running trails I’ve run.

I had meant to go for a little “shake-out” jog but ended up going for over an hour because I was loving it and for once didn’t have to get back for chores or responsibilities.

Back at the hotel I met up with Jim Finlayson (also a former Beer Mile world record holder from Canada – same era as me but a more decorated runner – past and present). We went out for dinner and discussed strategy. This was the menu:

We each had a pint with our meal and then Jim suggested each chugging a quick beer. I wasn’t sure about having TWO BEERS the night before the Beer Mile, but he likened it to running a few 400’s at race pace – just to sharpen up. Made sense. We timed each other and were both feeling confident with our chugging abilities.

Suzy G arrived later and we explored Austin. A late night for me, but for once I could sleep in! This was feeling very indulgent.

The next day was race day. Suzy and I went for a little shake-out jog in the morning (this time really keeping it to 30 minutes). Then we had the athlete’s technical meeting. The attention to detail was astounding – everything was taken care of for us, right down to the exact temperature we wanted for our beer at the start – to the degree!

We had been told the venue would be at an F1 race track – The Circuit of the Americas. This was amazing as I’ve never been to an F1 track, let alone raced on one!

The event itself was pretty surreal. I’ve never raced at a large international level event with live broadcasting before, so I got a taste of what it’s like to be an elite track athlete. The elites had our own warm-up area, and everyone was getting into real race-prep mode. Stretching, doing drills, listening to music, not making eye contact. And every now and then some of us were pulled aside to do an interview. It was quite intense. Then we were marshaled to the start and it all unfolded from there.

When the gun went off I started into my first beer and I just felt that the taste was not right. It wasn’t a carbonation or stomach capacity issue – I just wasn’t prepared for the taste of that specific beer. (I know – how do you make a rookie mistake like that after 20 years?!) I was off the pace of the leaders from the beginning. I stayed consistent and ran well – I didn’t have any big pauses, but my beers were just consistently about 5-10 seconds too slow. I was a tad disappointed in myself, but I guess I had been relying on a magic “X” factor which had been lying dormant for 15 years.

I know the Beer Mile is a strange event. There will always be people who don’t approve of the drinking aspect. For me it was just something we did in university to take some of the seriousness out of our training and racing. It was our time to relax and have fun, but we were incapable of not adding an element of competition to anything. We are of a breed who were born to compete. We can’t help ourselves. We want to win – even if it’s winning the party. We had some other strange running-related competitions back then: Naked Run, Timbit Challenge, Earl St. Mile, Slow-Twitch Decathlon. I wonder if any of them will ever develop into World Championship events? 😉

My sister and I are creatures of habit. We know if we want to run our best we need to do an interval workout at least once a week. We live near each other and have similarly busy lives, and since misery loves company, we started doing these workouts together every Wednesday morning at 5:30 a.m. (the only time we had). This was about three years ago. Once we started we just kept up our pattern. Every Wednesday morning – rain or shine, even through the darkest, iciest, coldest winter mornings, we would meet and run hill repeats or hard intervals together.

One day we thought it would be nice to have some more company. So we started telling people it was fun. If we heard that someone was a runner and lived nearby, we immediately tried to sell them on the idea of joining us at 5:30 a.m. We got a few out – one very consistently, so we became a bit of a trio for a year. Sometimes there were four of us, so we started calling ourselves a “running crew”. Then we used the warmer months to bring more people in. More stayed on. Amazingly we went through the next winter with some freezing workouts bringing as many as six runners out.

It has now been just over two years since we started our “running crew”, and we have a group of up to sixteen runners (we average about 8-10 people per workout) who meet to do hills or repeats ranging from 400 m to a mile every Wednesday at 5:30 a.m. Bodies converge at our meeting place in the dark, a few pleasantries are shared, we wait a few minutes for those we know are making their way over, I go over the workout and we jump in. We don’t talk much – there’s not usually enough time or oxygen for small talk. We bond through the shared experience of waking up in the dark and working our butts off to get faster. We’re all moms and dads, although that’s not a prerequisite for our group. There are no prerequisites, running credentials or membership dues required: you just have to show up and run. However, we are the ones for whom 5:30 a.m. seems like a great idea, because it’s the only window which works. Once we’re finished, we don’t hang around and enjoy our post-workout buzz. We hurry home quickly to start our busy days. Our crew contains teachers, a firefighter, business VPs, directors and managers, a doctor, sales and marketing executives, entrepreneurs. Some of us have gotten deep into professional careers and are now focusing on raising families (I suspect these are the busiest amongst us!)

We’ve managed to get together for a few social events and sometimes a few of us can even coordinate busy weekend schedules to do long runs together. It turns out I really like these bodies in the dark who run, sweat, grunt, gasp and spit beside me on early Wednesday mornings. Who would have guessed? I’m glad my sister and I told them it was fun – I think some of them may now actually be starting to believe us.

The other day I was having dinner with a friend and I was contemplating my feelings about coming up on 40. It will happen next summer. I said I’m pretty happy with most things about getting older. I’d rather be who I am now than who I was ten years ago. The only thing I’m not looking forward to, I told her, is continuing to train just as hard, only to see my race times slow down. My friend looked at me uncomprehendingly and said “Who cares?!? You look fantastic!” (she’s a true friend). But I thought – wait – did she mishear me? I wasn’t talking about my looks, I was talking about my race times. It dawned on me that to some people running has a completely different purpose than chasing times. They train to look good. Which is fine. I’ll be honest, I’m very happy with the physical consequences of running hard. But my workouts are designed with one purpose in mind: to make me a faster runner. They’re not about sculpting or shedding or firming. I have the luxury of not thinking too much about my body because my goal of trying to get faster sort of takes care of that. But it made me wonder … how much do I really “not care”? So I played a game with myself to see (I like torturing myself with mind games this way.)

What if the Devil made a deal with me that I could take a minute off my 5K time this year (I’d still have to train just as hard so I deserved it) but I’d have to carry 5 extra pounds of fat on my body for a year? I would take that deal.

What if I could take two minutes off my time but I’d have to carry 10 extra pounds of fat for a year? I’m hesitating. I’m stuck on that one.

I guess I’ve been kidding myself because although I like working hard to run fast, obviously I wouldn’t be willing to unconditionally trade in times for my body (which by the way isn’t even close to perfect, but another benefit of coming up on 40 is that I’m finally comfortable in it).

My friend with whom I’d brought this up wouldn’t take an ounce of fat for a 10 minute PB. I interviewed another friend who I thought would struggle more with the question, as she works hard for her times and cares about them a lot, but she wouldn’t do the 5 pounds for 1 minute deal either. Hunh.

I would love to ask Shalane Flannigan. I bet she would take on 30 pounds for three years in exchange for the American record in the marathon (around 2 minutes faster than what she’s run). But I could be wrong – it is one of those things which is impossible to know until the Devil is actually there asking you to sign the deal.

I suppose all runners must fall somewhere along the scale of running only for times vs. running only for the physical benefits. The truth is, in reality the two are so inextricably linked that it really is hard to pose the hypothetical question of “which one is driving you?” It’s fun to try though – go ahead and test yourself – your answers may surprise you!