Winter Jogging

Have you ever seen someone do something, apparently for fun, that makes you wonder "Why on God's green earth would anyone do that?" or "What the Dickens is that person up to? Why the devil..." well you get the idea.

In Canada those people are winter joggers. And I am here to tell you that, yes I am one of them.

It takes a special sort of person to run in freezing cold temperatures on slippery sidewalks for pleasure. Well, maybe pleasure isn't the right word but I do try and run twice a week all winter - once during the week and once on the weekend.

The main reason I do this (I think) is that it's the easiest way for me to get a health fix during the long and dark winter months. Going to a gym is tough when you're a dad and skating, snow shoeing and cross country skiing are "bigger" activities that require more time and hard to do on a regular basis.

I'm not crazy! I have a haphazard array of winter jogging clothes that I've collected over the years and that allows me to jog reasonably comfortably down to about minus 20 Celsius. That's my limit.  Those negative 30 Celsius joggers - now those guys are nuts. ....right?

(crickets)

I have two basic routes from my house: one where I jog pretty much straight west along the Byron linear park and one where I run around nearby Dow's Lake.

Here is my Byron linear park route.

A couple minutes from my house I'm still in a residential neighbourhood.

 

A few minutes later I've entered the Linear pathway. It's a nice tree-lined park that is about 2.5 km long and varies between 5 and 15 metres wide.

When they say linear - they mean linear!

I run in the park until I hit a dead end at Churchill street in Westboro.

Just think...it's only 3 months until spring...

After that I double back home. There isn't much action beyond dog walkers and other crazy winter joggers but occasionally I run past something interesting like this remnant from Christmas.

It's not much but I'll take it!