Country, Winter...Running?

I'm still alive. Country living agrees with hermity old me. Last week there was a little ice storm and I spent the day in the den writing and folding laundry and drinking coffee and looking out the window at the lovely ice formations on the trees in the yard. Then the power went out and I got out some candles, picked up the baby from daycare and waited for SB to get home and light the fireplace. (while I'm sure I'm perfectly capable of lighting the fire myself, I'm not equally confident with my ability to set the flue/fan correctly to keep the smoke out of the house. So until I get a chance to practice, I will not light a fire without supervision!)

Today I ventured out for not only my first run in our new neighborhood, but my first REAL winter run. Yes I ran in slushy and snowy conditions when we were in the city, but that was....longer ago than I would like to admit. Now that winter is fully upon us, the road is full of chunky ice and snow and the air feels empty. Since I haven't run in an embarrassingly long time I dialed back my routine to a 4km run/walk. While my legs and back feel actually really really great, my lungs had a hard time with the cold air and I'm glad I didn't push it.

My biggest beef about this winter running thing? I think I have an allergy to the cold!  I'm not even kidding - before the holidays we went on a lovely walk on the mountain on a very cold day. We bundled up, but I wore just jeans, no longjohns or anything. By the end of the walk my thighs felt tingly from the cold, which I think happens to most everyone. But when we got home and I began to thaw out, my legs became unbearable itchy. Like, intolerable. Like, I wanted to take a sharp object to scratch at them. Being a patient of the great Dr. Google, I looked up the symptoms and allergies to cold conditions is a real thing. So, today I felt warm enough on my run, but now that I'm home and warming up, my legs are soooo itchy again. Maybe I should put a pair of shorts over my running pants? I don't want to overdo it because too hot = sucky. Today it was -5 when I left. Anyway, a dose of Benedryl helped last time so I'll probably hit that up soon.

I should have taken some photos. I need to make a point of doing that. Tess had an amazing time - she is really loving life here, as she should, since we moved out here basically for her quality of life :P  Also, this was my first run in like two years without a jogging stroller. It felt amazing.