Cold and snag season

Although I should be used to it by now I'm still surprised to see TV commercials promoting Christmas shopping this early in the season. This week I'm starting to see a lot of them and it's only a few days since Halloween. I was still waking up to the expectation of heat and humidity on my run as recently as mid-October. Suddenly it's the holiday season and the morning temperatures are reinforcing that point, certainly with today's run. I've started to add layers to my usual outfit of running shorts and short sleeved jersey and I'm thinking that I still could use a thermal top for when things get really cold in January. The Champion tight running pants that are/were bargain-priced at Target are a good weight for now but I will need to switch to my Nike compression pants when the temperature drops. There are always regular running pants but I don't like using them until the weather gets really cold.

I had a couple of snags this morning, one literal, before and after my run. When I put on my reflective vest I saw that the plastic clip on one side had broken off so I had no easy way to connect the front and back. I ended up wedging an adjacent plastic piece into the receptor but that fix didn't hold for long. I stepped out and realized that the 37 degree temperature was misleading because there were some strong winds kicking up leaves and providing a chill that made it feel much colder than it was. I took off anyway and hoped I'd warm up quickly from running. The wind dislodged the clip on my vest so it became unstable and flew in front of my face each time I got a direct gust of cold air. I said to myself that today was about getting through the workout and I ended up covering 2.4 miles in a little over 22 minutes. Like my two other early morning runs this week I felt sluggish most of the way through. I wonder if I'm not well enough rested to do these runs this week.

When I returned home, I slipped through the garage into the den and one of my new ASICS gloves got snagged in the door of the mud room. I had to struggle to detach my hand from my glove in time to disarm the security alarm before the 120 decibel klaxons went off waking my family and the neighbors. Fortunately the delay provided enough time for me to do that. The last thing I needed was a discussion with the police who'd have been dispatched by our alarm company if the alarm actually did go off. I still need to figure out how to fix my vest for next week and I'll know to be very careful with my glove the next time I come back in from a run.