Saturday (Nov. 19) I ran a 5K race among snow flurries and a fierce wind. Friday, the temperature was in the 70s. In less than 24 hours, summer departed northern Indiana and winter arrived.
Saturday’s race was my second in a week. Last Saturday, I ran a Veterans Day 5K along the Rivergreenway between Fort Wayne and New Haven. Winter was around that day, too. We had our first frost the night before and the temp was probably in the low-30s at race time. Today (Saturday), the race was the Fort Wayne Running Club‘s annual Turkey Trot at Fox Island County Park, a 5K trail run. My time last week was more than a minute faster than today. Still, I’m pretty happy with my time and the fact that I ran negative splits for the second race in a row.
I have not yet decided on whether I’ll race on Thanksgiving. If I don’t, it’ll be the first time in a few years that I skipped a Thanksgiving race. Last year, we were in Chicago for Thanksgiving and ran a 5K in the Edison Park neighborhood. A few years ago, we were in Montrose, Colorado, and ran a 4-plus-miler in Montrose. Most years when I’m in Fort Wayne, I run the Galloping Gobbler at the University of Saint Francis. It’s a 4-miler that starts at the university, goes to Lindenwood Cemetery then back to the university. The roads through the cemetery are HILLY.
Now, back to summer. We’ve had a rather mild fall so far. I saw on the local news that we had gone more than 200 days between frosts. Imagine that. More than six months from last frost of last spring, in April, to the first frost of this fall, in November. Sure, we had plenty of cold days in that time, but still no frost.
I’ve enjoyed running in the warmer fall days. I hate running in high heat and humidity. I ran one day a few weeks ago with long pants on, but I normally run in shorts. Even today, I ran in shorts. Very few fellow runners wore shorts today. I have not looked a long-range forecast, so I don’t know if the blast of cold air with snow that hit us today is here to stay or not. Regardless, I plan to continue running outdoors and in shorts.
Running dangerously 