Weekend Challenge Running Outside in Cold Weather

 Basem Alsagheer

Thomas Maltman

Sp23 ENGC 1101-22 College Writing

Weekend Challenge (Running Outside in Cold Weather)

Friday 20 Jan

 

Weekend Challenge

Running Outside in Cold Weather

 

Since I came to United State of America, I have seen many people jogging and running outside, and I did not know how they could bear the cold weather while running in winter. I always thought it was one of the hardest tasks anyone could ever try. Because I can barely walk from my home door to my car and I feel really cold.

 

I think those who grew up here and got used to the snow and the extreme cold, their bodies built up immunity or counter strength to overcome the extreme cold. But I made up my mind and decided to take on this challenge, which is to imitate what I see from the window of my room every day. I will be one of them this weekend. At 11:00 A.m. I wore my gym clothes that cover all my body to protect me from the excessive cold outside, and of course I did not forget the gloves and the winter Balaclava mask. I got in my car and headed towards Como lake it’s a large lake with a walkway on its edges that people use to run in the summer days or take a walk and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the lake, trees and some birds, but now we are in winter so there is no presence of all this beauty. Frozen, but the walkway is still there and was usable. I started by warming up and stretching all over my body. This helped me feel some warmth, but soon a cold wind blew and hit my body, so I felt cold again and shivered all over my body, and I almost gave up on completing the challenge, but I stopped for a moment and told myself it is a challenge and it must be completed. I do not lose challenges. Then Then I started running. I was running at a light speed that you could describe as jogging more than running. Gradually, my body began to heat up, and my body temperature began to increase, and with time I increased my speed and started running. I felt excited when I was running, but inhaling the cold air was a source of annoyance to me, as the air was very cold, and I could not adapt to that. I felt like my lungs were freezing every time I breathed in. After twenty minutes of running I decided to rest for a few minutes and started to slow down my speed until I switched from running to walking. Being a former soccer player, I know that we cannot stop running suddenly because it harms our body. I drank a little water and other fluids and then started running again. But this time, I felt more excited while I was running, so I increased my speed, and I no longer cared about the cold air entering my lungs, and I became more focused on running and wiping away my tears. I wasn't sad, I wasn't even crying, but my tears were coming down from my eyes involuntarily. I think they are drops of tears to help my eyes remain liquid and not dry from the extreme cold. After ten minutes of running I started to feel the cold in the tips of my fingers and toes, I got the hint that it was time to return because I cannot not stay in this cold weather any longer. So, I went back to my car enjoying the warmth, drinking water and Gatorade. And I drove straight home.

 

After I got home, I took a cold shower to help my body muscles in the healing process. Then I did some stretches and ate my lunch to help keep me warm and energized. It was a wonderful experience and a great challenge for me, I’m proud that I did it running in outdoor in this weather is not an easy thing, I do not think that I will repeat this experience again, and I will go back to running in the gym as usual, because there I can focus more, run more, and invest more time in workout.