Getting creative

Let's face it. The weather this winter has not been ideal for running. If it's not snowing, then we are dealing with negative temperatures. And if it is somewhat tolerable to be outside, then the wind is blowing- making it impossible to run outdoors.

So what's a girl to do?

1. Well - sometimes I suck it up and bundle up. I layer up. I wear a crazy contraption that covers my head and neck and face. I brace myself and head outdoors. And I try to run fast to get it over with.

 2. Sometimes I skip the run. That's not the best situation. But sometimes that's what I do.

3. And, sometimes - as a last resort, I will head the gym to run on the treadmill. And that is just so booooooring.  Yawn. I would rather go back to option one.

And then there are days like today. It was 19 degrees. Tolerable to run outside. But yet, the wind was howling. I was supposed to run outside with Felice at 9 AM. At 8:15 she texted me and said she had an "idea" to avoid the crazy wind.

Her idea involved us going to the Concourse at the Empire State Plaza. For those of you who aren't from around here - the Concourse connects all buildings of the state plaza and it's underground. So basically we would be able to run inside. Yup. I was on board. Let's do it. Concourse - here we come.

We drove to the Concourse, parked, went inside, and started to run. As much as I loved NOT running in the freezing wind, I quickly realized that there were a few minor drawbacks with this scenario. First of all, since the Concourse is underground - there is no satellite reception for our watches. Therefore, our mileage wouldn't be exact. Sure - we could estimate the mileage based on who long we ran - but it wasn't the exact mileage. And if you are a Type A runner like myself - then that just can bug you out. But - no biggie. I could deal.

The other issue was that the Concourse wasn't quite as long as I thought it would be. It took us about 2 minutes to run from one end to the other. Yeah. So that was probably less than 1/4 mile.

But - never fear. There are many little nooks and crannies in the Concourse. So as we ran, we started to form a route. We would turn off and run down the small corridors. We even jokingly talked about running the stairs as a hill repeat. We never did end up doing that. But - maybe next time. That's an idea. Right?

Anyway - we ran for 45 minutes. We estimated our mileage to be about 4.75 miles. At least I got my run in. And at least I avoided the treadmill. And I had company. Which always makes a run much more fun. And I tried something different.

It got me thinking about other creative ideas. Like maybe next time we can go to Crossgates and run the mall. That is always an option. I know there are people who power walk the mall. So - why not run there?

It's all about being creative in the winter time. It's the only way to get in the miles! Meanwhile, I am counting the days until the negative temps go far, far away.