The Popsicle Club

I've renamed Afterwork RunClub to the Popsicle Club, pending other run club member approval. Today was our first test of mettle against winter elements. The temperature read 0C but it felt like -7C. And the wind! Many gusts chock full of arctic chilliness heading the wrong way. In many ways, I felt like this 5-mi effort was the hardest I've worked in a long while. And it's been exactly a week since the last run. For all my intentions of taking advantage of the balmy springlike weather last week, my body just didn't want to cooperate. It said, 'You have cruelly waken me up two hours earlier than usual to go work the early shift. I will punish you by making it impossible to realize your goal of running after work for the rest of the week.' And my mind didn't even put up a decent fight.
It was a struggle today. Especially at the beginning when I was standing outside, hopping up and down to try to stay warm while my Garmin was trying to catch a signal between the office buildings. I wondered if I was dressed warm enough -- just a pair of pants, two long sleeve layers, a very light wind vest, gloves and hat. It would be sufficient coverage after 2Ks were done. I lost the Garmin signal partway through and when I finished the run, it said I'd done 7K. But I think it was lying to me. I remapped it online and it looks like I'd lost about a kilometre during the weak signal. I wasn't fully satisfied when we stopped running and thought about doing 2K more on the treadmill. But thawing out in the steam room at the gym was far more enticing.