Like sucking on a giant ice cube

Today marked the first day of the cold-weather season. It won't officially be winter for almost a month, but the 37-degree temps were definitely not fall weather.

As I started up the killer hill, the cold air that rushed into my mouth seemed like the coldest air I had ever felt. I kind of wanted to blame it on the gum I was chewing, some "ice" flavor, but I am not kidding when I tell you I was actually picturing my mouth wrapped around a giant conical ice cube for a couple of minutes, for some odd reason.

I had noticed last week when I ran that I was breathing in and out through my mouth, kind of forcefully, whereas I think normally I try to sometimes breathe in through my nose and then exhale on more of a "blow," if that makes any sense. Well, with today's frigid air (at least to my mouth), the deeper mouth breathing was very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, after I crested the hill and started running on the flat street, my mouth no longer felt like Antarctica. I was cold for the first mile, for sure, and kept my hands inside my hoodie. But on the way back, I was actually a little bit warm and able to let my hands run free and not worry so much about breathing.

Nonetheless, the cold resulted in my completing my first mile in over 10 minutes (I forget exactly how much). I added some side streets to my second mile, which meant I ran almost 1.5 miles on the way back. And I finished up with a few more minutes of running, followed by three laps around the outside of the gym and up the steps.

I hope the mouth-ice cube thing is just a fluke because we have quite a few months of cold temps coming up. If not, I will just have to deal with it. But for now, I am looking forward to giving my feet and legs some time off from running.

Happy Thanksgiving!