Every year, on the second Friday in January, this year it falls to today Jan-13 2023, Strava celebrates "Quitters day". Here is description from NationalToday.com site:
Quitter’s Day is held on the second Friday in January. This year, it falls on January 13. The tradition of setting New Year’s resolutions began some 4,000 years ago with the ancient Babylonians. For them, the year did not begin in January but in mid-March — on the first moon after the spring equinox. Quitter’s Day is set aside to recognize those who set new year goals and fail to achieve them — and to encourage and equip them to try again and ultimately succeed. Research has shown that people quit their resolutions for the year by the second Friday of January.
Speaking of quitting, a lot of people these days set goals to stay active and fit but in the face of cold weather, they cancel going out and enjoy such a beautiful snowy weather. The last three days have been fun for me. Why? Cause we have abnormally low temperature here in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. We don't usually have cold winters. This morning, and by morning I don't mean your typical 8 am 😂, at 5 AM weather app on my iPhone showed -21 degree Celsius.
I was super excited to get out and run. In the last couple of days, I have been running under -10, -15 degrees and didn't feel cold. It all boils down to proper clothing. The rule number 1 is NO COTTON! I experimented running with cotton undershirt and I easily caught cold. Was super sick for several days which hit my performance badly.
I have to admit though, during last couple days I was testing running without gloves as usually prefer to minimize my layers and dependencies, and my left had froze by mid run. It was a bit painful but I tolerated. Here is a look at my hand at the end of the run with frozen snow.
Are you ready for fun part? My fist where the middle finger starts has been red for the last two days and I am having a bit pain when I try to squeeze my hand in fist position. I don't exactly know the medical term for this, I am still researching and learning, but I assume it has something to do with dead skin due to continue exposure to cold.
On top of all this, I got some scratching in the back of my ankle in my right feet from my UltraBoost 21.
It is really annoying but tolerable. I tapped it this morning and it was all good.
Now, running under cold is a new fun for me. I really like when the air feels cold and fresh. Anything under 18 degrees Celsius is my new fun. I really enjoy it. I haven't run in anything below -21 degrees yet, but I think it's not as scary as it seems.
Now here are several things I learned:
When I am running in snowy weather with some strong wind, I better use gloves.
Running in snow is so much fun cause it strengthens the glute muscles. Running in slow feels like after each kilometer it looks like you are doing set of 30 sit ups.
I tried to run with bandana to cover my face from cold, didn't work because I primarily use my mouth to inhale and exhale and since warm air evaporates upward my eyelashes froze. Maybe I need to experiment with thinner bandana and my current is too thick that I am having trouble breathing.
Have you been slacking from your New Year resolution goals lately? Are you quitter or are you "Go getter"?
What began as nothing more than a spark of a thought has now taken shape before us, alive and undeniable. We didn’t just imagine it, we lived it, we felt it, and we proved that a simple idea can become something powerful when we dare to believe in it. This journey reminds me that every dream starts quietly, almost invisibly, yet with courage, effort, and heart, it grows into something that touches our lives and inspires us to keep reaching for more.
At the top of the Double Pass (northern), my brother Firuz asked me about our estimated plan of when we will be reaching the finish. Based on the information we had, I said: “Best plan is we reach by 7 PM, given or taken plus/minus 1 hour.” Little I knew how things could go wrong so fast.
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