Ten reasons to stop worrying and love winter running

I haven’t been too bummed by the recent early winter snap in southern Ontario. In fact, I’ve secretly harboured a little happiness.

Don’t throw your snowballs just yet. Hear me out.

While I was out today on a 24k, I thought of 10 good reasons to embrace winter running*:

10. Clear air. I breathe easier in the crisp winter conditions, while I never can seem to get the same lungful in the heat.

9. Sleeping in. Wait until 9 a.m. in the summer and you’re toast. Literally. But the later you get started on a winter’s morning, the warmer you’ll be.

8. Less pedestrian traffic. Ever had to dodge a group of rollerbladers on the paths in January? Me neither.

7. Two words:

Hot chocolate.

6. Two more words: Hot showers. 

5. Guilt-free sun exposure. Or less-guilt. You still can get some UV rays if you’re out for a few hours on a sunny winter day.

4. Guilt-free napping. Having a snooze after a long run in the summer is strange, with kids outside playing and the sun high in the sky. No such worries in the winter. You’ve been outside enough.

3. Even out the battle of the bulge. My second favourite winter activity is digging into a bag of cookies and bundling up on the couch. Running helps to balance that out.

2. Amaze your non-running (and summer-only) running friends, who can’t believe you’d actually go out in conditions like that.

1. Simply put, you feel great. You 1, Winter 0.

* I reserve the right to revisit this topic in mid-February, with an entry called “10 reasons to @#$#!@% hate winter running”