baby it's cold outside

It's been a blustery week in Cincinnati, luckily not nearly as bad as the rest of the midwest.  On cold days I would love to cuddle on the couch with a good book, coffee/tea, and a snuggle buddy.  But alas, I must be up giving into my running obsession.  Running in the cold has it's advantages and disadvantages.  I LOVE being the first one out putting footprints onto a fresh dusting of snow on the sidewalks.  However, I'm not a fan of all the layers I have to wear.  (It's like wearing two sets of running clothes.....and that leads to twice the laundry :( )
Since it's chilly and I'm training for the Heart half marathon I wanted to share few little tips on running in the cold:
1) start with a moisture wicking base layer under your running clothes
2) Hats are your friend, since it keeps in all the heat you lose through your head.
3) If it's really chilly, usually in the teens, I don a balaclava (dick's sporting goods has really cute ones, I got a purple one)
4) I typically limit my time outside depending on the temp., really cold days such as the single digits to the teens I run less than an hour if it's warmer I'll be out for up to two hours.
5) Just get out and run, anticipation of the coldness outside is always much worse than the actual temp.
6) extend your warm up a bit, think of you muscle as a rubber band.  Rubber bands stretch much more easily when they are warm and will snap in the cold.  I would recommend 5-10 min warm up.

Happy running.....