5 reasons to run when it’s super cold

Even I, the inveterate outdoor exerciser, almost didn’t head outside during a recent cold spell. The weather was bitter, the wind chill worse (4 degrees, I seem to recall) and the house warm and toasty. But I did, living to tell the tale and to do it again the next day, and the next.

It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t particularly fun, but it was, ultimately, satisfying.

Here are five benefits I gleaned:

› Matching doesn’t matter. For non-fashion-conscious me, matching doesn’t matter anyway. But something about the cold lends itself to especially not caring if my socks match my shoes (or each other) or whether my jacket is blue, one glove is pink and the other black.

› Clothes don’t stink as quickly. During summer, I can’t wait to peel off my workout clothes and, holding my nose, drop them into the washer. Not so in winter. I wore the same outfit three days in a row before thinking about washing it.

› Cold-weather workouts carry more glory. Again, not that I particularly care, but people seem awed when I run in single-digit wind chills; aghast when it’s 90 degrees in the shade.

› It’s fun pretending cold burns more calories. Alas, it doesn’t, according to Runner’s World. Shivering ups calorie burn, but we tend to dress warmly enough to overcome that. Oh well. Ignorance was bliss.

› I feel more revved. A hot-weather run tends to totally zap me. But one in cold weather, despite freezing my fingers and rendering talking impossible, gives me an energy boost. Eventually.