Two Trials

I am spending a couple of days in NH and VT.  When I awoke this morning, the weather guy on TV was clamoring about how it was -10 degrees F outside.  I thought,”10 below, aw c’mon, give me a break” and off I went.

I made several strategic errors when going out for this run.  First, walking out the door in the first place.  Second,  thinking that -10 was really no big deal and not factoring in the windchill.  Third, not bringing my balaclava (or my “running nun” headgear as a friend likes to call it).  I had let Brad take the balaclava on his ski trip.

I was thinking that -10 wouldn’t be that bad.  I mean I’ve been running in the winter cold for months now.  Oh, was I mistaken.  I thought I was in trouble from the very start, but convinced myself that I would warm up.  After 15-20 minutes, I was sure I was in trouble.  I was passing Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and I seriously considered stopping in to the ED.  You see, my ears had become numb and my fingers weren’t far behind.  Like a fool, I carried on and was sure I could make it back before any serious damage was done.  The last 3 miles of the run was a true speed workout as I tried to generate more body heat and get back to the warmth of my room as soon as possible.  By the time I got back to my room, my fingers were numb and I was afraid to even look at my ears.  I burst into the room; my mom and Maddie were surprised to see me back so soon and by my freezing appearance.  I ripped off my hat to find my numb right ear completely blanched (white).   I gently tried to rewarm it  by leaning my head against my arm.  Within minutes, I felt an incredibly painful burning, stinging sensation throughout the ear.  It turned beet red (a good thing) as opposed to black and necrotic (a bad thing), but it remained numb.  For the remainder of the day, the ear was intermittently painful and certain parts remained numb.  Frostnip is what it’s called as opposed to frostbite; whatever it’s name, it’s not fun and it was pretty scary.