A tale of cold feet, but not in the way you’re thinking

Us northerners have come to understand that winter can be a magical and energy giving season, but it’s also muddled white, grey, and cold can often steal that very same energy. Another thing we’ve grown accustomed to is how to manage the cold! “Wouldn’t be so bad without that wind, eh?”.

I’m often asked whether I prefer to engage in outdoor activity in the summer or in the winter, and my gut response screams, “DON’T FORGET ABOUT FALL”. Truth be told fall and winter both stack up there at number 1 for me as far as favorite seasons go, but anyone who pays a smidge of attention to my social media, training habits, or total training time will tell you that it almost doubles for me once the snow flies. Oh and I react much like our dogs do when Kasey ask’s if we “wanna go outside?”.

Chionophiles - greek for snow, but used nowadays to describe folks like me. WINTER LOVERS.

Skiing, fat tire cycling, hiking, running, and just good ‘ol fashioned playing in the snow. Taking a whiff of the healthiest white power there is, whatever the activity, I’m there. There is just something about the energy of the freezing cold, dark, still mornings and the wind whipped days that bring me alive the most. The only way I can describe it is that the molecules of my body yearn to be moving outside, feeling the frozen air in my lungs, having my mustache freeze, growing beardcicles, and even…dare I say…getting cold feet. It’s not so much a badge of honor, as it is that I just have ten times the energy once the snow starts falling.

Winter running last year was technically my first true season of winter running, but I fell in love with it long before while at Michigan Tech. Back then I could only afford what was on deep clearance on Steep & Cheap, so surely anything waterproof or gore-tex was out of the question. I did the best I could with what I had. Ski socks, Salomon Speedcross shoes, some taped grocery bags on my feet to keep them dry (ish). It was always fun in that sort of way where you’re enjoying the purest form of an activity unencumbered by a product the internet tells you you need.

But, it had to come to an end. That end was during the arctic freeze in early January, 2024. -10 degree standing temps with wind chills dropping it further. Meijer bags and ski socks can only keep the little piggies so warm for so long, and with my training taking me to new distances warranting longer days in the cold, I had to bite the bullet. Now, this isn’t specifically a product plug, but my Altra Lone Peak All Weather 2’s were the perfect gateway drug (cough, I mean shoe) to pair with some of my woolie boolie heavyweight wool socks from cycling to keep the little piggies dry AND warm.

Warm and dry feet make or break training this time of year, hard to work your way on the trail in ankle deep snow when your feet feel like they’re frozen blocks and numb below the ankle bones. While the title may have lead you astray at first, you can see now how much unlike “getting cold feet” means running away from something, to me it meant running towards something. Finding that next level of fitness, dialing in my gear to keep me out there that much longer and to ultimately engage in not 1, but 2 things that bring me energy!

So to summarize, cold feet = bad, warm feet = good, anything that keeps you moving in the winter is a positive, and that winter is the best time of the year!

-Coach Tim