while it lasts

it has been a little bit extreme in terms of weather for the past few days - well, not proper extreme but enough for me - which means temperatures around -20 degrees celsius. to be honest it's not quite as bad as it sounds,  i'm currently inland and therefore there is little to no wind. still air with -15 is much easier to handle than -8 with strong wind, hands down; but it still does require some adjusting and certain things have to be taken into consideration when running in such low temperatures.

the cold is not really a problem when you run for about an hour; it's short enough time to stay warm due to the body heat generated by the movement. all you need is a few layers and you're good to go; the tricky bits are really your hands and face. i don't know about other people but for me it seems that my hands (fingers) get frozen very easily, and that is a very uncomfortable feeling, even worse than face freeze - which tends to happen as well. but like said, when the length of the run stays in about an hour even these don't really pose very big problems, and longer runs than that i don't do when it is this cold - i am too keen to be comfortable for that.

but i have to say, even if there is some strange fascination in running in a cold weather, i can't say that it is my favourite conditions. and certainly when i leave finland (for good? for now) in a little bit over a month, this coldness and darkness are amongst the things i won't be missing any time soon.