RUNNING IN THE COLD

Holidays in Finland this week. Two days I ran in the cold with Marcus and it it was hard work. The first day was -4 and the second about -7. My fngers really did not get warm for the first 20 mins each day. But the view in Turku was beautiful with snow and frost everywhere and the tracks there are wonderful to run on. Today was back in Riga and I ran for nearly an hour round the woods. The temperture was -7 again but today in the same amount of clothes I was not cold at all. Very strange! But it was much harder to run on the slippery snow here and I was moving much more slowly and with more effort. I felt really drained by the time I got back home. But the forest was again beautiful and it felt good to be alive. I was the only person running though. There were several old cross country skiers (where are the youngsters?) on some very good and extensive tracks. There were also loads of children on sledges and one ignorant parent who had taken his 4x4 right into the forest mucking up the tracks as he did so. Why do people do things like this?

Tomorrow it is likely to be very cold so we shall see what to do.

THE WHITE WINTER IS HERE

Winter has come properly to Latvia. I had a good 40 minute run in the snow this morning out in the country in Mazcalaca. The snow was just melting so it wasa bit slippery in places. But the world was white evrywhere and really beautiful. I loved every minute of it. The river salaca was a dirty brown colour and it stood out starkly against the snow. My legs ache a bit now because snow is always hard on the body, but it was worth it.