Jessica's Running Blog!: Cool Winter Gear

When I tell someone that I've been training for a marathon in Boston, in the winter, outside I generally get the same reaction... (s)he asks me if I'm crazy. Well, maybe a little bit, but I'm telling you there are some positives about training in the winter. Despite the bitter cold wind, snow and ice - often times a winter day provides a much more comfortable running temperature to a summer day (give me 40 and cloudy over 75 and sunny weather to run in any day!).
To be comfortable at 40, 30, 20, even 10 degrees you have to get some winter gear. Below are photos of some sweet gear that fellow runners wear to stay warm in the cold temperatures.

This is Kelly. She is also running the marathon on behalf of Boston Partners in Education. Underneath the top layer (jacket with a zipper -- zipper is key) is a hooded Under Armour long sleeve with a hole for her pony tail. If that isn't ridiculously cool, I don't know what is. Seriously.

On Tricia, a fellow runner and floor-mate (not to mention former Boston Marathoner) we have the mitten sleeve. I don't know if this is the "technical" term for this piece of outdoor running gear, but it seems to do the trick. Yes, you could just wear gloves or mittens, but what happens when your hands get hot? What do you do with your gloves? What if you are pocketless? In this situation, there are no worries.

Some gear that I don't have photos of that I'd like to try:

Long underwear made of silk (suggested by the one and only, Aunt Shelley)
A pair of gloves like Erin's - they have a soft patch on the side, so if you have to wipe your nose and you don't have tissue it doesn't tear your skin to shreds.
A neck warmer (although I feel like I would get really sick of this really fast)