Cheryl Earns Her "15 Below" Patch!

Subie Starts in this! 

Final temps this morning before the run. 

For running!   That is right!  It was -15 degrees this morning and we went out for an 8 mile training run.  I rode the Bike while Cheryl ran.    I got cold..  Cheryl got to run.    It seemed like a fair exchange at the time. 

Army in Alaska .  Sometimes it was not that bad.  

Back when I was in the Army in Alaska,  we used to run in this crap all the time.   Either I have forgotten how terrible that was,  Or I was much more acclimated and YOUNGER so as not to feel the true fury of the cold.   No one every told me that old age came with this much baggage.  "Oh!  And by the way,  what used to feel comfortable and doable will now make you miserable and seem impossible.....

Well,  Impossible is not quite there yet, as proven by our performance this morning.   We did it.   And survived!   It was only -15 after all.   Fairbanks was routinely in the -20 range!   Still,  I did not have to ride a bike in that weather.   And running seems to generate a lot more heat.

Shooting clays in the ice and cold! 

We used to shoot Skeet at the Ski hill back then as well.   They offered various patches for certain milestones in your shooting.   One of those was the 40 below patch!    Shoot a round of skeet in -40 degree Temp ( or colder.... It was -54 when we did it.)  and you get the patch!   How hard can it be to do that?

Plenty!   I only hit 6 clays and I didn't care.   I never wanted a round of skeet to be over so quickly.  Normally,  Shooting clays is fun!  And you want it to last as long as possible,  trying to hit as many as you can. But not that day.   I was so proud of that stupid little patch.

Cheryl is bundled! 

Note the gloves.   Thumbs tucked in!

Well, Cheryl earned her -15 patch ( yet to be made by me...)  Today.   I'm not sure where she will display it, but I'm certain she feels the same pride that I did when I rumbled with extreme cold and barely won.   Ok,  Maybe she won with a better experience, but it is still an accomplishment.

Shortly after this,  The camera froze! 

The River is frozen now.  Eagles gather
near open patches of water. 

It was so cold our this morning,  Subie almost did not start.  AND my camera died on me after my last running photo.   I tried in vain to get it to take pictures of the Eagles again.  They were bunched up in even bigger clusters even closer together!   Possibly because the open water has shrunk on the river.   Most of the river is now completely covered except for a few patches... and that is where the eagles are hanging out.

Back when I was younger, dumber, and still able to
survive it! 

One side note.   Apparently,  some kid died at the University today/last night.   The newspapers are blaming the cold.   It sounds a little fishy to me, but I did not read the full article.   I did read that Alcohol was not a factor...   So, either something else was, or the kid fell asleep out in -24 degrees and did not feel the burning sensation of his limbs freezing.  ( We used to sleep out in -30 in the army...   All the time!  And we managed to survive with just a sleeping bag.  No tent, No stove!   Just us and the stars.)  If he was properly dressed or anything,  he would have probably been fine.   I'm thinking there was some other factors at play.   Cheryl and I proved that -15 is cold, but will not kill you if you are properly dressed.  I'm curious what other information might come out about the case.

Well,  On that gloomy note,   I shall sign off and pour another hot Cocoa.   Stay  warm!   Currently it is  snowing and blowing outside, but the temps have climbed to -2.  ( Almost tolerable!) Cheryl wants to go running again tomorrow... after work.   I'm usually more hip to things on Friday,  so We shall see how things go.   Wish us luck!   And thanks for stopping in.