Keep your brain focused on something and entertain it while you’re out there to help lessen the suckfest that icy sidewalks and rotten wind hills can be.

Run with words! Spell things out with your running route. It helped me focus on something other than how awful the cold was several times last winter. And it’s fun to write “dick” or whatever else on your route. I tend to stick to three or four letter words which end up being 3-5 mile routes, but I know folks who will go out there and spell out “burrito”. I’m only running to maintain fitness in the winter; hats off to thee, you wild winter marathoners.

What do people in the frozen tundra environments do for face and neck coverage? I wear buffs but I hate feeling like I’m being strangled, and I’m kind of a spitty runner (well hydrated?) which makes them even more of a pain. I’ve got two merino wool balaclavas that I hate too. They don’t keep a damn thing warm.

Also, what kind of eyewear do folks use when it’s megacold? Old ski goggles? Are there running specific ones? Sometimes you get out there and it’s so cold your eyeballs hurt but you’ve spent ten minutes gearing up and you’ve committed so you keep going.

Minnesota-based runner here. Air temps (no wind) around 0 to -5ish F or windchill -15 to -20ish F are my cutoff.

Also, I take a few weeks off in February, which is a frigid icy hellscape of neighborhood sidewalks. It’s good for my morale.