From Winter Wonderland to “Winter Runnerland”
                                           by Gloria West


When I began my vision for the “Green Bay Marathon” back in 1999, opposite the season of the Fox Cities Marathon, I had just one kernel of a doubt. This fluttering doubt was that a spring marathon in the “Frozen Tunda of Green Bay” may not give Northeast Wisconsin runners enough time to train during the cold winter months.  Since the turn of the millennium, all doubts about winter running have melted away. There is no longer the pattern of only “Wisconsin fair-weathered runners.” Local runners are running every where, every time of the day, every season and for many good reasons. 

Not only do many of us have a spring marathon in our backyard to look forward to, more and more half and full marathons during this early season are appearing from Oshkosh to Upper Michigan.  Therefore, many runners have more options and motivation to run through the winter by taking on not just one, but perhaps multiple running events in early spring. 

Now days, runners don’t have to think of winter running as cold and lonely. Winter running groups are in abundance. They gather in many local cities during the early winter months on a weekly basis.  Waking up to a few Saturdays in mid-January may appear to some as not very charming when icicles hang from windows, snow drifts gather in the driveway and bitter temps top off the morning news.  Winter running groups remind runners they have training buddies to share the road with and especially look forward to enjoying a hot cup of coffee after they run. Sharing this post training brew is a common ritual for many.

More reasons are evident for the flurry of runners in our local “Winter Runnerland.” The types of fabric used to construct today’s athletic wear have evolved tremendously from the poly-cotton of their elasticized-ankle predecessors in the seventies and eighties.  Bulk is no longer necessary for warmth.  

Never before has there been there such technical and comfortable running gear that supports all seasons, times and temperatures. The running industry has designed clothes with quick read labels to specify qualities in fabrics such as: windproof/waterproof, windproof/water resistant or thermo/moisture protection.  Today’s runners understand that skin loses heat 20+ times faster when exposed to the elements.  By keeping their core protected from penetrating winds, they maintain warmth with lighter layers and less clothing.  Lightweight high tech fabrics protect, thermo regulate, and transfer moisture in a lighter package. 
 
The running industry is not only been hip with clothing that accommodates extreme climate trends. They also have incorporated the importance of reflectivity for running during the early or later hours of the darker months.  Much of the running gear now offers a great combination of high visibility and technical sophistication.   

Oh yes and one last reason for running all seasons. For the runner, long, dark winter months are not “so long” and not “so dark” anymore.  They are not “so long” because the winter season seems to be getting shorter (just an observation, not supporting global warming).  Also, the days will be not “so dark” due to the earlier daylight savings time change.  Local runners like this extra perk. “I love it,” said Sandra Thein of the local Pacesetters Running Club. “For those of us who work late, it gives us the opportunity to get a run in when we finally do get home.” It is evident that we have said good-bye fair weather running; instead, say hello to the Fox Valley “Winter Wonderland of Runners.”