If you run in a more tropical clime than I do, you may not even own a pair of long pants for running. It gets cold enough here that I not only have long pants, I have a special pair of extra-insulated long pants for when I run on particularly cold days.
The struggle with the shoulder seasons, though, is figuring out when it’s a short day and when it’s a long pants day.
My rule of thumb is when it’s above freezing, I wear shorts. When it drops below 0C I dig out the long pants. And yet it is never quite just that simple.
It’s been particularly windy here this week as I write this and I’ve been sticking to my shorts rule, but on particularly early morning runs you’ll find me wrapped up in a jacket and gloves despite the more breezy approach on the southern bits.
A few days back we started our run on a Sunday morning and it was a chill 4C outside. I wore shorts, despite the brrrr… and that was fine, all well and good, until we dropped into the creek valley to run some autumn trails. The foliage was beautiful but there was frosty tips on the grass and I’m pretty sure it was below freezing in the shade.
Soon enough winter will hit and my shorts will get stuffed back into storage, the pants going into full time duty. But until then, are you with me in figuring out your wardrobe as the seasons swing wildly about in autumn?
Definitions
- advice
- This is NOT an advice site. I write for entertainment only. Please see my note on advice in my page called "Some Notes" in the menu at the top of each page.
- october
- Fully into autumn, October is a month of shifting seasons, short days, long shadows, and gorgeous sunsets. The cobwebs are hung on the eaves in preparation for halloween, and here in Canada we're running off Thanksgiving dinner for a couple weeks after a proper good meal mid-month.
- september
- The days are noticeably shorter when we realize that September is upon us. The post-summer routine kicks in and people are back to regular work schedules and kids are back in school. It can still be warm, but the hottest days are behind us and most of the biggest races of the year are in the rear view. We savour September knowing winter is too soon to come.
