2/18 Run Cancelled - Too Cold

Group the run this sunday has been officially cancelled (see note below). Here are a few other alternatives to the ones listed:

1. Run indoors - 13 miles on a treadmill or indoor track is an enlightening experience - plus it has the added bonus of helping you actually use that club membership you might have. If you don't have a gym membership and 13 miles indoors sounds like something you might do, sign up for a trial membership (Bally's has a nice online feature) or pay the $10-$15 dollars to get a day pass (my personal favorite is the Chicago Athletic Club @ 12 S. Michigan - it's a total throwback to the 1920's). In total desperation I've actually gone to a treadmill dealer and tried out their treadmills for a few hours as well (don't repeat often but I recommend Chicago Home Fitness - I bought my treadmill from there - the Vision Fitness is a really nice ride and the sales people are more than happy to have you test out the equipment - suggest running say 4.3 miles on each of their top of the line pieces).
   
2. Run short outdoors, finish indoors (say 3-5 miles outside, 8-10 inside)
3. Use those frequent flyer miles and hotel points - I'm a fan of this one. Get out of chicago for the weekend and go someplace warm (I suggest Phoenix - tons and tons of places to run there, but be sure to bring lots and lots of water if you do)

Whatever you do, don't take the do nothing option. It's a good way to get hurt.

The National Weather Service, as well as numerous other weather reporting services, are predicting bitterly cold temperatures for early Saturday morning, February 18th. Not only is it not fun to run in these conditions, it's not safe or training specific. In light of these reports, we wanted to notify you as early as possible that the CARA Winter Training Program run for 2/18/06 is cancelled.
As such, we also want to leave you with several options for your continued conditioning. You can choose to do any of the following:

A.) Do nothing. This choice will not leave you under trained come race day.

B.) Rest on Saturday, and do your long run on Sunday when the temps are predicted to be 24 degrees. Cross train on Monday.

C.) This option is made available for those who will be off from work on President's Day holiday: Run short on Saturday, 3 to 5 miles in the late afternoon when it will be a little warmer than 8am. Rest on Sunday and do your long run on Monday. If this is your choice, do not run the 4 miles on Tuesday, instead rest. 34 degrees is being predicted for Monday!
Please note, none of these runs will be CARA supported, so be sure to have plenty of fluids at your avail while on your runs.
Have fun, be safe and enjoy sleeping in - on what is probably going to be the coldest morning so far this year.
Sincerely,

Bill Fitzgerald
Director of Training
Chicago Area Runners Association

email: cararuns@aol.com
phone: 312-666-9836
web: http://www.cararuns.org