Running through the flurries
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Ali Hashmi/Chicago Loopster
In the wintry chill of Chicago evenings, when most people lie snug beneath warm blankets, you will find Alvah White, 68, rounding the frozen Lake Michigan, running unperturbed against the cold wind. He thrives on running in the winter, and at his advanced age, he runs about 15 miles per week.
“There is nothing better than running in the snow,” White said. “A nice evening in the 20s with the fresh snow, everything is quiet. It’s an amazing feeling.”
White makes winter running sound like a walk in the park. In reality, it requires dogged persistence and determination. Of course, the greatest problem in winter running is simply leaving the comfort of your home. Then, there’s the battle with the elements around: you have to brave the uninvited iciness of the outside air.
Bogdan Petre, 23, a researcher at the Northwestern University, started winter running last year to prepare for a winter mountaineering trip. He found running in the winters “a lot more strenuous” than he imagined. “The exhaustion that I felt [after running] was significantly more than what I felt when I used to run in the summer or spring or fall,” he said.
Obviously, White is not an ordinary runner. White has been running for more than forty years. He has “run six marathons, numerous half marathons, and plenty of 8-, 10-, 12- and 14-mile runs,” he said.
“I came to Chicago in 1989, and I have been running in Chicago winters ever since.”
For runners like White, running becomes an integral part of their life. “Running is important for me because it allows me to feel good, it allows me to maintain my health and it allows me to eat almost anything I want,” he said.
Ali Hashmi/Chicago LoopsterThe “isolation of a run” provides him with a mental space to think about and focus on things at the heart of his life, he said. “If I don’t run for a week or more, my wife is the first one to notice it. She tells me I get cranky.”
As the president of Evanston Running Club, White organizes social, recreational and competitive events around running. “There is a relaxing social element to running that makes it much more therapeutic,” White said. “And it allows me to meet some terrific people.”
Studies have suggested that running keeps you young, and White agrees. “My doctor has told me I have the body and health of a 48-year-old— I’ll take those 20 years to the bank, thank you very much,” he said.
Running in winters requires proper apparel and equipment, he acknowledged. But winter running is now much easier because of improvements in winter running gear, he said.
Winter running requires three layers, namely the base layer, the mid layer and the shell layer. The majority of modern base layers, undershirts and leggings, are made up of thinner and synthetic materials, which wick away the sweat from your body to keep you warm and dry. Base layers made of cotton are not good for winter running, because cotton retains moisture. Once it gets wet, it remains wet. The mid layer is made up of insulating material to keep you warm. And finally, the shell layer provides protection against wind, rain and snow.
“You can now go a lot deeper into the cold with a lot less layers of clothing,” he said. “And if you use things like L.L. Bean toe warmers and hand warmers, you can do really well.”
“There is no reason not to run unless it is terribly cold or particularly icy,” he said. “Just get out and have fun.”
