The 40 Degree Group

Since Winter has decided to make a comeback (Vanilla...this is something for you to look forward to come Monday), I took to the treadmill at the gym. I'm part of the 40 degree group. If it isn't at least 40 degrees with sun/party sunny then I am at the gym. I'm thinking this could be a great Facebook group. We could promote ourselves as wise runners.
We can qualify to call ourselves dedicated runners because we have our race stats on our blogs and we are always looking to bring running into our daily conversation so that other will be impressed and because we really have nothing else to talk about.

We'd have our own motto...something like "40 degree group...because we like digits." Pretty clever,huh? We'd be a new feature in Runner's World. It would be the natural evolution from the beginner runner. There would be groups all across the country except for places like Florida where 40 degrees is unnatural. You might be wondering why 40 degrees. From my own scientific study, I have determined that 40 degrees is a good because it still requires running gear (is a runner really a runner if they don't have gear?), but it doesn't have the financial investment in the triple layer compression warming pants with the cold gear jacket surrounded by the winter wicking parka with the wool, nylon, pro warming battery powered gloves and hat that is associated with the zero degree group that is still frozen on the roads after our last storm.

There is another benefit to being a 40 degree runner. Treadmill mastery. Treadmills really don't like runners. They like the people who are out for a nice 30 minute jog or a walker. You might disagree because you see all those pre-programmed work out trainers like "5 K trainer" or "hill workout". Don't let those fool you. They are there as a stall tactic. As you work to figure our how to program it, the treadmill internally is figuring out the best strategy for throwing you off. The 40 degree group would be immune to all the treadmill's tricks or enough scars that it doesn't hurt anymore when thrown off. Like my interval training yesterday proved. Manually adjusting the speed and incline throws the treadmill off. It doesn't know how to handle this newly developed strategy on the part of the 40 degree runner. As a result, I got a good 8 miles done.

So, rise up you 40 degree runners! Cast off your warming gear and join me as we change the running world forever. As a dedicated 40 degree runner, you'll also want to make sure you have the complete running gear. Get your credit cards ready...