Too Cold to Run?

The arrival of the first of two cold fronts made running seem a little daunting this morning.  It was 18 degrees in Clear Creek, but I didn't need to look at the thermometer because the tightly-curled leaves of our rhododendron told the temperature.  Rhododendron are nature's thermometer; they respond to the cold by first drooping down, and then curling up as tightly as pencils:

Don't we do the same thing in the cold, wrapping our arms tightly around our chests and pulling our shoulders in toward our ears?

So what about running in conditions like this?  It's actually very pleasant, up to a point, although I know that non-runners seeing us out in cold like this will be convinced that we are all lunatics.  Running gear has improved so much over the years that it now permits lunatics like me to run in comfort unimaginable in the days of cotton, or when runners would wear panty-hose in the cold.  Now we have good, breathable, flexible tights, like the CW-X tights that I prize when the temperature gets down below 30.  A breathable micro-fiber shirt, Gore-tex against the wind, and good head-gear and mittens were all I needed for a short run down the road, where the sun was just starting to kiss the tops of the trees along the ridge-line, pink and gold, and melting the light snow in the pastures.  That keen metallic fragrance of arctic air.  And absolute silence, just the quiet rhythm of my footsteps, my breathing, and the dark, crinkly ripple of Clear Creek flowing alongside.