Winter Solstice Sunset by fdecomite's photostream, Flickr
It may be the first official day of winter, but if you are a glass- half-full-person you will see what an advantage this day is to us runners. Because today is also the Winter Solstice. That means that while we are moving into the official season of winter, we will slowly be gaining small amounts of daylight each day. This is great news for runners, both literally and figuratively.
Look at it in terms of symbolism. The Winter Solstice has long exemplified new beginnings and rebirth. It is a time for self evaluation and introspection. For us runners, it's a time to move out of the darkness and into what our running goals are for the coming year. What is it we want to do with our running? Will we run to maintain fitness and mental stability? Will we run to achieve race goals and times? Will we do a combination of both? Every once in awhile it is important to check in with ourselves so that we keep moving forward mentally, physically and spiritually.
In his latest documentary "Ultra Marathon Man: 50 Marathons • 50 States • 50 Days", Dean Karnazes says, "We need to keep moving forward. If we don't, we become stagnant and we die." Certainly, we might not literally die, but without momentum we can become stuck, lethargic, frustrated and depressed. This time of the year, in particular, we are all at risk for this.
The good news is that with the Winter Solstice upon us, we can look forward to gaining small amounts of daylight each day. Today in Boulder the sun rose at 7:17 a.m. and will set at 4:38 p.m. By January 21, 2010, however we can expect the sun to rise at 7:16 a.m. and to set at 5:05 p.m. To you and me, this means an additional 27 minutes of running time. It will just keep getting better from there and before you know it we will have several additional daylight hours.
So put on your cold weather gear, set your sites on brighter and longer days soon to come and get one foot going in front of the other. You'll be glad you did.
For more info on the Winter Solstice, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice
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