Turkey Run

Here in the US, there are two occasions in a year, that people are strongly compelled to exercise. During these times there is a considerable spike in gym attendance. This is based at least in my observation and purely my opinion only.

The first one is during early January, when everybody is jumping on the band wagon for the New Year’s resolution to exercise, lose weight, and join the gym. However by the end of January, some if not most of them, have already fallen off the wagon.

The second occasion is right after Thanksgiving, when many are feeling guilty they over ate during the holiday. According to one study, an average American will gobble 3000 calories during Thanksgiving dinner. But with all the snacking throughout the day, it can easily amount to 4500 calories in that day alone.

Some will reason that they can burn all those calories when they go shopping on Black Friday. However, unless you go jumping rope while shopping or you’re hauling or carrying a piano, the amount of calories burned is not even close.

One exercise physiologist estimated that in order for a 160-pound person to burn 3000 calories, he has to walk 30 miles. Or if you want to burn them faster, you can run. For 4 hours!

So this weekend, I avoided the gym altogether since I know it will jam-packed. This morning, I decided to run outside instead.

The problem is during this season, in this part of the world, it is already pretty cold. In fact, we already had snow and freezing rain this past week. Today is no different, the temperature was subfreezing.

Good thing is that I have invested on nifty cold-weather running apparel that I can be warm and toasty even if the temperature is below freezing. So I layered up, summon the spirit of the Black Ninja runner  (see previous post), and ran.

I was a little chilly when I started but by the second mile, I was already feeling warm that I took off the hood from my head. By the third mile, I already unzipped my outer layer. I ended my run after 4 miles, and I was all sweaty and hot that I even took off my jacket, at least temporarily, as I was walking to cool down.

I checked on my smart phone, and the temperature was a nippy 29º F (-2º C).

I believe my run will partly burn off all the turkey I ate. Though I still have to burn all the kare-kare* and krema de fruta*, which were what I really feasted on during the Thanksgiving dinner.

Now I’m feeling hungry. Where’s the left over kare-kare?

(*traditional Filipino dishes)