5 reasons to go running by the lake
Lake running is very similar to trail running, except you’re on the frozen surface of a lake or pond instead of on dry land. The first question you might want to ask yourself before running on the lake is, why are you out there in the first place?
There are some advantages to being on the ice. Here are 5 of the reasons I can think of off the top of my head:
- There is no traffic. First of all, there is no traffic other than the occasional fisherman, a random pickup truck, and snowmobiles. Wear dark clothes during the day and it should stand out well so they can avoid it. On a highway, a car doesn’t have to go very far to avoid hitting you, and there are many more distractions that make it easy for a driver to not even see you. If the car on a highway slips on ice, it will probably be much closer to you than it is on the lake.
- It’s a tough workout. Running on ice is not the easiest surface, although if there is a good layer of snow packed with snowmobiles it will be much easier. You’ll still have to deal with the wind, and the lakes rarely have anything blocking their access to you. It’s like built-in speed work without the hassle of having to run faster!
- There are no hills. Sometimes you just don’t want to go up or down. It is very difficult to find a completely level surface on which to run, but it is quite rare to find a frozen lake that is not flat or has significant hills. Unless you leave the lake and run over an island, anyway.
- Nothing can fall on you. If you are out in the open, there is little chance of something falling on you and hurting you when you are running, such as ice or snow from trees and power lines.
- Running around the lake is so much fun. The biggest reason is that you can get hooked on running on the lake. It can be a lot of fun to run on completely flat, unbroken terrain. It’s also interesting to run past people sitting around a hole waiting for their fish trap to pop, freezing like fools, as you walk by with short sleeves or even no shirt on.
