It’s coming, another round of arctic air that some are calling Polar Vortex III. Hey, it’s OK though, right? We’ve got this bitter cold thing down.

This isn’t a post about bemoaning winter. Yes, it’s cold outside. Snow everywhere. Numerous, consecutive days of school being closed. Everywhere you go, weather is the talk of, well, everyone. People say it feels like it’s never going to end. (The lead story in our Sunday newspaper took a close look at this winter’s impacts on locals and made a mention of snow lasting until July…um, July? That seems like a stretch…maybe they’re figuring snow banks that won’t melt entirely or something?)

But I am standing by my assertion that we just need to embrace winter, every last second of it. And before anyone starts throwing snowballs at me, just know that it’s not like I’m trying to be annoyingly optimistic and upbeat. I have my moments, believe me. Like during Saturday’s 17-miler (gah, 17 is faaarr!) when a chilly tailwind between miles 8 and 11 was quite nice and welcomed but meant enduring an extremely frigid face-whipping once we turned around and made our way back toward my house during the final stretch. A few choice words came to mind at that point in the run.

Whether you run outdoors or stick to the ‘mill when this cold-snap weather hits, these long days of winter can take a toll on our spirits, I realize this. Thankfully we’ve had a decent amount of sunshine up here in northern Michigan in the past week or so. And we even had a day of 40 degrees–40 degrees!–that reminded everyone just how quickly Michigan weather can turn, and that spring will come. It will.

To help us all embrace Polar Vortex III, or whatever single-digit temps this week end up being called, I’m holding a Michigan Runner Girl sticker special. Order either of the two MRG stickers (logo only, or logo plus wording), and you’ll receive for FREE one (1) Michigan-shaped sticker from Ludington, Mich.-based myracesticker.com. This sticker company is one of several Michigan-based businesses MRG partners with, and I’m excited to help spread the Michigan love with their help. Here’s what the Michigan-shaped stickers look like (each order will receive one of these stickers) »

This sticker special will run all week, until Friday at noon EST. 

Stay warm, friends, and happy running this week!