Four ways to go running this weekend | Dec. 9-10

Last night’s snowfall has you choosing the gym over the trail, even if you despise the dreadmill. You’ve had enough of the holiday hoopla, the kind that involves late-night dinners and parties—it’s cramping your running style—and it’s not even December 10, and you know there’s more to come. You know you’ve indulged on one too many Christmas cookies, candy canes, cups of eggnog and trips to the brat stand at the Christkindlmarket, and you’re not making up for it with a workout (again it’s those holiday events getting in the way).

Whatever your excuse is for not running during the week, or last weekend when it rained, or any other justification you can concoct for why your sneakers are starting to gather dust in your closet, you can put a stop to it this weekend. It’s easy to get your run on Saturday and Sunday, especially if you need an event to get you out the door (I know I do this time of year, when I’m perfectly content burrowing under the covers and hitting snooze multiple times). Here are five ways to get started.

Red Bull Trail Daze. You’ll have to hustle to Universal Sole in Lakeview before they close tonight to register for this Saturday morning race, but you won’t regret it when you take to the forest preserve trails at Palos. The 500-person event lets you choose the trail you want to conquer, easy, medium and hard. Will it be short yet punishing, easy yet high on mileage, or somewhere in between?

Update: If you wanted to run, you’ll have to wait until next year as the race sold out Friday afternoon. But don’t let it stop you from a trail run at Palos—you can always spy on the participants and plot your course for next time.

Element Multisport/Newton Pancake Fun Run. If you want to stay local Saturday morning, not spend any money and not have your mileage set in stone (though the organizers do say it's three miles no drop) for you, join this run departing from Element at 9 am. If a run isn’t enough to get you out the door, there will be pancakes when you return to the store. Consider it refueling before you fight the masses at Costco.

Rudolph Ramble. Not to knock the other runs this weekend, but I’d opt for this Sunday special merely because the weather promises to be warmer. Me, sub-freezing temperatures, black ice potential and missing cold-weather gloves do not make a good combo. But running an 8K through Lincoln Park at 9 am, and getting a holiday-themed tech tee and wearable antlers, sounds doable if we see warm-ish, relatively speaking, temps. And at least I still have until tomorrow to head to Fleet Feet to sign up.

Ironman World Championship viewing. If you really don’t want to run and nothing will convince you otherwise—not me, your significant other, or any amount of begging and pleading—you won’t need the compression gear, running shoes or technical materials for this event. They’re all optional at Lincoln Hall from 3-5 pm on Saturday, where triathletes, endurance junkies and pretty much anyone else who’s intrigued by Ironman will be watching the NBC airing of the Ironman World Championship, which happened in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on October 8. Sure, you can watch it from your couch, but if you RSVP and attend this event, you could win some gear during the commercial breaks. Pretty good deal—a $5 donation to the Challenged Athletes Foundation is requested at the door—if you score a raffle prize and still needed to check off that gift for the athlete on your list.