I went for a run at 7:00 this morning. It was at least -23 C out --- very cold.
When Carrie was up here, I went out for a short run when it was about -10 C. I remember justifying it by saying: "If I don't go now when it's warm, how am I going to make myself go when it's cold?"
I wore four layers: two T-shirts, a long-sleeve shirt, and my running jersey; underwear, running shorts with a windproof panel, sweats, and my running overpants (somewhat windproof); two pairs of socks; gloves; and a scarf over my mouth, nose and cheeks, tucked into my hat in the back so that only my eyes were exposed.
I was still cold. I would like to add polypropylene (or similar) long pants to wick sweat off of my legs; mitts instead of gloves; and a proper running mask instead of the scarf. About 2/3 of the way through, the scarf started to fall off of my nose.
When I got in, there was a beard of ice all over my scarf. It melted before I could take a picture. Also the scarf was frozen into the shape of my nose.
In any case, I ran about 2 1/4 km and walked the 3/4 km home, in about 25 minutes, in -23 C. Not great speed or endurance, but the conditions make it count a bit more.
I also found that deceptive positive self-talk worked pretty well. For example, "I can run up this hill. No pile of dirt is going to beat me." And "Just until that bush." "Ok, just to the start of those trees, then I'll walk." "That was easy -- now to the end of these trees." What's interesting is that it still works to keep me running, even though I know that I'm deceiving myself.