Monkey Business.

This past Sunday marked the end of week 8 of training.  Outdoor training has been a bit of a challenge the past two weeks with all the snow and frigid temperatures that we have had here in Boston. Yes, I have had to revert to using the old dreadmill again.  Ugh.  Not to be confused with Ugg.  You know, the Australian company with the fashion boots that everyone has to have (not the sparkly glittery ones though- sorry if you are wearing a pair as you are reading this- no offense intended).  I guess this year though, the fashion must have is the LL Bean duck boot. Sorry, "bean boot".  Not that I would know though. Just saying. OK, back to the "expression of disgust or horror" (thanks for the succinct definition Google)-Ugh.  I guess what I dislike most about running on a treadmill is the lack of freedom to get out and explore, the overall atmosphere of the gym and having the treadmill do part of the work for me. Darn it, I want the entire effort to be mine. Not a machine forcing me to move my feet by driving the belt below me. Nope!  On the flip side though, I do know that it is a love hate relationship with the old RunMaster Xtreme Turbo Propulsion Tread Tracker Max 5580 (I just made that name up if you couldn't tell. Had to have something dramatic).  There will be times that, for safety's sake, I will just have to buck up and pound the treadmill deck instead of the pavement.  Oh, that didn't come out sounding quite right.

There was a plus side this week.  It was the week's team long run where we were finally able to run up, and then back down, Heartbreak Hill.  I had drove it before. Oh, that one didn't come out sounding quite right either.  I road in a car down the hill once (that sounds better). That was my only experience with it before Saturday.  It is a pretty gradual hill so it wasn't too bad to run. I say that after having only run 7 miles before encountering it. Much different than running 20 miles and then encountering it like it will be on race day.  The highlight of running the hill was seeing the Boston skyline just past the peak. Highlight indeed. Well, then there was also the photo op at the bottom of the hill with Bill the gorilla who is the Heartbreak Hill Running Company mascot (the store is located at the base of Heartbreak Hill- very clever name that they came up with. The store that is). 

It turned out to be a fantastic and energizing 15.5 mile long run even though it was 10 degrees with a wind chill of -7.  I guess that is winter in New England though.  Once you get going and are a couple of miles in, you do end up warming up.  So much so that you end up having to unzip the layers to cool down and then zip back up to get warm again.  Zip, unzip, zip unzip.  Enough to make you go bananas!

Until next time, keep on runnin'!