You're As Cold As Ice.

Cold as ice, you know that you are
Cold, cold, as, as, ice, as cold as ice to me
Cold, cold, as, as, ice
Ooh, ooh, ooh, cold as, cold as ice
You're as cold as ice

Yes, December 31st was cold as ice.  However, I needed to keep with my marathon training and get my run in for the day.  Even on New Year's Eve day.  Even though the weather outside was frightful.  Well, fricking freezing.  Cold as ice cold.  Cold enough for, say... ice sculptures! 

What better way to run the miles away than going into Boston to see how the preparations were going for First Night?  First stop, Boston Common.  The food vendors were setting up their stands and getting ready to try and entice people to buy their morsels.  I could only imagine them practicing their spiel as they were stocking the supplies, "Get a hot slice of cheese with roni over here!"  One food trailer that made me turn my head as I went by was the "Slush King".  Seriously?  The real feel was 11 degrees.  I don't think that they probably sold too many slushies last night.  I could be wrong though.  I continued on past a couple of ice sculptures.  Frogs frolicking with "2015" above them, some super heroes and Albert Einstein.  Pretty impressive.  Luckily it was cold enough for them so that there were no dripping and drooping masterpieces.  I past the pyro technicians setting up the launch tubes with Chrysanthemum, Peony, Palm and heart shells.  Past vendors setting up their stalls selling plastic horns and those goofy glasses which quickly remind you what year is coming up.  Next up, the Public Garden.  Not much at all going on over there so I continued over to the Esplanade.  Again, nothing happening.  Zilch.  Nada.  On to Copley Square!  That is where all of the action was.  A city block of news vans lined up in a perfect row.  Reporters doing the obligatory "So what is your New Year's resolution" interviews with passersby.  Sound checks on the main stage and, oh yeah, more ice sculptures! 

I made my way down Boylston street, past the marathon finish line, down to Mass Ave and back over to the Charles.  I wound my way back to where I started and ended my run with 7.5 miles logged.  I'll take it even though it was definitely the coldest day of running this training season.  A balmy 20 degrees with a real feel of 11 due to the gusty 20+ MPH winds.  These are the conditions that I kind of like though.  The ones that make you buck up and, in the words of Nike, "Just do it".  I could be inside a sweaty smelly gym clomping away on a dreadmill, sorry, treadmill.  Nope, not for me.  I would rather be running outdoors in the freezing passing the artistic creations of frozen H2O.

Cold as ice, you know that you are
Cold, cold, as, as, ice, as cold as ice to me
Cold, cold, as, as, ice
(Thanks Foreigner for the lyrics- they are completely stuck in my head now!)

Until next time, keep on runnin'!

The Great Outdoors.

Finally, the weather this morning was good enough to run in the great outdoors.  My goodness, that was WAY overdue!  Today's high was supposed to be around 40.  However, when I went running in Boston this morning it was more like mid 20's and blustery along the frozen Charles.  I'll take it any day.  I decided to run in the city today because I wanted to run a long run and absolutely LOVE to run in Boston because it is so motivational and there are some great photo ops for my Instagram addiction.

Boston Marathon Ice Sculpture

It was a great morning for running even though it was a bit chilly (I'm not complaining at all).  Paths in the Common/Public garden along with those along the Charles were pretty clear for the most part.  I did end up with cold wet feet because of a few slushy sidewalks and crosswalks but what did I expect a couple of days after the areas first Nor'easter? 

I altered my normal course to run down Boylston street as I wanted to snap a pic of the Boston Marathon ice sculpture from New Year's eve in Copley Square.  This also gave me the opportunity to run past the finish line of the Marathon.  The ultimate "Finish Line".

I finished my run with 12 miles through the streets of Boston and Cambridge.  Thank you to my wife for getting up early and getting me to the train station and thank you to mother nature for a great morning for running.  I just love the great outdoors!

Until next time, keep on runnin'!