Week 4 In The Books.

This past Sunday was the end of week 4 of training.  It's amazing how fast it has been going by this time around.  I think that looking forward to the weekly Saturday team long run really helps a lot.  The past two weeks, our team run has taken place completely on the marathon course through Wellesley, MA and Newton, MA.  Getting acclimated to the route again and seeing familiar sights again is definitely a plus and motivational.  That may sound kind of weird but it really is.  Even running past Newton-Wellesley Hospital.  Enough said. 

I have to say that I really do enjoy running by myself most of the time as I can run whatever distance I want at whatever pace I want whenever I want.  I don't have to worry about anyone but myself.  That said, I am quickly enjoying running with the team once a week.  It's nice to meet fellow runners as well as running in new locations (each week we are adding on a couple more miles).  It keeps it fresh and exciting.  Running?  Exciting? Absolutely! 

I logged a total of 33.3 miles for week 4.  There were many opportunities to take a day off from training here or there since I was on vacation and there was New Year's Eve/New Year's Day.  In the end though, I ended up sticking with the training schedule and didn't take the easy route out.  I've got way too much invested in this to start slacking off on training, even if it is only a day or two.

Week 5 started off yesterday.  Wow, what a crazy day to run outdoors in Boston!  That had to be the hardest training run I have ever completed.  The temp was 22 degrees.  That wasn't the issue.  The "feels like" temp was 14 degrees.  Nope that wasn't it either.  The wind was gusting at 38 MPH.  That was it!  Running into that amount of wind for a good chunk of the time was very challenging.  At one point, the wind literally stopped me in my tracks.  I decided to run down neighborhood streets using the brownstones as windbreakers instead of running along the Charles river.  That worked for the most part.  The upside to running in that wind?  The moon.  It was absolutely amazing as it was rising in the sky.  Completely worth dealing with the wind and freezing temps.  Wow, it really was amazing!

Until next time, keep on runnin'!

All By Myself.

Hard to be sure
Sometimes I feel so insecure
All by myself
Don't want to be all by myself anymore

What a bit of cold weather and stiff winds brings out?  Nothing.  Nobody.  It's amazing how the paths along the Charles and the sidewalks around the harbor are now pretty much deserted.  Vacant of most walkers, runners and bicyclists now that the temperatures have dipped south of the 30's.  I'm "all by myself" you could say.  Well, sing anyways.  OK, for all of those who don't get this musical reference (I don't blame you if you don't as it is going back a ways) it is the power ballad "All by myself" released by Eric Carmen in 1975 (thanks to my wife Jen for coming up with this one).  Who is Eric Carmen?  Again, I don't blame you if you have no idea.  He only gave us such great songs as "Marathon man"- 1977, "Make me loose control"- 1988 and "Hungry eyes"- 1987.  Alex, I'll take absolutely useless music trivia for $300 please.  "What movie was the smash hit "Hungry eyes" featured in?"  Seriously though, when the weather is nice it is jam packed with people getting in all kinds of outdoor exercise.  Kind of like sardines in a can.  Warmth + sardines.  Eww, like totally gross.  Gag me with a spoon.  Grody to the max!  Barf me out!  I know, enough already with the valley girl talk- thinking of those 80's songs just made me do it!  When the weather gets cold and windy though, you can hear the crickets.  There is hardly anyone out and about.  Actually, you cannot hear the crickets as they have all died off due to the cold.  Sorry.  It's a circle of life thing.  You do come across a couple of other die-hards here and there but it is pretty much wide open the entire way.  So much so that I want to run on the left hand side of the path instead of the right.  I know, "wow, he is such a rebel".  Well, I haven't mustered up enough courage to do it yet.  Hey, you never know when a bicyclist is going to come up from out of no where.  Just trying to think of their safety.  Yep, that's me.  "Mr. Safety".  Ha!

I ended up going into Boston yesterday morning to get in a long run to boost my miles for the week.  I finished the run with 13.2 miles and a weekly total of 27.1 miles.  I have to say that that morning run was pretty lonesome just like my weekday nightly runs.  I have to break out into song for a moment...  "All by myself, don't want to be...".  Yesterday was pretty cold.  30 degrees with winds gusting at 25 mph which made the real feel at a balmy 20 degrees.  Special note to the folks at Weather Bug and the Boston Museum of Science: You may want to have maintenance take a look at your anemometer as it is reporting zilch, notta, zero, nothing.  I found that out the hard way yesterday.  There was no wind when I left my house.  But boy, when I got off the train in Boston, there was wind.  Again, gusting to 25 mph.  Silly me, I wore shorts based on Weather Bug reporting no wind.  Silly, silly me!  I have since switched over to the Seaport Hotel station since that is accurately reporting the wind.  I kind of like these conditions though.  Peace and quiet and cold temperatures which make it exhilarating to run.  Gives me a pep in my step.  Sounds good to me. 

Thank you to everyone who has donated to my Boston Marathon Boston Children's Hospital Miles for Miracles fundraiser!  I appreciate the generosity of all the donors.  If you would like to make a donation please visit my fundraising page.

I'll be posting soon about the patient who I've been matched up with as part of the patient partner program.  He sounds like a very active 9 year old and I can't wait for our families to meet at the Miles for Miracles kick-off event coming up in the beginning of December.

The answer to the trivia question: "Ghost" released in 1990.  Congratulations to everyone who got it correct. 

Until next time, keep on runnin'!

Windy. Windy. Windy.

Wind.

noun: wind; plural noun: winds
/wind/

1. The perceptible natural movement of the air, especially in the form of a current of air blowing from a particular direction.
"The wind howled about the building."

synonyms: breeze, current of air; gale, hurricane; literary zephyr

Thank you Merriam Webster for your succinct definition of this word.  A word that I was able to experience first hand during my run this past Friday evening along the Charles River and Boston Harbor.  I'd have to say though, my definition wouldn't have been so polite and "nice".  It would have been more direct and laced with a "what the f@ck!" here and  "are you kidding me you piece of sh%t" there.  What the "h" "e" double hockey sticks is up with this $@#%!# gusty stuff?  A real truck driver mouth if I may say so myself. 

I knew that my evening run was going to be a bit breezy as the high rise building I was in was increasingly creaking like an old wooden pirate ship undulating in an angry sea as the day went on.  I guess I didn't realize how gusty it would be though until I made my way towards the Charles.  You get a really nice wind tunnel effect along the way due to all the buildings.  I kind of felt like a Porsche 918 Spyder being examined for aerodynamics.  The only thing that was missing was the smoke to demonstrate the airflow as it moved across my body. 

Notwithstanding Mother Nature's fury, it really was a good run.  While it was challenging to run into a strong headwind, it does help in training to keep a race pace in this type of situation as you never know what type of weather you're going to encounter on race day.  I checked the weather when I finished and the temp was 42 (real feel 34) with sustained winds at 18 mph gusting to 29 mph.  Sweet.

I ended up running 10 miles Friday night for a weekly total of 25 miles.  I'm trying to keep an average of between 25 and 30 miles a week leading up to my marathon training which starts up in earnest at the end of December. 

As I've noted in past posts, I'm hooked on taking pictures as I'm running through the city.  So much so that sometimes I'm stopping every a couple of minutes trying to best the last snap that I took.  Especially those sunsets along the Charles River!  I plan to include a picture or two from my runs to each post to add a little eye candy to all of this blah blah text.  The two pictures that I've included on this post are of the Bunker Hill Monument and the Colonel William Prescott statue (in front of the monument) that I took Friday night.  Enjoy!

Until next time, keep on runnin'!

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears! Oh, My!

Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge- Snapped During My Run

I decided to go into Boston yesterday to get my weekly longer run in.  I figured that I would take advantage of the very slight window of warmth to run outdoors knowing that I would probably be forced indoors this coming week due to the return of the arctic express.  The forecast was mid 20's and overcast with gusty winds and snow showers starting very early afternoon.  Early morning run it was!  I learned quickly that the forecast should have been gusty winds very very early.  Running West into the wind on the Cambridge side along the Charles River kicked my butt.  It felt like I was running into the exhaust of a jumbo jet (without the roar of the engine and that nasty smell of jet fuel).  The only thing that I was thinking was the return route going East on the Boston side.  I would make up all of the time, and then some, that I had lost running against the wind! I would be effortlessly pushed along the path.  Nice!

The wind quickly became more and more intense towards the end of the run.  I felt like I was going to be swept off my feet and transformed into Dorothy.  Caught up in a twister like in the Wizard of Oz.  I could watch the cow float by while it is chewing cud out in the pasture.  I could waive to the men rowing the boat past my window as I look on in delight.  Miss Gultch on her bicycle pedaling like there is no tomorrow and then swapping her stuffy old clothes for that flowing witch outfit and trading in her bike for that more efficient broom stick.  "I"ll get you my pretty..."  Sorry, I digress.  It was pretty darn blustery at the end but it was worth dealing with it to be outdoors.  No houses landed on anyone so it was a great day for a run when all was said and done.  I guess I should have remembered to just click my running shoes and repeat: "There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home".

Until next time, keep on runnin'!