burgh

it's been over a week since my last run, and even longer for a real run, i finally made it out this afternoon. i'm back in pittsburgh for christmas for a week to celebrate w/ family and friends. but due to the proximity of my gym from my brother's place where i'm staying, as well as the freezing temps and social obligations, [and insert a good excuse] i haven't logged any miles. although my bro and i did walk around for some errands on christmas eve, but nothing worth blogging about.

so i figured i'd take advantage of the nice late-december pittsburgh weather by running a few k. i threw out the suggestion of trail running, as i wanted to stay in the sun, so we mapped out a route on mapmyrun.com that was a good mix of a residential and urban sights. the sun was actually shinning (shockingly, since it's been reported that there are 59 of such days per year here), and equipped w/ my polar hrm (sans footpod to measure any type of distance or pace) and oakley’s i headed out for what i thought would be a little more than a 5k. after 10 minutes or so i was on 5th avenue in oakland and could have hit my halfway point to start heading back at st. paul's cathedral (where my family went to christmas morning mass). but i was feeling good. and it was a beautiful day. and i needed to experience a more urban feel. so i continued down fifth past the university of pittsburgh's campus and made my turn to go by pitt again and headed up to carnegie mellon university. i haven't gone by these universities in anything but a car for years, but running by them and seeing the details of the surroundings reminded me of years ago when these universities were clients of ours and i worked there.

around cmu the flatness of pittsburgh ran out and i was i heading up a small incline. it leveled out, but my bigger concern was that now i was on my own and off the familiar path. but i have driven around this area a lot 3 years ago, so as the oncoming traffic was halted by a green arrow the way i was going, i jetted across the street onto beeler st. i've driven this road a bunch, and remembered it being really short. so after a few minutes of running on it, i came to the a good right in the street and after making the turn could see the end of the street was much further than i had remembered. oops. this is where the hill training started - the left onto fair oaks street was fun, as well as the left onto s. negley, but even better was when i crested the hill and started the decent. i swear that my first thought was "this is as steep, and as long, as a ski run!" most importantly i took caution on the sidewalk so i didn't end up tripping on a crack or slipping on some loose stones and doing a 'header'. thankfully i didn't and shortly after i was back near my brother's and cooling down.

while some people are lucky enough to have a hot tub at home and can just jump in for their post-run recovery, mine is the stick! i'm just glad i was smart enough to use it!

no, i do not play for a symphony...

but this is our company's holiday greeting card...

Birds

Getting up at 4.15 in the morning is for the birds, and people with 6 am flights apparently. I'm hoping for a little sleep time on the way to JFK and then even better sleep from there to Barbados! I'll be in Barbados facilitating a training and then enjoying the 80 degree weather. While Boston was in the 50's yesterday afternoon, it rained the entire day! That didn't stop me for getting in a little less than 2 miles, but that was more out of necessity than desire.

Parking in Boston can be nightmarish, especially when learning the system! That's a story for a whole other post. So last night I parked in a garage by my gym, which is about 2 miles away. Can you see what I mean by nightmarish? Anyways, the garage is safe but most importantly it's in expensive. Well, not normally, plus it's not the type of garage that caters toward or even expects multi-day stays. It's more of a multi-hour garage. But thankfully, my gym must have a deal w/ the garage that allows for self-serve validated parking at the gym. Again, I'm thinking that their intent was a couple of hours at max, not days. So half a year's of membership fees (I've got a good family deal) usually pays for itself during one of these trips.

So after dropping the car off my ticket home is a run. It was quite chilly and rainy at that point in the day, but my REI rain jacket worked wonders and I might have even been over dressed. It's was a run that was a far cry from when I trained for Chicago in that I can't give you any numbers on the run, except the total time. I didn't use my heart rate strap, and since losing my footpod I have no ability to gauge my pace. But I did feel a little sluggish and I attrubuted that immediately to the hard run the previous day. But it was nice to get out, even if it was for only 16 minutes and based off necessity. I think today will be a rest day, or maybe a easy day with walking around the island, but hopefully I'll get at least 1 good running story from the trip. Saturday my host said there was a run w/ beers and rum after it in a group setting. Sounds like my kind of run. As well as for the fact it'll be in the 80's!

Dave

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man vs. machine vs. man

so what a difference a day makes! from sunday's snow, and even this morning and noon time frigid temperatures, came temps in the low 40's this afternoon. while i was hoping last night for an invite to run this afternoon, it didn't come and figured i'd have to make the trek to the gym to get in a little exercise. but i was blown away by the warm temps when i walked out of work this evening. i figured that i might as well take advantage of this unexpected mid-december new england weather.

so shortly after getting home and putting on a long-sleeve t-shirt and shorts (you'd think i was in barbados or something - wait, that's on thursday!) i was off runnin'! same route as on sunday, minus the snow flakes and winter weather gear. this run also had the purposes of dropping off my apt keys so my cat, leo, can continue to be feed this weekend. after a slow first half of the run to kenmore, shortly after getting onto comm ave. i noticed a trolley emerging from underground. this happens to be the 'b' line on the larger green line, which goes through the heart of boston university and is the slowest of the green lines. one time when i was riding the t from boston outbound, but the 'c' line which is slightly quicker, i noticed a girl that was keeping with the t and would pass it during stops. i was quite impressed, and when i saw this 'b' line t on my run this evening, i figured it'd be an easy race. i picked up the pace and caught the t at the bu central stop and didn't look back. although, i did have to look slightly forward and to my right as the t passed me around the bu bridge. but that was the last i saw of it! continuing on comm ave. and shortly after the bu bridge i noticed another runner. now i'll confess that he did have a backback, but a lion doesn't feel guilty for a kill of a limping gazelle so neither will i. in fact, i dropped the hammer on an uphill portion and before i knew it the race was over and i turned off comm ave. onto winslow st. the victor. definitely an exhausting run. i think i saw my heart rate in the 180's! but thankfully after dropping off my keys i had a few minutes to jog and wrap up another successful 5k!

check out the right side of the web page - added a couple of gadgets this afternoon (another reason i had to run so i could post something about the slight changes i made) which i hope will make it easier to keep up w/ the blog without me having to send out updates. keep those comments coming and looking forward to tomorrow's run in the 50's!

snow

today was my first outside run of the winter season. only fittingly, it was snowing. i'm sure that if i had more time i would have gone to the gym instead, but waiting until 45 minutes prior to the steelers game left me two options: 1) bundle up and run my 5k route, or 2) stay warm inside. surprisingly i got bundled up, earmuffs, gloves, and all, but my first step out of my apartment door had me looking at my watch and questioning if i really could get in a 5k run, along w/ a shower, before the start of the lers / boys football game. that first step is really the hardest - especially when you're not training for anything (except not being fat) and it's snowing!

with some small flakes falling in boston, the first of the year, i headed down the eastbound side of beacon street - a nice downhill start. coolidge corner was obviously bustling given the time of the year (earlier i was even asked if i was leaving a parking spot as i crossed a street to the back of my apartment with a gap shopping bag, to which i replied "no. thankfully i live right there."), though i only saw 4-5 runners during the 3.1 miles i covered. some runners don't even acknowledge another runner's existence, but i'm now going to make it a point to throw a wave to all runners i pass - especially if the temperature is below 32 degrees! we should be bonded by our insanity!

at kenmore square 11 and a half minutes later I started up commonwealth avenue, where i realized i had a nice tailwind going down beacon but now was faced with a headwind. that seems to be the case here in boston - there's always a wind and you don't realize it until you're running into it. the sane students of bu were comfortably warm in the starbucks. i definitely noticed that, and even contemplated stopping for a warm espresso - i think that would have made the final mile into the wind a little easier. left onto babcock st put me into a residential part of brookline that i know well from all the training runs i did in the summer. a cooldown starting on harvard street in coolidge corner, and a runner's high, delivered me back to my apartment nice and toasty, and in time for the steelers game. time for a celebratory beer - for my run, not the game (yet)!