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)!