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)!