Well, it was only 5k, but it felt far.  With temperatures just over 30 at race time, it felt cold too.  But I finished in not quite record time.  It took me twenty seven minutes and forty four seconds from start to finish.  Just under 9 minutes per mile.  It’s not quite running from home to the Hatch Shell, but it’ll do.

With this type of personal victory, there are just so many people to thank.  Boston Sports Club with it’s ridiculously expensive membership dues that forces me into the gym to bring down my average cost per visit, Patrik for bugging me to join him in a triathalon or a duatholon or a bike race or a run, Julie for taking some great pics and bringing me that fantastic frosty the snowman hat, and of course Jenn for braving the cold and the T to cheer me on.

6 Days until the Somerville Jingle Bell 5k run this Sunday. Forecasts call for rain on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with Snow on Friday. But somehow, there’s sunshine all weekend with temps just up into the 30s. So, there shouldn’t be any snow on the ground and it should be plenty warm enough.

I decided to go for a practice outdoor, cold-weather run today at lunch. It was 20 degrees outside and I was just about ready to pass out a couple times. I only ran for 2.5 miles, but that’s my longest outdoor, cold-weather run yet. Just need to add a little more to get up to 5k.

I’ll post pictures of the run if I don’t look like a frozen popsicle.

Just in case you’re interested… I’m still running. I’ve mixed in some rowing maching workouts at the gym. Ran 5k this morning on treadmill. And I’ve signed up for the Somerville Jingle Bell 5k Race in December. Yes, it’s an outdoor race in MA in winter. It’s going to be cold.

The faster you run, the sooner you're done! It's cold outside.

Here’s a picture from the 2007 run. I’m not sure what’s going to be tougher to deal with. The crazy people or the freezing cold weather.

Only crazy people run outside in December

I’m keeping up with the running even without watching SF Triathlon or Tour de France coverage for motivation. This time I ran twice as far, twice as long. Of course, last time around I ran an embarrassingly short route. So this time I ran a regular short run.

My goal is to be able to run down to The Hatch Memorial Shell and back before it gets too cold to run outside. So I have 11 weeks to build up to 7 miles. Let’s see… I went out for 1.5 today, so only 5.5 more to go.

View Larger Map