Getting back in the groove

While, it's certainly been a while since I last wrote, you can rest assured I am still running.  Between my last post and now, I've completed two other marathons, one with my wife in Newport.

One of my best finishes

Currently, I'm training for my 5th this coming May at the Maine Coast Marathon.  This time around I'm shooting to finish in under 4 hours.  Although I'm not running this year's Boston Marathon with the Genzyme Running Team, I've been joining them for early morning runs the last couple weeks and can't help but catching some of their excitement.  Running in Boston in the winter is so much fun, once you figure out what sort of gear keeps you comfortable in the teens and accept that you're feet are going to get wet if you can't bring yourself to brave the treadmill.  It snows here and you have to deal with it one way or another.

For instance, yesterday involved snowy track work

This morning as we ran through in the pre-dawn darkness with some folks who recently joined us from Europe, I realized this was their first time running through the winter here.  They're all seasoned runners, one of whom ran Boston last year, but they've never experienced this particular part of the Boston training.  I was at the same time nostalgic and even a little jealous.  I immediately thought of how different these runs would be in March when we would be heading back up the river as the sun rose, the temperatures would be (probably, but not certainly) warmer and the paths would be far more crowded.

Running in the Spring, Summer and Fall have their own particular challenges around here but I really think there isn't much like winter running in Boston.  There's something special about heading out in the early morning, over lunch or at night through the 34 degree rain, driving snow or just straight up arctic vortex.   It's sort of like the feeling after finishing a great run but it's months long in the making.

Plus you sometimes you get to be the first person to break an iced over puddle.