Chaire Herodikos Selymbriaios!

7 mi easy to the community garden. It is getting a lot more comfortable.

Got up early at the hotel in DC and did 20min on the exercycle. Then off to the IBRD.

3 miles easy around from the hotel to Dupont Circle to the Potomac and back.

Back home at last. 7 miles easy to the community garden. Felt great -- and resuscitated my old Garmin! Highest mileage week in quite some time. Feels fine. Now need some more regularity.

3 miles easy to the Harvard boathouse in the pm.

a frustrating abortive run in the late pm.  unusually warm and humid evening (60+ degrees - in mid-December!) and I think there must have been some kind of inversion - at any rate the air quality was poor. before I'd reached the river, some asthmatic wheezing. This is rare for me but can get scary at times and I didn't have my inhaler. So I broke off and walked home for a few puffs and a couple benadryl.

The upside is I felt sluggish all night, meaning I guess that I'm getting acclimated to more regular exercise.

That's more like it. Out to the Cambridge Boat Club and back. Air temp was back down to normal-ish. By mi 4 had some of the old life in the legs.

 A nice evening run. There's a new pair of shoes coming too; the Nikes are clunky at mileage.

A quick 3 to the boathouse before dinner. Had to fit it in between a lecture by Bob Darnton and going out so was pretty brisk. Legs feel fine - nothing to write home about but no pain at any rate. Will be glad when I'm no longer lugging the extra lbs around.

The Darnton talk was a bit disappointing, I have to say - about the anecdotes scandaleuses of pre Revolutionary France which he kept cross cutting with Perez Hilton before conceding that they weren't really much the same after all.

Ran to Josh's office in the early am had a nice chat then continued for another six miles to the Northeastern boathouse. Took it very easy and felt good. Weight loss is a challenge but the new normal has crept down to about 167 first thing in the morning. I think 163 by next week will be tough, but the miles are up and we'll give it a shot!

New shoe day! Very quick run in the afternoon, weather perfect shoes feel great: super light but great ride. 

A nice way to close a solid week of running, best in a while. Felt great, looking forward to more.  Weight loss not as much as I'd hoped (part of the problem is on the diet side I expect) but the numbers are steadily getting better.

Well that's more like winter. Frozen puddles and, by the end, tiny snow crystals falling on the dry leaves with a crackle, more easily heard than seen. Word has it there will be some accumulation today, not the first of the year (we had a freak snowstorm in October) but the first of the season. The riverside was teeming with runners getting their miles in before the weather hits.

Out to the Northeastern boathouse. Felt pretty good considering it was three days in a row, and more miles than I'd logged, probably, in a year or so.  There were moments where the legs felt dead and my stride was labored at best, but also some nice stretches and all in all I'm pleased with where things are.

Weekend dietary fail. Need to stay away from the pate.

Out to the Harvard boathouse; drizzle and fog, mid-30s. Nice winter weather -- for Seattle!

3 in the pm to the Harvard Boathouse. A bit warmer, still drizzling. Are our December snowstorms in Puget Sound?

Out to Arsenal Mall in the early am. Nice run, legs a bit sluggish - i.e. felt about right. Plan is to finish off the week at 26 miles, then to 30 miles next week and maintain there for a bit mixing in some xtraining cardio until the weight is down and the legs are in better shape.

 six days in a row - first such streak in a while.

xtrain - 50 min on the bike and elliptical, which is about all I can stand. Moderate effort, dial read ~650 cal in all. The Mayflower Hotel on Connecticut by M Street, very cushy gym.

Short run in the morning to Rock Ridge Creek Park. Found a very informal trail (though it had some rudimentary engineering) along the riverside, washed out in a few places and with some fun obstacles like tree roots and whatnot, in full view of the Beltway Parkway. Did a quick meditation for Chandra Levy RIP, fellow runner.

In other news, our political system is in deep trouble. The debate in Congress last night was horrifying. Serious economists (I heard this first hand in the last few days) are preparing the governments in  developing countries for the possibility that no deal will be reached and the markets will tank. I can't believe our representatives are willing to risk mass starvation to indulge what is to me at least a mystifying hostility to public services, but this may in fact be the case. 

Well I will keep running in any event. Got a good streak going! 

Back in Boston: flew home, took a nap, then a run. New Shoe Day x 2, auditioning New Balance's remake of the the 890 with some Nimbus 13s for comparison. I ran in the Nimbus a lot when my miles were high a few years ago - they're clunky but comfortable. Reasoning was that training in a heavy shoe with lots of foam would be good while I am still over weight and ramping up the distance, and would also make the feet feel light when I switched to a more advanced shoe.

The problem is, the only colors anyone had for a reasonable price were "Arcade Fire" or something: godawful ugly. And the 890s are a sweet purple (almost literally!). They've gotten mixed reviews I guess, but seemed to fit my feet, and after a short run I can say that they feel great. The upper is a bit snug, but with sensitive lacing it didn't bother me at all, and the bottoms feel great.  So it looks like the Asics go back - maybe I'll wait around for a sale on a slightly less hideous color.

Otherwise nothing special to report: cold and beautiful on the river at sunset a few days before Christmas. Had slight discomfort in the old familiar spot by my left ankle, no doubt from adding 7 miles this week, a bit more than intended. Pretty sure it's that and not the shoes, as the other foot felt just fine. Stretched it a few minutes extra and will monitor.

The diet is really an issue at this point; I should be losing more. Gal just got a vegetarian cookbook and I'm going to experiment with alternating veggie and omni for two week stretches, see how it affects things.

Lovely afternoon run on a cold Charles River. Temp high 20s, partly cloudy with brilliant sun-breaks, a thin film of ice on the puddles. River not yet frozen but it's heading in that direction. Air felt very fresh and clean.

Today is Gal's and my second anniversary. It feels like no time  at all; the morning was so very sweet. We are going out to TW Food tonight, where I will not be dieting yet. 

The run itself was good, out to the Eliot Bridge and back. I am definitely liking the new shoes. Are NB still made in USA? 

Pretty run on Christmas Eve, communing with the Man in the Moon. Water a smooth metallic sheen beneath the lights on Weeks Footbridge, temp just cold enough to keep the puddles frozen, just warm enough that five minutes in, I stuffed the hat in my pocket. Out to Eliot Bridge and Cambridge Boat Club one more time--will keep to this run for the whole week (6x5 mi).

Warmed up by taking a walk to the liquor store in Central Square for a Christmas present for Ed (Augie got a stuffed whale and Gal made Serena some lotion bars). That smoothed out the kink in my thigh, everything else was a nothingburger. But somehow this run sucked, I just had no energy. Legs were better than the last few days, but central nervous system hampered by an unknown dysfunction. Maybe it's diet; certainly our anniversary dinner last night was glorious but not made for speed.

At any rate, got my five in and by the time I pulled up home was feeling ok. 

White Christmas. Since the snow forecast last week fizzled, this turns out to be the first dusting of the season. And as usual after a lousy evening run, my morning run was excellent. Wore my Umass cap and purple shoes and felt awesome. I am running for running, and stretching as meditation and my body clearly feels better for it. Ready to set some good goals, like a run to Walden Pond in February and a marathon (some random marathon) in April. Want to give this another month before going all official or anything.

Meanwhile, made Tiramisu for Christmas dinner today. This is supposedly the original recipe, invented in about 1970 by a dessert chef in Treviso, Italy.  Spoiler: if you are counting calories, read no further! There will be healthy recipes for future days that are not Christmas.

Four egg yolks

1/2 cup sweet marsala wine

16 oz mascarpone cheese

12 oz espresso

2 tbs cocoa powder

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup granulated sugar

~40 lady fingers (enough to layer a 13x9" pan twice)

Stir 2 tbs sugar into espresso and chill in fridge. Boil water in a saucepan.Whisk egg yolks in a pyrex bowl (large enough to fit over the sucepan without falling in but not too broad at the base) until they became a light and fluffy cream. Whisk in remaining sugar and wine until well blended. The mixture should be frothy and uniform. Set the pyrex bowl over the water, like a double boiler, and stir assiduously. Don't let it "scramble"! As the liquid thickens it will begin get custard-y out as the bubbles of froth disappear. Stop when it is just hot enough to slowly bubble and has reached a rich yellow in color.  Set the custard (known in Italian as zabaglione and in French as sabayon) aside to cool.

Whip the cream in a large mixing bowl. Whip/mix the mascarpone in a separate medium mixing bowl. Add the mascarpone to the now-cool custard, beating well until smooth and blended. Fold this mixture carefully, with a spatula, into the large mixing bowl of whipped cream, taking care not to beat the cream too hard -- you don't want butter, or the tiramisu filling won't be light enough. When it is evenly distributed, with a few flecks of yellow and white, set it aside.

Fill a bowl with the espresso and dunk each ladyfinger one by one. One second per side should be sufficient, too long and it will fall apart (I did a few of those last night -- delicious!). Lay them side by side and end to end in the baking pan so that they cover the entire bottom. Spread the filling on top so that it is covered. Repeat with one more row of dunked lady fingers. Cover with the other half of the filling. Sift cocoa over the top to cover.

Chill for at least four hours in the fridge.

Merry Christmas! 

Beautiful run. Bright clear early morning. Very cold: ice creeping into the river along the shoreline, not long now at this rate before it's frozen over. Feeling stronger. Not too much effort and good mid-foot striking form.

Torrential rain this morning flooded out my usual river path in both directions so I turned back; I'd had thoughts of going 7 but this is fine. Seven days in a row is enough. 

Soreness in the right lower calf, kept stretching but it stuck around, making for an arduous slow jog. Probably just as well. Felt pretty tired at the end.

Today I weighed in at 163.2, - hit my target only two days late. That is something to be pleased about. 

Icy. Legs not working.

Otherwise the news is mixed. Pleased with my mileage, but had a setback yesterday with the diet. Should be measuring weight in weekly averages anyway. Rest/xtr day tomorrow. 

Snow! Started on the river path, got slippery, so headed out to Fresh Pond - made the turn at FP Parkway and Huron. Sweet afternoon - but icy. Right calf is still sore, trying to baby it.

A one horse open sleigh out to Fresh Pond again over the ice, snow and slush. Many pedestrians to avoid on the sidewalks, ran in the street when prudent and the vehicles were considerate today. Right calf ever so slightly less stiff and sore, but legs still feeling the added miles. Plan is to average about 5.5 this week.