A Lean and Hungry Look

Another lovely morning--about 7 degrees with wind chill down to -7.  After missing several workouts due to a heavy load at work as a result of my vacation, I finally manned up and went this morning at 5:15 (had to take my daughter to violin at 6:40).  Jake was a trooper to accommodate my schedule!

I think I dressed just about right.  For future reference, I added a balaclava, my new cold weather running boxers (TMI, I know), and mitten shells over my cold weather running gloves to my usual cold weather gear.  I have to bear in mind that it's running in this kind of weather that gives me a little extra boost at the end of a marathon (I tell myself, though I know it's not true, especially given the composition of FRB, that I was the only guy running at 5 am in the bitter cold in December, and that's why I still have an extra gear to go to).  It's a juvenile mind trick, but it sometimes works to pull me out of a funk late in a race.

Still in the single digits, but the run wasn't too bad.  Maja woke up when she heard me getting dressed and came bounding up the stairs, so I put her little dog coat on her and brought her along.  I was nervous about her paws freezing, but she seemed to be fine throughout the run and when we got home.  I'm still fighting a cold and I've clearly lost some fitness over the past few weeks of sporadic running, but I'm feeling pretty decent over all.