Still Here. Still Cold.

Hello!

What a week, huh?

Snow, freezing rain, negative teen temperatures, and the Patriots' victory parade (which I only realized was happening when I took Iris for a walk and was like "Why are there so many drunk people???"*). Am I still running?

Yes!

Of course!

In fact, I am like some gym vagrant, scurrying from one treadmill to the next, looking for my next fix. This week I tried out the very beautiful, ladies-only Healthworks, which has the added bonus of being exactly .5 miles from my house (which means I count the walk there and back as part of my run**).

Aside from the snow, Dave and my schedules have been nutso, so I did Wednesday's run on Tuesday and took Wednesday off, and then I did Thursday's run later in the day. I was supposed to get my last run of the week in this morning, but when I woke up at 6:15, I rolled over and told Dave that under no circumstances was he allowed to get me out of bed.***

So, I'm doing it. Sometimes I want to weep while I'm doing it, but I'm doing it.

The nice thing about the treadmills at Healthworks (aside from the decided lack of sweaty man grunts), is that they rigged the TVs to show videos of various hikes and pleasant walks, so you can almost imagine instead of being stuck inside in freezing, gray Boston, you're actually strolling along the Mediterranean or picking flowers in a meadow. Because my latest book is a Western, I chose the trails of the American Southwest:

You can sorta see it, but that guy in the shorts walking right in front was there for pretty much the entire movie. I hoped he would provide some sort of Rick Steves'-like narration, but when I plugged in my headphones: muzak.

I have one more run this afternoon and then I have to figure out what I'll be doing about this week's long run, since 15 miles on a treadmill sounds like the definition of miserable (also, I've run out of free trials) and there promises to be more snow this weekend. Or...oh...right now. It literally started snowing right as I typed those words. :(

"Don't worry about it," Dave told me, when I complained about the treadmills and snow. "I can't remember ever training on the treadmill when I was getting ready for the marathon."

"So how did you run in the snow?" I asked.

"Hmm... I can't remember. I don't think I did."

"So you're saying when it snowed, you just didn't train."

"Yeah, I guess not."

[I whimper]

"But hey! I still managed to finish the marathon!"

He has a point.

~~~~~~~

Thank you to my very generous donors this week! My in-laws, Mark and Anne; my cousins, Nora and Doug; and my grandma Florence (who at 93 could probably run the marathon just fine, as long they let her use steroids****). Thanks to their amazing generosity, I am a THIRD of the way to my goal!



*Real conversation that I had:
Drunk Guy: Uhhhh, hey. Do you know where the Prudential building is?
Me: *turns around, points at the gigantic building right behind us that says PRUDENTIAL at the top* Right...there?
Drunk Guy: So I keep walking this way?
Me: Yes. Walking in that direction will get you there.

**It's three degrees outside. Cut me some slack.

***This turned out to be a good decision, because the baby, in true rock-star fashion, slept until NINE AM. NINE AM! The greatest gift a child can give her parent...

****She would want you to know that steroids are fantastic and make her knees feel awesome and everyone should be using them. Sound advice, Nan.