Snow Moat, Snow Problem

Another week and a 12 mile long-run down.  As most of you already know, we have gotten a ton of snow the past couple of weeks.  The best bet for finding a safe, non-icy long distance route is to stay on a main road and go out and back which makes for an exceptionally boring run.  And, because of where I live, Mass Ave would be the only road with enough sidewalks to make a long run out of.  Running on Mass Ave means running through Harvard Square and, for whatever reason, I never have good runs when I run through Harvard.  To combat the unknown sidewalks, Harvard, and the cold, Micah and I split yesterday's long run between running outside and on the treadmill.  It worked out well, except running on the street right after getting off the treadmill is not easy.  I felt like I had sea legs and was a little wobbly on our way back home.

My running stories this week aren't really worthy of a blog so I'm going to turn this over to my two dogs, Minnesota (Sota) and Buttercup.  Sota is master of escaping in general and the mounds of snow in the backyard has made it even easier for her to figure a way out.  The neighbors had piled the snow from their driveway over our bushes and into our yard, giving her a bridge to get out.  When I saw what they had done, I hoped that Sota's fear of everything would keep her in the yard.  Unfortunately, Sota is afraid of everything but snow and jumping.  In lieu of a run on Friday, I decided I would knock down her bridge and shovel a moat in between the bushes and our yard.  After an hour and a half of shoveling and excavating of ice blocks, I had a pretty nice pathway.

Surely this would keep Sota's tricks at bay.  I was very proud of myself and decided my hard work was certainly deserving of some hot chocolate.  This sense of accomplishment was short lived.  I was inside for all of two minutes before I heard barking.  From the front porch.  I opened the door and there was my little Houdini.  Smiling and taunting me with her unbelievable escaping abilities.  The only way I was going to be able to put a stop to this was to figure out exactly where she was getting out.  I put my snow gear back on, took the girls outside, walked on the other side of the fence and called her.  Please note that in the photo above that there are no trampolines of any kind in our yard.

Unbelievable.  This isn't even fair.

Baby, it's cold outside

January in Boston = Cold

As you are dodging snow banks and icy spots on the sidewalk, it's easy to think to yourself, "self, what is wrong with you?  It's 29° out here.  You could be watching Jersey Shore in your cozy living room.  There's lots of unfinished business between the ladies of the house and Deena is definitely going to add to the trainwreck-nicity that makes the show so great."  (I tend to ramble and make up words when I talk to myself.) But this is what I've signed up for.  Unfortunately, you have to get through January to make it to April.


We've had two snowstorms so far, so Micah and I finally broke down and joined a gym.  Planet Fitness at Porter Square.  I can get there by walking, driving or public transportation so there is officially no excuse for skipping trainings now.  And now I have equipment readily available to start training for the Tough Mudder 2 weeks after the marathon.  It's not a 26.2 mile race, but there is mud and toughness involved so I need to be ready.  I was really excited walking into the gym because I noticed that each treadmill had its own tv.  There are only about 15 channels to choose from, but it beats staring at the timer for an entire run.  However, I ended up running a 12 minute mile pace because going faster made the screen bounce.  A girl can't watch Kind of Queens and Adventures of Old Christine on a shaky screen.  To remedy the situation, I moved to a bike.  Technically Wednesday is cross training day so this justified my move.  All I can say is I hope I get better about running in front of a tv.  I'm not sure if I will make it outside for an 11 mile run this Saturday and based on my first run at Planet Fitness, it will take me the entire day to watch tv/run. 

For the record, I never watch either of these shows.  I only cared because they were on.