Distance: 18 miles

Temperature: 17° F, “RealFeel” 5° F

Motivation: Repeatedly thinking “It’s only going to be colder tomorrow”

Song playing on repeat in my head: “Hide Away” by Daya.  Because Happy Singletine’s Day.

Can I just say that this has been one of the most absurd winters, temperature fluctuation-wise, that I’ve ever encountered?

Over the holidays, when I was stocking up on winter running gear, my assumption was that Boston would probably experience another cold, snowy winter like the one we survived last year.  I therefore requested as many fleecy, thick, layer-able running clothes for Christmas as I could get.

So of course, for the most part it’s been a very mild winter.  (One particularly memorable day involved reading on a café patio in a skirt in late January.  Because it was 60 degrees and I could.) While that’s made my training significantly easier, it was a little frustrating that I had all these winter clothes sitting unused in my drawer.

I needn’t have worried.  This past weekend, we got our first “arctic blast” of the winter.  Nobody knew exactly when it would hit, so everyone was repeatedly checking their weather apps, email (to see if the run had been altered or canceled), or making alternate plans to run indoors.  I knew there was no way I would be able to handle 18 miles on a treadmill without going insane (😱), so it was going to be an outside run for me unless it was dangerously cold.

The night before, I laid out my layers:

… and steeled myself for the bitter cold.

Which didn’t happen.

Instead, the 30 or so of us who showed up at Joint Ventures for the group run discovered that we’d all ridiculously overdressed, even though the temperature was 17 degrees.  I wound up leaving half of my layers at our run base, and by our first water stop at mile 2, we were all shedding layers and leaving them with the volunteers who were supplying us with water and Gatorade.

The first few miles were all about temperature/sweat management.  We were doing an 18-mile out-and-back route: starting at Kenmore Square (mile 25 of the marathon), running eastward along the marathon route for 9 miles, and then turning around and coming back. The first few miles take us uphill as we move into Brookline; by the time we hit Boston College and Newton, it’s all downhill until the turnaround point.  Rob, my partner in crime for this particular run, and I had to take the first few miles easy so that we wouldn’t start sweating.  (Sweating when it’s that cold out has the unfortunate effect of chilling you and can cause your core temperature to drop.  So for winter running, one of the greatest challenges is finding the right clothes and layers to keep you comfortable, but not warm enough that you’ll break a sweat.)

We wound our way through Brookline and down the Newton hills, discussing our plans for the weekend and the staycation Rob and his wife had planned with their kids for winter vacation week.  By the time we hit the turnaround/halfway point, the sun came out (yay!). Soon after, around mile 11, the gloves came off .  By mile 13ish my hat was off too, and Rob commented in all seriousness that “it’s really toasty.”

We coasted back to Kenmore Square and celebrated with a victory photo, which we promptly sent to all of our other running friends to shame them for not showing up that day.

For the record, the arctic blast did finally hit on Sunday morning.  Boston woke up to a chilly -9 ° F (-44° F with wind chill).

… and by Tuesday the high was over 50°.  I don’t understand, but I’ll take it.  *shrug*