Last run in Boston

Before I talk about today's run, let me just say that if you live anywhere near a Whole Foods, you should run -- not walk -- to get some of the Gruyere reserve wheel cheese.  Ridiculously good.  I may have to make French Onion Soup just for the cheese if I can locate this at the Tampa Whole Foods.

Unfortunately, my friend couldn't make it out to run.  I decided to lounge around this morning and have a bit of a break.  I'm not one of those 'Must Run First Thing In The Morning' people by any means.  I think that you should run when you can...that being said, you do need to plan and make time to go.  Yesterday, I was proud of myself because I changed my plans to make sure I could fit my run in.  This scheduling stuff is important or else you can get behind.  Also, the clear advantage of going first thing in the morning is that your run is done and nothing can get in the way later.  I do prefer usually to go earlier rather than later, but either is fine, really.

Tonight was great: low humidity, good temperature, and a nice run by the Charles (again).  Needless to say, I will miss this, but there is something about running here that I will miss even more.  Even in this short week and a half, I feel like I'm developing better running technique.  For instance, halfway through tonight I noticed that my shoulders were raised, meaning that I was holding in too much tension.  So I spent the rest of my run concentrating on relaxing, ensuring that my shoulders didn't get too high.  When I get to hills, I can feel my legs powering up.  In general, I feel like there is more bounce in my step.  Today, I may have even -- momentarily -- hit a 10-minute mile...although I don't quite trust the mile splits that my phone provides because sometimes they are just wacky.  For instance, if I ran three miles in less than 36 minutes, I'm pretty sure I'm under 12-minute miles, whereas sometimes my phone disagrees.

I'm trying not to get morose about leaving Boston, although I'm pretty sure that my love for this city has come through pretty clearly.  Instead, I want to focus on what I can do to be a better runner in spite of Florida.  I am going to keep watching my technique and trying to improve in the areas that I noticed, such as keeping the shoulders down.  Part of the problem there, I believe, is that I get so caught up in the challenge of just running in those conditions that I forget about other aspects of my running.  Even though any distance feels like a challenge, it is not enough to only run.  It's time to step up the technique and make the best of a difficult situation.

Funnily enough, during the Red Sox game tonight (which is in Texas) the announcers got talking about how icky the conditions can be in the south.  They were of the mindset that no one ever fully adapted to the heat and humidity.  That being said, it sounded far nastier there than Tampa: it was 100F at the start of the game.  Ew.

I ran into a guy in the elevator tonight who told me that he has been working in Boston for three months and has only been running outside four times.  Instead, he runs on the treadmill.  Tragedy!