Baby its cold outside

It was brrr cold out this weekend. Cold as in, "wow I can't feel my nose anymore and I just crossed the street." I knew Saturday was going to be cold, but I was banking on Sunday being warmer so I could do a long run outside. However, Sunday left me hanging. So it was off to the gym for both days. Saturday I did the spin bike. Shoved off into the back of the gym, I am probably the only person who uses the spin bike. I am just waiting for the day that I go to the gym and find that my little lonely spin bike has gone to spin bike heaven.

Now I don't know about you, but I find spinning by my lonesome in a corner of the gym VERY boring (not to mention painful). So I brought reinforcements - my Ipod and Dean (Karnazes' book 50/50 to be exact). Reading a book while on the spin bike wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It wasn't exactly comfortable either, (lord knows how that spin bike hurts the hoo hah) but it was much better than staring at myself in the mirror, hoping that an hour will magically fly by while you are trying to find some kind of comfortable position on the bike while also trying to balance a hard cover book at the same time.

As I said, Sunday left me hanging, so it was back to the gym for a 6 mile run on the treadmill. I was jogging along feeling good, but towards the end, I kept getting stitches in my side, or as I like to call them, "Dallas BBQ side pains." Those baby back ribs are not so good for running, but they sure are tasty.

There was no pilates for me tonight, because I had other obligations, one of which involved a slice of vegetable pizza (the diet hasn't been so good the last couple of days), but hopefully it will be a little warmer after work tomorrow so I can do some kind of long run outside.

Speaking of which, I am new to whole running outside in the cold. Just as I master the art of running outside in the heat, Mr. Heat ups and leaves and in comes Mrs. Cold. And Mrs. Cold has been a real pain in the neck lately - bringing January temperatures in November. I really want to run the Manhattan and Bronx half-marathons in January and February so I can run the half-marathons in all five boroughs, but I don't know if I can run 13.1 miles in such cold temperatures. I was totally thinking of sporting one of those black face masks - you know the hat that covers your entire head and face except for your eyes. They sell them on the street, right next to the $5 pashminas and the $30 fake Gucci bags, but I am hesitant because do I really want to run a half-marathon looking like I just robbed a Washington Mutual? With my face covered its not like anyone would know who I am, but I do have some pride.

What if I just wrapped a $5 pashmina around my face? Is it better to look like a hot pink mummy or like you just robbed a bank? Now there is something to ponder while I am making the cranberry sauce this week.