Today, I did a difficult, but beautiful, 17 mile run on the Norwottuck Rail Trail between Northhampton and Amherst in western Massachusetts.

I love this area of Massachusetts for its natural beauty, hearty New England feel and the crazy little liberal towns with lots of coffee shops.  I’ve stopped in and out of the area dozens of times, visiting friends, doing work there, and have run bits and pieces of this trail, but never the whole thing.

Click for the live map. My 17 mile route - I started in the middle of the trail and went east, came all the way back west and finished back at the car.

This run was difficult for many reasons.   The past couple weeks have been tough for me workout-wise, as life has taken over a little more than I usually like.  Although I have run most days, it has been more of the ’squeezing in a run’ run, or ‘i get a pat on the back for just getting out the door’ run.

The other reason this run was very hard was (I am probably sounding like a broken record if you have read my prior blog posts) snow and ice.  There was a big melt in Boston this week, so most of the sidewalks and paths are clear there.  But I must have an attraction to suffering, and decided to combine a visit to my friend Anna in Amherst, with this long run.  I was forewarned that it may not be plowed, so I was prepared with Yak Trax, coils that go on the bottom of shoes to make the footing better.

Yak Trax

After I couldn’t find the Amherst beginning of the trail, I started in the middle and followed the trail east.  A gorgeous, but colder-than-I expected day, I of course neglected to be totally prepared.  So instead of a neckwarmer or balaclava, i threw a t-shirt on my head.  Runner Shiekh Ali.  Obviously, I didn’t look in a mirror.

Runner Shiekh Ali

The day was beautiful, and the first couple miles of the run went very well and very easily.  With not great footing, I put no pressure on myself to run a great pace.  In fact, I was thinking that just finishing the whole path would be an accomplishment.

Red barn, a picture I took a full 26 seconds into the run. Shows how excited I was to start.

Mile markers, however, showed up around the 3rd mile of my run and I was super-pleased to see that I was running pretty much an exactly 8-minute mile pace.

The rail trail is beautiful – surrounded by farmland (and consequent smells of manure) and wetlands and woods, quiet and flat.  And straight.  Which can get maddening!  You can actually see how far you have to run.  And what I’ve found is very interesting (and terrible!) on flat trails is that the trail actually appears uphill, so you expect to get a nice downhill on the way back, but actually just get more apparent uphill.

Beautiful wetlands and a FLAT, ICY trail!

At about mile 6.5, I made it to the Amherst beginning of the trail, feeling pretty good.  However, as I got more tired, the trail footing got more difficult, which tired me out more.  During this second 6.5 mile stretched, I stopped to tie my shoe and felt that the surface was pretty pure ice, even though it felt like packed snow to me.  I was very impressed with the performance of the Yak Trax (by the way, this is NOT a paid advertisement for Yak Trax!).

After about 13 miles, I arrived back at my car, 1:44 into the run, pretty beat up with a nice blister developing on my left foot.  I grabbed some water and was tempted to quit it right there.  But, here is my dedication to this blog.  I wanted to make it to the Northhampton beginning of the trail where there is a picturesque historical railroad bridge over the Connecticut River.  So, as seems to happen on every one of these runs, I made the hard decision to grind on.

About 2.5 miles later, I was rewarded by the effort with the gorgeous view of the river.

Connecticut River from the old railroad bridge

I have gotten a handful of comments that some people reading this blog like my stupid videos.  So, I made yet another one.  Despite how I am acting in this, I am not running from the authorities.

Click to view the video

The final 2.5 miles back to the car was good, and I finished the run with an average of 8:30 mile pace, great for that surface.  I got to celebrate with a nice big blister and Rao’s coffee in Amherst.  I will be starting on a regular dose of hills in the coming weeks.

Once again, THANK YOU so much for your support, for reading this, and if you have donated to Cycle Kids on my behalf.  If you would like to donate, please go to www.firstgiving.com/alicohen.

Today, I did one of the coolest and most unknown runs around Boston – a 20 mile trek through Revere and Winthrop – small, odd towns which border on Boston to the east and sit with amazing views of the Boston skyline and a gorgeous, turquoise, powerful winter ocean.

Also, I was lucky enough to have a great running partner, Mark, who is helping to manage the CycleKids Marathon Training Team.  He is a great runner, and we decided to do this run together.

Our route on the ocean (click to zoom and see elevation changes)

To start the fun, we decided to begin the run at the Passion Plunge, one of these crazy events where people run into the ocean in the winter as a fundraiser for the Special Olympics.  As it was 25 degrees out and windy, it was quite a scene.

Passion Plunge at Revere Beach. Cooold! Click on the image for the 45 second video.

And then Mark and I started south towards Winthrop.

One of the wonderful things about Boston and its surrounds are all little isolated neighborhoods surrounded by majestic ocean and city views. I can’t imagine living a normal life surrounded by the ocean – here, the beach is not for vacation or boardwalks.  These neighborhoods – Nahant, Quincy, South Boston, Hull – are not million-dollar neighborhoods although they have million-dollar views.  Normal, working-class people with a little seaside house. Winthrop and Revere are such neighborhoods.

Mark on Winthrop Shores Drive

Mark and I first ran south from Revere and onto Winthrop Shores drive.  Surprisingly, even though Boston dropped on us a wonderful snow / rain / freeze winter storm this week, we were able to run on the road with pretty good footing and not bad traffic.

So, the first obstacle of the run, at about mile 3.  As a ‘beach’ run, I was not expecting any hills.  And then, towering before us, was a watertower high on a hill, and because of the skinniness of the peninsula, no way around it.  Bahh.  Hard.

This was NOT supposed to be a hill run!

And then we got to Deer Island, a weird fascinating place.  At times a prison, a fort and now the receiver of all wastewater for the Boston metropolitan region, it also has a 3 mile pedestrian path around the outside which is part of Boston Harbor Islands National Park.  Huh?  A wastewater treatment plant and National Park??

I prayed to the plowing gods just as we got there, but it turned out the path was unplowed.  Mark, being a very good sport, was fine with running on the packed snow.  Running around Deer Island was cold, windy and gorgeous.  You feel like you are at the edge of the world, and then you look up and see the huge ‘eggs’, settling tanks for the wastewater treatment system.

The settling 'eggs' at the Deer Island wastewater treatment plant. Weeeird!

Although slower, the footing was not terrible with some icy exceptions, and I was clothing-ly much more prepared than last week, and stayed pretty warm.

So, we headed back north, straight into a headwind, but at a pretty good clip.  A couple miles later after another big hill, I started feeling a little junky. Just at that moment, Mark told me we just hit the 10 mile mark.  JUST HALFWAY??  Argh, this might be a loong day.

On the tip of my tongue for the next 15 minutes as Mark chugged along just ahead were the words, “Mark, I’m going to take a little rest”, “Mark, I’m going to take a little rest”… repeated over and over again.  But I trudged forward.  As Mark put it – the head wind is a soul-destroyer.

The crescent shoreline of Revere Beach - and the last 6 miles of our run.

At mile 14, we hit port-a-potties at the bottom of Revere Beach, and I realized (duh!) that I hadn’t had water or food and hadn’t planned any.  Hmmm, for my 45 minute runs I don’t need those!  Last week for 17 miles, I was pretty fine! But they have food and drink for us in the marathon… Still getting used to these long runs…

Mark generously gave me a Clif Shot and some water, and I told him to go ahead at his own pace, as he had ideas of running the last couple miles at 6:45.

So I headed up the crescent coastline of Revere Beach on my own for the last 6 miles, up to the very northern and isolated little neighborhood of Point of Pines at mile 17 of my run.  Snowy dunes are fabulous here.  Although this video is terrible, Nurit thinks its funny, so I’m putting it up.  Apparently distance running induces delirium.

Click on this for a delirium-induced 1 minute 30 second long self-interview.

The final 3 miles were painful.  My body definitely needed some water and nutrition.  I admittedly walked a couple times towards the end, and willed myself to run in.

Mark and I - DONE!

In the end, I ran 20.3 miles in 2:45, which is nothing to sneeze at, as the ice, snow and wind conditions were difficult at times.  Mark, it turned out, finished super strong running the last mile in sub-7 minute pace.  Lessons learned for me:  food and water important (ummm, duh), and if I want to kick this marathon’s butt, I better run some hills!

I am very thankful to everyone who has donated.  If you can donate any amount to CycleKids on my behalf, please go to http://www.firstgiving.com/alicohen.  Thanks!

Today, I went out for my longest run in two years – 17 miles on the Charles River in Boston.

The wings that my brother-in-law Tamir is making me wear in the marathon for his donation to CycleKids!

The Charles is the beautiful river that runs between Boston and Cambridge.  All runners in this area know the Charles.  You measure your runs by bridges.  There are 12 bridges between downtown Boston and Watertown center, about 8 miles, where the continuous paths end.  The Charles itself goes for miles and miles more, to its source, which interestingly enough is in Hopkinton – the same place as the start of the Boston Marathon!

My 17 mile route today

Because we live near the Charles in Cambridge, I have run the lower Charles hundreds of times.  Museum of Science bridge to Mass Ave bridge, Longfellow to the Harvard footbridge…  It starts urban at MIT, on the Boston Esplanade, with gorgeous views of the city, docks lingering in the river.  On this piece, I proposed to my wife, have been frozen by icy winds, sweated in the hot sun, cross-country skiied and all conditions in between.  Then going west, the river winds towards Boston University, Allston, Harvard, Harvard Stadium and then towards some peaceful parks in Watertown, borders on Newton, and finally to Watertown Square.

Going over the Mass Ave bridge to begin the run.

Although I have regularly run 30-40 miles a week for a long time, the last time I ran close to 17 miles was in the 2007 Boston Marathon as a “rabbit” for my friend Vanessa, who ran a kickin’ 3:11 in tough conditions.  Another time, I’ll write about my habit of jumping in with friends in Boston.  For right now, however, I wanted to increase my training distance, as the longest I had run was 12.3 a couple weeks ago.

I wasn’t sure how my body would be, as for the last 2 weeks, I’ve been running in different conditions.  On the beach in the Bahamas, in the snowy woods near my work in Westwood.  These are great training – very hard, as each step forward sends you back 1/2 a step and takes more anaerobic strength.  But its not 2/3 of a marathon.

No, not Boston in January. Paradise Island, Bahamas, where Nurit and I went on a yoga retreat last week.

I chose Saturday morning because the temperature was going to drop to the teens with an icy wind on Sunday.  NPR told me it was a balmy 38 degrees in Boston and would get sunny.  So I chose a headband, not a hat, no gloves and no windproof top.

About 10 minutes into the run, I realized I that this decision was WRONG!  I decided to do the first half of the run out to Watertown on the Boston side of the river, as I know it IS longer and FEELS longer, with more portions next to traffic, fewer trees.  As I crossed the Mass Ave bridge to Boston, I think one of the coldest and windiest places ON EARTH, the biting icy wind blowing east shocked me.  I was not dressed for this, and was not looking forward to running 7 miles into this wind.  But President Obama just told us that we have to make the hard decisions, so I made the hard decision to march on.

I curse you people who don't plow the path. 5 miles of this. Oy.

The first mile after the bridge was in-your-face windy, and I was not the happiest of souls.  But then, around Harvard, the worst happened.  The path stopped being plowed.  I started to curse the City of Boston, or DCR, or whoever is responsible for plowing these paths.  Running on snow and ice is VERY slow and not fun (see this blog post).  The next 5-ish miles were slow and messy.  There were some short plowed portions, but for the most part, I jumped over puddles of slush, patches of ice, mounds of snow, skiied while trying to keep balance on slippery snow, got my feet very wet and nasty, accepted mentally that this was not a fast run, that my hands would just be cold, and hoped that the wind did not reverse direction when I turned around.

I reached Watertown square 1 hour 10 minutes into my run.  I decided to do a silly self-interview, hopefully you’ll find it amusing.

Click on the picture to go to the video

And the fact that I am writing this now proves that I ran home.  I had not brought any cash, so public transportation for the way home was ruled out (I have done that and am NOT above it!).  The moment I started running east towards home, life changed.  The wind was at my back, the path was PLOWED, the sun came out!  So exciting.   Although minor portions were unplowed, including at one spot where I almost started kicking the ice in a temper tantrum, the way home was luxuriously easy.

I love you Cambridge! Look at that concrete path!

I ran past the Perkin’s School for the Blind, the Arsenal on the Charles, beyond Fresh Pond, SO happy to see Cambridge, past Harvard, and then I saw the Starbucks on Memorial Drive.  Although I had no cash on me, I remembered that they had a short term offer that if you pledge to volunteer 5 hours, they will give you a free cup of coffee.  This thought fueled me for the last 2 miles of the run.  I passed the BU bridge, back to the beautiful Boston skyline, past MIT and walked into the Kendall Square Starbucks.  I got the coffee with a nice smile and ran home, spilling coffee all over myself.  I figured after 15.5 good miles, I could afford 1/2 mile slow and stupid.  Probably not worth the pain, but the idea of the coffee made the last 2 miles of my run mentally really easy.  It’s amazing the little things that help you out.

Some images from the run:

Harvard and the snow man.

Citgo sign above Kenmore Square and Fenway Park.

MIT Dome!

Anyway, I finished strong, in 2:15, with a lot of good excuses like wind, ice and snow as to why it wasn’t faster.  However, even at that pace, I’m within spitting distance of my 3:10 marathon goal (7:15 mile pace).  Ahhh, the Charles River. Have to take what it deals out.

Mmmm. Free coffee!

Having just gotten home from a nighttime, frigid, icy, yet beautiful run on the Charles, I got to thinking (as Sarah Jessica Parker used to say on Sex and the City) that I should write about winter running.  One of the things that makes Boston Marathon such a hard marathon is that one must do the main portion of the training in the winter.  For those in warmer climes, no problem.  For us in Boston, it’s a challenge.

Winter running is hard, for a lot of reasons.  It’s cold.  It gets dark very early and light late in the morning.  It’s icy and / or snowy, especially in the early morning or after work, which are the most obvious times to run.  It is not quite so easy to just walk out the door when you feel like it and go for a run.  It takes planning, and an even greater desire to workout than in other seasons.

I like to run outside as much as possible.  Cold does not keep me from running outside.  It is a rare occasion that I don’t warm up by 5 minutes into the run and finish a run soaked in sweat. I’ve only been supercold a handful of times with icy winds when I’m not dressed correctly – a couple times on the Charles, one memorable freezing time on the South Boston waterfront.

Despite those rare times, running outside in the winter is an amazing feeling.  You are part of the skeleton of the world, when most of nature has gone to sleep and everyone else is inside.  By generating your own internal heat, you have somehow defeated mother nature temporarily.  Seeing your own breath, sweating in the below freezing temperatures, breathing the crisp air, feeling tougher than the shmoes inside, coming back to the warmth to a HOT SHOWER.  Amazing.

The only thing that keeps me from running outside is footing.  Snow and ice can obviously be slippery and dangerous.  Sidewalks not shoveled can make you have to run on an already skinny road.  Sometimes a run is impossible.  Others it is just a bad run because there is so much stopping and starting, stepping gingerly on slippery patches.  How quickly and how well sidewalks and/or paths are shoveled depends on where you live, the type of snow, how cold it is and other factors.  I’ve found more recently that Boston and Cambridge have gotten really good at plowing the paths on the Charles.  So I’ve tended to go out there earlier after a snowstorm than I used to.  Neighborhood runs are less likely to be good after a snow because sidewalk clearance depends on lots of people and/or businesses shoveling.  Either way, any outdoor run in the winter might be ruined because of poor plowing or shoveling.  Just a risk worth taking.

Running on snowy paths in the woods is awesome.  It is soft.  But it is not the same as a road workout.  The footing is not going to be great, going up hills will be harder.  it will likely be slow and more of an anaerobic than aerobic workout.  But still gorgeous.

So that leaves the treadmill.  Some people hate the treadmill.  I like it as a mix in with other types of running.  For me, the treadmill has always been a sort of ground-truthing.  Can I still run the 6 mile workout at the speed I ran in 1999?  If so, I am not getting older yet.  This is of course not totally true, as all treadmills are different, and you never know if it’s hard if it’s the treadmill or if it’s you.  (Well, I guess I must be aging a little bit too… ) The treadmill is easy on the body and you know what you’ll get.  I put it at a 1.0% incline, as I once read that makes it equivalent to running outdoors.  I still don’t believe it’s equivalent – the 6:40 pace I run on the treadmill I don’t think I’m running outdoors.  However, I’m happy to think so.  Requisite for me with the treadmill is the TV.  Without the TV, the treadmill can be pure torture.  Even an Ipod for me doesn’t do the job.  In the end, I like the treadmill as a way to get in a great hard workout when the outdoors is not cooperating.

Anyway, I was shocked last year when I realized that I only ran at the gym a handful of times all winter.  Like bike commuting through the winter, it makes you feel different than other people.  And in a weird way, at times the workout itself doesn’t even matter, as it’s so hard to get outside mentally and physically, that anything I do is a bonus.

Additional note – winter running clothes:

I thought I’d add a note on clothing for running outside in the winter.  I tend to dress pretty lightly.  Depending on how cold it is, I wear either regular tights or my beloved windshield pants.  I wear 2-3 layers on top, and the most important piece – a winter hat.  Balaclavas (see below) can be good in the very cold.  The windproof pants are key for protection from the needle-like icy winds.

Balaclavas. Warm.

Finally, I’ve learned after many many tough experiences that being warm in warm dry clothes after a winter run is VERY important.  I like to schedule things right after runs sometimes, and I finally know that I need a good change of very warm dry clothes, otherwise I will quickly lose feeling in feet and hands.  Just a note for the future…

As part of the holiday travels, we spent some time around New York City.  Although I will be writing plenty about Boston runs, I thought I’d write about a favorite run down the west side of Manhattan, from 125th street to Battery Park, all on a connected bike path. At various points of living in NYC, I ran different parts of this path on a regular basis.  I have done the full connecting path once before (and went up the east side in a monster long run, but this would be only the first half of that).

On the 1/3 Uptown

Nurit and I once again did a rollerblade/run combo. We took the 1/3 local subway up to 125^th Street, got off near the uptown Fairway supermarket, and walked west to the Hudson River.

View Larger Map

I had run this section during the summer / early fall of 2001 when I worked at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. I only vaguely remembered the access points and the start / finish of the path, so I was relieved to find easy access, a safe and clean park with beautiful benches for Nurit to lace up her blades. And we headed south.

Nurit lacing up at Riverside Park

The completely connected 10 mile path up the west side of Manhattan is an amazing feat of urban planning. Various pieces of this path have existed for decades, but connecting them was only completed in the late 1990’s.  Currently, the east side path is choppy and discontinuous.  I hope that one day the East River will have equivalent access.

An interesting factoid is that there are 20 blocks to a mile for the streets in Manhattan – i.e. between 85^th and 65^th street is one mile. For the avenues, going crosstown, there are four blocks to a mile.  This run is approximately 9.5 miles.

We run down the beautiful and austere Upper West side. The Hudson is gorgeous, and you can eke out views up north to the Palisades if you squint. The George Washington Bridge towers across the river, ornate apartment buildings overlook the river.

bad picture of me at riverside park. unfortunately camera batteries messed up during the run, so next pic is at the end!

We pass the cruise terminals, the USS Intrepid and then the heliport at 34^th street. Then we hit Chelsea Piers.

I am feeling strong and steady and good, and sharing this with Nurit makes it so much fun.

The Hudson River park goes by Stuyvesant High School, the World Financial Center, near the former World Trade Center, you can see Jersey City, past some tennis courts, the Jewish Heritage Museum, and finally to Battery Park.

I love this run because it makes Manhattan small. Manhattan, where the world happens, can be run in a little more than an hour. Yes, it changes fast, and that’s what makes it fascinating. At the end of the day, it’s just real estate. Another piece of land, with people and lives and money and buildings and nature, just like every other piece of land. 10 miles of rich life.

At Battery Park, with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

I run and have run approximately 6 miles just about every day for, oh, about 10 years now. I started in about 1998 when I stopped playing tennis competitively. When I moved to New York in 1999 for an intense job, I ran every single morning, no matter what time I went to sleep. It was the only portion of my life over which I had complete control. No matter what the rest of the day brings, I have my run. Through many stages of life, places I’ve lived, running is the solid ground underfoot. When I accomplish something, I want to to celebrate with a run. When something is awful, I want to clear my head with a run. When I travel, I want to loosen my legs and explore with a run. I see neighborhoods and nature, explore and have a ritual.

Each place I have lived or worked in the last 10 years, I know the streets within a 3 mile radius like the back of my hand. These runs have become mine – some are ‘normal’ running spots, other just neighborhood favorites in New York, Toronto, Philadelphia, Boston and tons of other places: Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Greenwood Cemetery run, Coney Island, Sunset Park, East River Park in NY, Hudson River Park (ran out of energy to make maps), Riverside Park on the way Upper West Side, the Loop in Philly, Lemon Hill, from my Mom’s house to my Dad’s house, Toronto’s Belt Line, Don Valley trails, Charlestown Navy Yard, Franklin Park to the Arboretum, the South Boston / Dorchester Neponset River Trail, the Charles River of course, Highland Avenue in Somerville, run to Tufts, Lowell Woods and Wilson Mountain Reservation in Dedham, run to Harvard Square, Wellesley Trails, Middlesex Fells, Mystic River Reservation, Blue Hills, Minuteman bikeway, Fresh Pond, the Fenway – I could go on forever.

I can remember moments in the past 10 years from runs:  most notably, I remember returning from a gorgeous late summer morning run under the George Washington Bridge to the apartment in Washington Heights where I was staying at 8:48 AM on September 11, 2001.

I’ll do morning runs, or night runs, afternoon runs or dusk runs. Each has its own character. Some are through rough neighborhoods and gain their richness through the noise and the people. At other times when I’m in a quieter mood, I just want to hear water lapping up onto shores and go for an uninterrupted bike path run. Sometimes the trails in the woods are what I want, with an outlook on a reservoir or the city. Each has its own character. My run is the hardest and the most life-giving part of my day. Most of the time I run alone, sometimes with a running partner. I don’t run to train, but its fountain-of-youth results keep me doing it. It takes only 45 minutes and kicks my butt and the rest of my day is easy.

Ali & Nurit, rollerblading and running at the Philly Art Museum

Although we got snow and ice in Boston, a visit to Philly for the holidays revealed a perfect day for running. Nurit (my wife) and I have mastered a new way of running and training together. We find a good bike path and she rollerblades while I run. For the moment, our relative speeds work very well together, until she learns how to stop.

Just past the Falls Bridge turnaround

The route is the famous Schuylkill River Loop in Philadelphia, which also comprises a big piece of the Philadelphia marathon. It begins and ends at the beautiful Philadelphia Art Museum, home of the famous Rocky Steps.

View Larger Map

We start on West River Drive and run/blade about 4.5 miles down to Falls Bridge. It’s quiet and flat, sunny, crisp, windy and beautiful. The halfway point feels easy and we turn at the bridge. The 8.5 mile loop is not a super long distance, just something to get my legs and my mind begin to get accustomed to more than 6 miles.

John Kelly Statue on the Schuylkill

After Falls Bridge, the 4.5 miles back up Kelly Drive to the Art Museum is wonderful. Some dirt trails, past many boathouses, past the John Kelly rowing statue, and finishing at the bottom of the Rocky Steps. I feel good, although I can’t tell whether I finished strong because of my fitness or because the wind is at my back. It doesn’t matter. Not a bad start.

To get back into 26 mile shape, I will have to kick my body out of the “I’m done after 45 minutes” mode and in it for the long haul.