Boston -99 -- Sun. Jan 10

Snot-freezing morning, but ended up choosing shorts (w/ jacket on top of fleece & T-shirt) to join Bill, Andy and Amy. Nobody else shows, alas. Took maps of a 7 and 14, hoping either to loop or do the whole: Bill agrees to do the whole, and Andy and Amy (short on time) come along for an 8 miler. The route is one I've been planning to do for ages, so happy to do it, and not aiming for any pace, just distance--Bill's a bit unhappy about it being trail in parts, but is game (props!). Start down rail trail, gently; Finley dog trotting along beside. Out onto road at NoWash, follow along and down to Bardwell, then across to NoLib, where A & A & Finley head off back; follow Bardwell all the way down River road and then along Keys past the Grogge shop, doing steady 8:20s or so. Then enter the trail--pretty much as clear as the rail trail; slog along that to the other end, then road and the hill. Bill wakes up at that point and attacks the hill a bit, so I just aim to stay close. 0.7 miles to the top of the hard stuff, then another 0.3 to the real peak, but by then Bill's feeling under par (did 21 miles yesterday, 90 last week). Steady along Cold Spring back to 181 (much colder in the wind there), then some much appreciated down hill; steady slog along 181, and Bill calls it at 13 miles, so I head on solo, getting pretty cold and realizing it's been close to two hours. Finally up to the top, and then at the town hall turn down 202 for the last bit and really open up for the last 0.6, ending up thus:

Time: 1:59:59
Distance: 14.61 miles
Pace: 8:13s

Comment: this is a good start to the week, just what I needed. I drove back to pick up Bill, who'd made it almost to the library--it was too cold to walk much. He treated me to cocoa and donut, too generous really--I was v. appreciative of the company on a run I've wanted to do for a long time. Pretty tired afterwards, but solid.