Every winter I go as long as possible without turning the heat on. I slowly transition from my fall jackets to my winter jackets, holding out as long as I can in each phase. I have a down jacket that goes to my knees that I fondly refer to as my sleeping bag. It is the warmest coat I own, and I know that once the sleeping bag goes on, I will not be any warmer until July.

I took out my sleeping bag last night in a desperate attempt to not freeze to death on my way to the grocery store. I don’t know what I’m going to do when we drop into single digit temperatures. It’s all over. The sleeping bag is on and nobody will see a defined body under it until at least April, so really, now is the time to stop running and start eating. Eggnog lattes, christmas cookies, pumpkin pies, bottles and bottles of wine. Right? I think I could gain at least 30 pounds and that jacket would still fit.

Excellent trained, all winter. If you recall, I wrote a couple weeks ago about running in the snow, all winter long, referencing a New Balance ad that was plastered around Boston a couple years ago. The temperatures may be dropping, and there may be delicious treats tempting you at every corner (I just ate a piece of pumpkin pie as I wrote this), but now is not the time to give up. Get a jump on those who resolve to hit the gym this New Year, and do it now. It may be frigidly cold out, but once you start running, you won’t feel it (or maybe you just become numb?). It’s too easy to gain ten pounds over the holidays, and I may only be speaking for myself here, but I don’t really feel like waking up on January 1st feeling like I have a mountain to climb. So it may be cold, but I will be going out to run tonight.

We have a big weekend coming up! Holiday parties and Jingle Bell 5k races. I do plan on drinking towers of beer and eating cookies, but it will be nice to balance it out with a fun race with my friends and family, and the promise to keep on running through what has been promised to be one of the snowiest winters the Northeast has seen in decades.