It’s all over the place now, just google “brown fat”. I am talking about these type of fat cells, known as brown fat, whose only function is to burn calories to keep you warm when the temperature is low. I heard it on the radio (Fat Could Help You Lose Weight, Someday), I saw it among the most e-mail articles (Calorie-Burning Fat? Studies Say You Have It), and, as I said, it’s all over the place now (here is Discover’s take on it: “Baby Fat” In Adults Burns Regular Fat, May Help Prevent Diabetes).

I, on my part, went to the pool this morning (nice!) and burned some calories “the hard way” (i.e., by working out). That, incidentally, reminds me that I actually stuck to my plan to swim twice this week (Swimming again). Now, that was this morning. For the rest of the day, I have the manager of the building where I work to thank for activating my brown fat cells and help me stay fit by keeping the temperatures low around here. The thermostat reads 72 degrees, but then there is this “indoors wind chill” factor, this “magic” flow of air that comes from the ceiling and that brings the “feels like” closer to a healthy, calorie-burning sixty something degrees. OK, thanks. (I think I still prefer to burn the calories “the hard way”, though.)

The race. Two thumbs way up for LOCO Running ! We’ve done two races with them, and, in my opinion, they are the best organized races I’ve done in New England. The Great Bay Half had lots of cheering, including musicians and dancers, great views along the course, a nice map of the course at the registration area (indicating every mile and water and GU stations), really nice shirts, great food at the end… True, the course is hilly, up and down all the time, no flat sections. The hills are not hard, though, except for a couple of climbs and descents. So, no complaints. Way to go, LOCO Running!

Friendly weekend. A good friend of ours, Guillem, decided to register a few weeks ago. He didn’t really train. Or, let’s say he only “cross trained”. He plays soccer, volleyball, …, all the time. And he has at least one insane experience in his runner’s CV, a 60-miles-under-24-hours-challenge race. So, he’s in very good shape, after all, and he ended up running a great race. He was even chatting with this guy during the race, a guy who will be visiting Spain this summer, while running at a 7:15 pace or so.

The night before, Guillem, Olesya and I met for pasta dinner, and we also baked that pumpkin bread, the Runner’s World recipe, that is now becoming famous around here (the one Maria calls “baked crack”). Back in Brookline, after the race, Olesya and I met with Shiko-san and Che-Lin, who were in Boston for different reasons. We went for a Mexican dinner at “Tú y yo” in Somerville (our favorite Mexican restaurant in Boston) and had a very nice evening.

We actually had, indeed, a very nice weekend.

The training. This is the fourth time that Olesya and I run a half marathon together, one every year since our first, in 2006, still back in Chicago. It’s not really a “tradition”, it’s more like a relatively challenging goal to shoot for to help us stay fit.

This time we set up a schedule of long runs about two and a half months ahead of time. We cross-trained with the bike, we did core exercises regularly, stretched much more than before, and, something new for Olesya, we went for hill repeats once a week for the last three weeks (Summit Ave in Brookline, four times up and down, wonderful!).

Training isn’t always easy, you know? Let’s say it’s Sunday, usually the only day you can rest, it’s cold outside, and yet, you need to put your running clothes on, hit the road, and run (and run, and run) for, say, two hours. Or it’s Saturday evening, after a long week and a busy Saturday, a friend calls for a last minute invitation to dinner, and we say “Thank you for inviting us, but we can’t make it tonight, we have to run, we have other commitments tomorrow, and this is our only chance to do our long run this week”. Or they call the night before the race and invite you to go salsa dancing, and you have to say “Thank you, but we have this race tomorrow”. Well, you don’t have to say it, but you do, because you have a goal, and you really want to accomplish it.

In the end, though, it’s all worth it when you cross the finish line.