My fellow Crew-mates and I have come to the conclusion that our coach is missing a few screws - unfortunately, we must be missing a few ourselves as we continue to follow his lead. This morning at 7am this meant going for a one-hour run up the mountain. How cold was it? -29. He mentioned in an email earlier that if it went below -20 we'd be staying inside, but eight of us showed up at the required time with the appropriate gear to run outside, so that's what we did - I could have used another layer on my hands and chest, but my feet and legs were toasty. In fact, I had lost all feeling in my hands by the half-way point of the run, so had to continue running with my gloved hands inside my pants, a great warming technique that really saved the day for me. If it wasn't for his pressure tactics, I doubt so many of us would have agreed to run in this weather. "Well, you can stay inside and run around the track if you want, but whoever wants to come with me is welcome to do so..." - this meant that there was no alternative but to run outside. Despite the frozen hands, snow running is always fun. The highlight had to be watching a brilliant red sunrise overtop of the steam rising off the frozen St. Laurent - talk about feeling alive!

Now that I've defrosted, I'm realizing it's still damn cold out and my apartment is as terribly insulated as ever. Luckily my room is the warmest so I don't have to deal with wearing a jacket and toque to bed like Martin and Andrew probably have to. I'm getting my landlord to come in and seal up the windows as well as a few remaining cracks in the walls, so hopefully that will make a difference.

Remember, as Scouter Don always used to say, "warm and dry is better than cold and wet".