Feb. 3 Run: Tom's House on Aylesboro almost at Forbes

Next week we will start at Tom's house, without Tom's permission but with hopes that he, Paula, and Jonathan will reveal where they have been going. Evidently once you are in this running group, it is very hard to escape.

Though today and the rest of this week conjure up the Wicked Witch of the West ("melting...melting!") last Sunday was more Nanook of the North, and we learned there are not only underpants for running in the cold, and but probably more useful: fleece-lined running pants from REI (our retail correspondent, Teri, reports that "they can order them for you over the phone and have them shipped to your house for free if you are a member.  They are item #836331 and they are still on sale for $31.93 - # is (412) 488-9410".)

Our route up Penn (Garfield) down Coral (Friendship) and back through Shadyside/Mellon Park took us by some extremely hip locales and was followed by a sunny coffee hour in Bakery Square, where we covered:

• what's up with those weird medieval-style gowns wore by academics and graduates, and how many of them are naked underneath (at least one, we know)
• how to trace marathon runners in REAL TIME with RaceMyRace - cheers for Cheryl's daughter Laura!
• how depressing it is that our airport is empty but at least we're contributing a lot less to global warming
• the movie Flawless with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robert de Niro (can anyone follow this stream of consciousness?)
• buffs again!  We tried but none could compete with Yi (pictured left) in buff-hipness. A BYOB (bring your own buff) run planned soon - but not in the buff, PLEASE.  (Sorry!  but needed to bring it back to the beginning.)