Minus 20 outside

We arrived in St Petersburg at 5AM and had to wait for the metro to
open. While standing in the train station I made a new friend. It was
an old drunk man. Despite how many times I told him (in Russian) that
I don't speak Russian, and he seemed to understand me, he continued to
prattle on (in Russian). Finally Mekhty saved me and we headed off to
the building we will be working in for the next few days.

When we arrived most of us were exhausted and fell fast asleep on the
mats on the floor. We had 4 hours of planned down time. I wanted to
head off on my own for a bit to explore the area. I changed into cold
weather running clothes and hit the ice.

I have never before run in freezing weather and I was a bit concerned
at first. After the first mile or so, I was able to settle into a
comfortable rythm. My constant movement (and awesome clothes) kept me
warm and happy. I think I was smiling during the entire 7mile run.

I'm the kind of runner who likes to greet people and say "hi" or "good
morning" (annoying, I know). I get mixed responses that I like to
catagorize into three things:

-- They pretend I don't exist and walk faster to avoid me
-- They acknowlege me and continue on
-- They respond with a friendly and enthusiatic reply

I have gone for long distance runs in at least 5 countries. Every
country provides the same basic matrix of responses. I was extremely
pleased that the Russian people were not an exception.

I guess people all around the world have some very basic comonalities,
independant of culture. Perhaps it is coded into our DNA:

Strange man running + friendly greeting = run/acknowlege/or reply

What an odd thing to evolve in humans

-Dana