Q: How far is it from Ann Arbor to Costa Rica?
A: 3,600 miles and 85 degrees.

I GOT A CHILLY RECEPTION ON MY ARRIVAL BACK IN MICHIGAN LAST THURSDAY. Not from my wife, who was happy to see me even at 1:00 a.m., but from Mother Nature, who must have felt the need to make up for my tropical sojourn.

My Thursday morning run in Escazu was somewhere around 80 degrees. While Saturday morning’s temperature was 11 degrees when our group gathered at lululemon, the wind chill knocked down the temperature we felt to 6 below. But the crowd was more or less the usual size, and when we headed downstairs and outside, no one sneaked off to the Starbucks. At least not to my knowledge.

So what’s it like to run in subzero conditions, I hear you asking? Well, it isn’t very much fun. While my core actually warmed up fairly quickly, my face never really adjusted to the cold, especially when running into the wind. Uphill. On a snowy, slippery road. For over a mile. But the sun came out as I headed south down Plymouth Road, and my final miles back to town were nearly tolerable. Some chocolate chip cookies and marshmallow brownies back at the store restored my soul enough for the drive home.

This week I plan to get back into cooking in a big way. I have some serious catching up to do if I’m to make it to 50 new recipes by Leap Day. In lieu of something today, I will give a plug to babo, Sava Lelcaj’s new market at Washington and Division. I happened to run by it on the previous Saturday, and went back to check it out after I finished. While there’s a prepared foods section that got a great review (read it here), I headed for the bakery area, as is my wont, and sampled their scones and almond cookies. I’ll be back.