Cold?

Eyes intently focused, a black wool cap pulled down over his head, Mike Pierce jogged in a steady rhythm. His rituals were typical for a distance runner—until he passed pallets of frozen unbaked pies and sweet red pepper pesto and a thermometer whose red hand pointed to minus-2 degrees.

This story in today’s Los Angeles Times reminds us of what it’s really like to be cold—and committed to a goal.

Pierce is training for the Antarctic Ultra-Marathon, a 62.1-mile race to be contested in December in perhaps the world’s harshest climate. There being few places in his hometown of Encinitas to simulate the conditions he will face, Pierce trains an average of two days a week in a commercial freezer tucked away in an industrial park near the 805 Freeway.

He trains in a commercial freezer. In an industrial park.

I am never complaining about anything again.