City livin'

For the past couple months, I've been waiting for our mileage to build up before taking on a full scale city run.  Living in Southie, it takes a couple miles of L St/Summer St before you get to anything worth looking at, and the fact that I walk the route every day to work makes it less than appealing for me.  That said, 14 miles seemed to be enough length for me to play around with and really explore the city.  After all my time thinking we needed to be in the suburbs to have a nice peaceful run, I forgot all of the emotions that are felt running through our own historic city.

Saturday morning the weather was perfect.  It was 70 degrees, maybe even a little cooler, with no humidity when we stepped out the door, geared up with water belts and GU.  We wasted no time running out of Southie.  In fact, we hit Harpoon over a mile in, and it felt like we had just left the house.  We ran through the Seaport and around the back of the courthouse where we marveled at the view of the sailboats in the harbor.  The rusty footbridge pulled us along toward the Marriott Longwharf where the hotel guests sat on the restaurant deck getting ready for what I can only imagine to be a day of heavy tourist activities.  As we ran around to the aquarium and past the Landing, I had memories of the guppy bowl from Kelly's bachelorette party... much of our route up to this point was actually the exact bar crawl, so running it is a bit different!

The next part of our route was the North End, Max's old stomping grounds.  Running around the back of this tiny neighborhood only took minutes, but it was enough to catch a festival being set up on Hanover Street, a baseball game in progress with quite a few spectators, and to see a number of people bustling about.

The big excitement of the route for me was running along Storrow Drive.  There's an area where you can run/walk/bike/suntan right along the river that is quite removed from the street.  Multiple docks jut out into the water, and plenty of people lay out on the grassy areas and benches, enjoying the serenity.  We saw a number of other runners, some fast and tall and skinny like that are actual elite athletes, others pushing along looking like first timers.  Either way, all of the runners were extremely motivating, and I loved looking at all the little foot bridges and pathways intersecting us along the way.

Things got a bit confusing around BU with construction, closed roads, a missing stairway (that Max THEN told me was "not very sturdy" to begin with)... finally, we found our way across the BU bridge and into Cambridge.  Following the bike path, there were a few boat houses, and a lot of runners and people with dogs.  This one guy had his dog jump into the Charles River to fetch a ball, and we had worries the dog was incapable of swimming back out!

By the time we rounded the canal around the Cambridgeside Galleria, we realized that this was a true long run.  Further impending on our progress, the bridge connecting the Museum of Science to the West End was up and made us wait a few minutes to cross.  Dodging the families with strollers and all the tourists, we made our way across the bridge, straight back through the city... and home!

Dehydration

So after a nice morning run on Tuesday, we ran our 7 miler last night when it was 90 degrees and humid.  The result:

The desk of a marathoner.

Running through the swamp

About every three weeks in the training program, there is a drop back week.  It's meant to give your legs a rest from continually building a mileage base while keeping you in the mode of running long distances.  This Saturday with only a 9 miler to complete, we thought it'd be a walk in the park.

There was one slight hurdle in our running plans.  We were on vacation in Fitchburg for the annual Darcy Open, so we needed to map out a new route.  After planning out a run in Ashburnham, we decided it was too far from the hotel and that we'd try to find something closer. 

Upon checking in, I asked the hotel front desk assistant if she had any suggestions on where we might run.  To my surprise, she said "yes, we have a nice loop."  In fact, she offered to get me a card that they took the time to print up with the route highlighted on one side and directions on the other.  All joking aside, she handed me a piece of cardboard with a line drawn showing a path exiting the hotel, traveling a few miles down the main road (50mph speed limit, no shoulders, very curvy), and at the end, you presumably cross the street and run back to the hotel.  The only part of the whole situation that made sense to me was the fine print on the card, "the hotel assumes no liability for injuries that may occur."

After a few scary mental images of diving into the woods to avoid oncoming traffic, Max and I decided to run in the Leominster State Forest which was not all that far from the hotel either.  It seemed safer to run through scenic hiking trails rather than get hit by a speeding car.  Excited about our decision, we hopped in the Jeep and drove down the road to the park bright and early on Saturday morning - again to beat the extreme heat and humidity that has taken over the area this summer.

We arrived at the forest and parked in a dirt pit on the side of the road.  The place looked desolate with the main entrance closed off and not another human in sight.  I was a bit nervous about how deserted this place was, but Max assured me that no humans OR bears would be coming after me.  With that, we ran into the dense forest.

At first, the run was a bit exciting.  We ran past an empty swimming hole on the left and a swamplike area on the right.  Once we hit the first trail, shrubs and roots crowded the path making me feel like GI Jane watching every step.  The path got a bit hilly, and softball sized rocks mixed in with the overgrown weeds and tree roots. 
Within a few minutes, I realized that the biggest threat was not a bear - it was a deer fly! Swarms of bugs, deer flies, mosquitos, and all of their little flying friends began to circle us and buzz in our ears.  I quickly regretted leaving the hotel without bug spray and tried to wave my hands around to annoy the bugs enough to make them leave.  I clearly underestimated their persisitence.  In fact, it got so bad that Max grabbed a branch and started waving it around in front of him like a giant fly swatter.  He made multiple comments about how lucky I am to have the natural protection of a pony tail to scare the bugs away - but let me tell you, it did nothing for my arms and legs!

After being "trapped" in the forest for 5 miles, we finally found a way out onto a paved road in the middle of a farm.  At this point, we were still miles from the car, but at least we were out of the swamp! We began running past the scattered rustic looking houses and uphill.  To our surprise, the next mile was ALL uphill.  The road would twist and turn, but there was no relief in sight.  Luckily, the hills did finally stop... I had confidence this would happen at some point!

Sticky, sweaty, covered in muck from the forest and multiple bug bites, we hopped back in the Jeep and drove back to the hotel...

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/trails/Leominster.gif

Running the North Shore

For our long run this Saturday, we decided to break away from our typical route around Castle Island and UMASS Boston to map out a new route - with less sun.  With forecasters calling for temperatures to reach the mid 90's by 10 a.m., I was a bit concerned.  The humidity on Friday was so intense that merely walking was a big effort.  Refusing to give in to mother nature, we packed our bags with snacks, filled up our water belts, and went to bed early in order to be up for the 5:30 a.m. alarm.

Saturday morning I did not need the alarm.  Around 5 a.m., I felt a weird sensation on my face like someone was breathing on me, and I opened my eyes to find my cat leaning over me as if to check if I were alive.  Maybe we are a bit crazy if even the cat has caught on! Anyway, I figured it was useless to try to fall back asleep, so I jumped out of bed and started getting ready.  By the time Max woke up, I was raring to get on the road.

The drive to Endicott College was not all that exciting, even with the top down in the Jeep.  We stopped at Dunkin Donuts where I scoffed down half a bagel- just enough to give me some energy without causing running cramps.  Since it was so early, there were barely any cars on the road, and we made excellent time.

The run itself was amazing.  I wish I had captured some of the beauty we saw - the scenic views of the ocean and islands, the clan of bicyclists we past multiple times (as they made many pit stops yet had a slightly faster pace overall), and many gorgeous houses.  I was able to show Max the grocery store I used to shop at as a kid, the cafe where my mom and I ate BLTs on special occasions, the place I used to take ballet, and the beach I spent many nights hanging out with friends in high school.  Thinking back on all of those times, I realized that a digital photo can never tell the story of a memory... and now I can add to those memories the time that I ran around Manchester for 2 hours with my wonderful boyfriend! Success on a 12 miler :)

Back to Normal

One of the reasons I wanted to start a blog this year was to be able to look back and see all the emotions and physical pains that came along the way as we added mileage.  For me, the first couple weeks of this were a bit of a struggle.  Maybe that's because of our intense "pre-training" prep work, or maybe it's because it's been about 95 degrees and humid many of our runs.  Either way, I'm extremely proud that I finished an 11 mile run on Sunday, running at 7 am so that I could be on time for Kelly's bridal shower (and the mimosas bowl) at 11 a.m.  I will say, I was sleeping like a baby by about 9:30 that night!

This week has probably been the best week yet for me.  Tuesday, I had another post work event (bowling - woo hoo high score of 108!) Because of that, we got up early and ran.  I was a bit tired at first after hosting dinner for Kelly's last night and my father's first visit to our new digs in Southie! That said, 3 miles is cake to us these days, so we zoomed in and out in the thick humidity.  In fact, Max felt so good that he went to the gym to lift weights that night while I bowled, and we both commented that 3 miles felt like we had done nothing!

To sum up last night's run in a word: therapeutic.  The weather was cool after raining off and on, and my legs felt fresh.  I was a bit stressed after a long day on Tuesday and a crazy weekend.  We took off running at a decent clip, and by the end, I was striding to the finish - 6 miles later! Needless to say, my confidence in my running ability has been restored, and my entire focus now is finding a nicely shaded run for our 12 miler this weekend.