I ran Boston!

Okay, not the Boston Marathon. But I did finally drag myself out of bed early enough to get a real workout in. When I saw that it wasn’t raining and it was fairly warm (34 F – all you southerners are laughing at me right now for calling that warm), I pulled on my running clothes and headed out the door.

I had no idea where I was going, and in my haste to leave the hotel I had neglected to stop to get a running map from the front desk. No matter. I figured I’d make my own route. I had a vague idea where the river was, and I knew that there was some running path along the river. The problem was, there was a highway in between me and the river, and I wasn’t quite sure how to cross it. Fortunately, as I neared the highway, I found two runners who seemed to know what they were doing. So, I followed them as they headed down an alley and into a deserted parking lot (typing that makes it sound sketchy and scary but I didn’t think about that at the time). Sure enough, there was a footbridge leading from this parking lot over the highway to the river path.

I didn’t like the river path as much as the Hudson River Park path in New York. The Boston version was kind of dead and wintry, whereas the New York one has some kind of vegetation that lasts through the winter and keeps everything from being brown and yucky (I will try to remember my camera on runs soon). The wind levels were probably similar (that is to say, not the best to run in, but not horrible either). There were a lot of runners out and about, but no Runners Station and no hot guys. If you’re from Boston, let me know where the hot guys go running. I could use a Boston boyfriend.

Last night, I called my brother to catch up. He lives in Charleston, SC, and until recently was working for a magazine that had all kinds of perks, one of which was meeting new cool artists. He said he met Colbie Caillat, and I was really impressed! While I ran, I listened to Colbie Caillat’s CD, which I love, but just didn’t pump me up today. I have plans now to visit my brother the weekend of April 4, which is the weekend of the Cooper River Bridge Run. I’ll book my flight later today and then also sign up for the race. My brother’s girlfriend is also running, so it should be fun! Just need to get some good hill work in, as I hear that the bridge is on a 4% incline and is pretty long.

Overall, my run today was decent, though I felt kind of tired and sluggish throughout. When I checked my pace when I got home (difficult because there were a ton of trees obscuring the route on Gmaps Pedometer… I really need to get a Garmin), I discovered I was running at 9:43… icky. Hopefully I will do much better on Sunday for the 15k race.

Stay tuned for next week’s follow up post, entitled “I crossed the Boston Marathon finish line!” This will be posted as soon as I can figure out where exactly the finish line is, though I’m told it’s quite near my hotel.