City Sports 5k

Finding the motivation to run / work out can be tough for me, as it is for almost everyone. I need something tangible to work towards; a hike, a race, etc. I signed up for the City Sports 5k run to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, but overwhelming number of people that signed up forced the event to be cancelled for safety reasons. The Spartan Race was a 5k distance, but didn't require running the entire time. I needed something else.

A few weeks ago I got an email from City Sports for an ongoing series of free 5k's and decided, hey, why not? I had made plans to sign up for like five different races with Jaime and never followed through for a variety of reasons, so I asked her to run this one with me.

Reebok One Series Shoe

I felt underprepared. It was only 3 miles, sure, but I hadn't been running on a steady schedule. When I was running I would do about 2 - 2.5 miles before calling it quits. It was only 5 days after my Spartan and my muscles were just back to normal again. My goal was to just run the whole thing, no matter how slow my time was.

This 5k fun run (not race) was a wear-test for the new Reebok One Series shoe. We arrived at the City Sports store on Boylston St., where we had the option to swap out our shoes and wear the Reebok's for the run. Luckily they had my size, so I decided to wear the new shoe. Several people approached me while we hung around the store with the crowd of runners waiting for the run to begin. I was wearing my Spartan headband, partially because I'm a tad bit superstitious and I had a good run at the Spartan and partially because I lost my only other decent headband. It was the best conversation starter short of a cute dog. A handful of people had run the Spartan the same day as I had, and a few were running the Fenway one as well. One of the employees found me for a second time in the crowd. He was muscular, fit, obviously very athletic and strong... and he was nervous about running his first Spartan in November at Fenway. He wanted training tips from me. I tried not to laugh in his face (in a good way), and told him if I could do it then he could ABSOLUTELY do it. It was mildly flattering, though.

The Esplanade

The course was essentially a big rectangle around Back Bay, and I made sure to commit it to memory before we started because I assumed I would not keep up with the faster people (I was correct). One of the designers of the shoe was there and gave us a quick blurb about it, then promised us the best run of our lives. HA, OKAY. The gang of 30ish+ runners (I'm not a great estimator) stayed together for the first mile or so since we kept getting stopped at lights, but once we hit the Esplanade the groups split up. I knew from running at home that if I ran too fast in my first mile that I would burn out, so I was a little concerned when the MapMyRun voice said my split pace was 10:30 at the first mile (a decently quick mile for me). I picked a group ahead of me, decided to keep up with them, and tried to enjoy the run. The Esplanade is quite pretty, after all. By the time we reached the Mass. Ave Bridge I realized I wasn't in the fast group, but I wasn't last. Good enough for me.

Success

I surprised myself by doing a faster second mile, and then an even faster third mile. I attribute that to not getting stopped at any crosswalks, as we had several times in the beginning. If I had to stop at a crosswalk I don't think I would have run the whole thing.

I was curious to see how I would do in a group setting. I seemed to have some source of untapped energy during the Spartan race (adrenaline, I'm sure), and the same happened in this run. I wasn't in a large group, but I didn't want to be the one that stopped to walk. Maybe it's the competitive spirit in me, or maybe I'm vain, but it worked!

It was only a 5k, sure, but it was an accomplishment for me. I achieved my goal of not stopping to walk and I set a personal best. The shoes were great, and I did have my best time for that distance so far. I hesitate to attribute that solely to the shoes, but they certainly didn't hurt!

We grabbed our stuff, I exchanged my shoes, and we were about to head out when I remembered that I had submitted a raffle ticket when we first got there. I was meeting a friend for drinks and food, which I was eager to consume both of, and I've never won a raffle. Just as we were about to leave they announced they would be doing the raffle outside, so I called my friend and told him I would be leaving in a few minutes, ending with "I don't know, I feel lucky today". The first prize was two entry bibs to the Tufts 10k. I looked over at Jaime and said, "If I win this I will be livid. I'll pass." The first name was called, and called again, but no one responded.... so another name was picked. Mine. The first raffle prize I ever win in my 23 years on this planet and it's two entries to a 10k.

Damnit.

Now I have to run a 10k.

Well, guess I have something else to train for. I'm smiling, I swear. 

Where Did The Summer Go?

The ultimate bummer.

I find myself asking this question every summer, but this summer is different. The first half of the summer I only had one job, and I was only working 15 hours a week - great for having a life, not great for having any money to have said life (or pay bills). Though, in the summer I will sit my ass on the beach all day for $0 and be happy as a clam. The second half of the summer has been the equivalent of the e-card to the right. I work about 45-50 hours a week now; I need the money and love working at REI but the retail world eats up weekends. I considered devoting all of my time to REI, but I make more dollars/hour at my "office job" at the school so it makes sense for me to stay. The ironic thing about working at REI is that all of your coworkers would LOVE to go hiking/do outdoor things with you, but we all work too much to be able to do so.

So, sadly, my lack of updates since my last adventure is simply because I haven't had the time to have any adventures. Thankfully I do have a few exciting things coming up in August, including and (hopefully) not limited to: the Spartan Sprint August 10th, hiking with Jaime the day after (let's hope my body isn't too broken from the race), and a camping/hiking trip at the end of August up the White Mountains.

I may be lacking in the outdoor adventure department, but I did host an urban adventure for a friend visiting from Virginia Beach. I have given a lot of open invitations for people to stay with me in Boston, and very few of those ever pan out. I met and got to know the friends of my friends, Chris and Christine, on my two visits to their new home of Virginia Beach (I say new, but it's been almost a year). I gave open invitations to the friends-of-friends to come see Boston any time they wanted, and to my surprise two actually took me up on that offer. It was a good surprise, though! Visit # 1 from Jareld was this past weekend, so I put on my Boston-tour-guide hat and prepared to be an uber-tourist in my own city.

Boston by Land

Pumpkin beer in middle of summer! Awesome.

Boston is nicknamed "The Walking City" for a reason, and walking around is probably the best way to see everything. Who wants to be on the train, anyway? I have a special distaste for the MBTA right now, because some asshole stole my debit card and bought a weekly MBTA pass with it (and one other purchase that I think is McDonald's). It's bad enough that I spend so much of my time/money on the train, but paying for someone else to do the same is pretty obnoxious... though I can think of no better punishment than that person being stuck on the green line without air conditioning.

Anyway, we checked out the Harpoon Brewery and new beer hall they opened a few months ago. For just $5 we were able to take a tour of the brewery and were treated to a 20 minute open bar, where we could sample various brews. The tour guide was awesome, the beer was fantastic, the beer hall was spacious and inviting, the pretzels were fresh, and the $5 was worth spending.

Let's go Red Sox *clap clap, clap-clap-clap*

We walked from the waterfront, through the financial district, through the Commons and Public Garden, through Back Bay, and ended at Fenway for the game. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but some of my favorite people in my life are obsessed (I won't name names....). I have an uncanny ability to realize that I'm essentially talking to a brick wall because they're busy with looking at their fantasy baseball team lineup on their phones. I say this with love. I tend to despise the Sox games simply because they inconvenience me in many ways. I work near Fenway, so on game days we tend to get quite busy with people trying to kill time. Good for business, but sometimes a little crazy. The games sometimes get out exactly when I leave work, so after a 10 hour work day I am forced to share the train with hoards of drunk Sox fans. Anyway, despite not really caring about baseball I love going to games. The Sox are only half the entertainment, the other half comes from raucous, drunk Bostonians (much more fun at the park than on the train after work) and appalled tourists. There's also something very nostalgic about eating peanuts at the ballpark, wishing you could wash it down with a beer, but realizing you would rather cry than pay $9 for a Bud Light. Sadly the Sox didn't win, but it was a great time nonetheless.

Boston by Air

Hello, Boston!

One of my favorite out-of-towner activities is the Skywalk in the Prudential Center. I went for the first time last year after avoiding it for the previous 3.5 years thinking it was just a stupid tourist trap. A tourist trap it is, but a cool tourist trap at that. The Skywalk is on the 50th floor of the Prudential, and it's about as high up as you're going to get in Boston without being in blimp, plane, or helicopter. Sadly, I do not have access to any of those things so the Skywalk is the best substitute. I always love seeing things in a different way, and each time I've been it's a great way to fall in love with the place I live all over again. I pass through so many awesome things in this city every day without taking time to notice or appreciate them. It was also a great opportunity to see which buildings had rooftop pools, aka where I need to find some friends. Though this post is chronologically out of order, the Skywalk was the last big stop in our Tour-De-Boston, so it was a good way to see where we had been.

Boston by Sea

Sweet, sweet, glorious king crab.

...food. We love our seafood, and so do Virginia Beachians (is that the proper term? I agonized over it for a while). I took Jareld to The Barking Crab, one of my favorite seafood places in the city. It's a bit of a tourist trap, but the casual, picnic-table style is great... especially for me because I make a huge mess and dump half my food on myself or the floor wherever I go. I went to The Barking Crab a few years ago after becoming obsessed with the show Deadliest Catch. I had to see what all the hoopla about king crab was about. Let me tell you, I saw the light. Unfortunately, my wallet also saw the light as I took it out to empty the contents in order to pay for king crab legs. I've been only once or twice since my first visit, so I was super excited to get my hands on some crab legs again. We each got a platter from the raw bar menu, which was essentially a sampler platter of yumminess. But included in said yumminess were oysters, something I had never tried before. I do okay with weird textures and tastes, but overall I'm not the most adventurous eater you've ever met. I figured I had to see what all the hype was about over fresh oysters, though, so I loaded one up with some butter and hot sauce. I don't even really remember what it tasted like since the gooey glob quickly slid down my throat, but my first response was "well..... I didn't hate it." I didn't hate it, but I wasn't itching to eat the rest. I was more consumed with my lobster roll, crab legs, whole lobster, and shrimp. What a meal!

I see Duck Tours every day, but in five years I had not been on one myself. I had overheard plenty of facts and could have probably pieced together the entire tour from memory, but I figured that would be a great way to see Boston. Our tour guide was absolutely hilarious and has us laughing for the whole 80 minute ride. Jareld said that I had already shown him the big things and gave him a lot of the facts the tour did (excuse me while I pat myself on the back), but there was plenty of things I had never heard. The coolest part was transitioning from land to water, which the World War II amphibious vehicle does with ease. I have never been afloat in the Charles, and it was a really great view. The Charles River doesn't really qualify as "sea", but it was awesome nonetheless.

We ate our way around the city and saw the sites three different ways, a true Tour-De-Boston. Sometimes urban adventures are just as fun as the outdoor ones.