Family Week Day 1: 13 miles

Here I am blogging live from what has been a fabulous start to family week 2011.  

 
More on that in a minute.

One of the hardest things we have to plan out this summer is missing our long Saturday marathon training runs with CARA.   This week they are running 13.   I knew I had to get it in at some point but also that I would have a really hard time getting it done by myself.   My friend Adrienne is also training for a marathon in November and lives in Boston, so I randomly emailed her to see if she could run on Thursday.  Somehow it worked out and she agreed to map out a route around Boston and run 13 miles with me. 

My plane didn’t get in until  1 AM Wednesday night, so after 3 hours of sleep I wasn’t expecting great things from the run.   I ate my standard pre-run breakfast at the Taft residence before heading over to Adrienne’s.

 
Coffee x 2.  Grumbles x 1 million.  

I strapped on my fanny pack Spi Belt and we were off.   We ran through Adrienne’s town about a mile or so until we reached the Charles River.

 
You know my love for running by water so this was perfect.  It’s cool to see how different the workout scenes in big cities are.   The path along the river was quite narrow, but there weren’t too many people out so it wasn’t an issue.  

The scenery was beautiful.   We ran 6 or so miles along the path, passing through different sections of the city.   Boston really is a classy place.  

At the turnaround point I ate my first of two GUs, a blueberry pomegranate.

I’m trying to get rid of these so I can buy cases and cases of my vanilla bean and espresso love.  These taste awful to me, but get the job done.

On the way back we crossed over this massive bridge.

The bridge provided not only great views but a fabulous breeze.

The way back was fairly uneventful, with the exception of this amazing adult workout playground we came across.

It’s like something out of the Flintstones.  Check out that elliptical.

 
There were even leg presses, and the guy below was killing it on the stair stepper.

 

Pretty ingenious.  We messed around for a few minutes and then got back to business on the trail.

 
Miles 10-13 were extremely hard for me.  My right hip was barking, and I was so happy to make it back to the town which would mark the beginning of our last mile.

 
The uphill last mile, I should point out.   If it doesn’t hurt, you’re not trying hard enough, right?  We successfully completed our 13 miles with every mile under pace.  I was proud.

 
Thanks to Adrienne for an awesome run, I wish we could do it more often!

After we drank some water and ate some fruit Adrienne packed me a baggy of cereal and I drove to Beth’s parents house, family week headquarters.   I basically put my bathing suit on, collapsed in a chair, and waited for my lunch to be delivered.

 
I was starving by this point, and had half of this turkey sub and fries.

The rest of the afternoon was spent napping and reading by the pool.

 
Eventually I was forced to shower as were heading back into Boston for Beth’s work event at the Daily Catch, a restaurant/bar right on the harbor.

 
I drank some delicious summer beers over the course of the evening.

But the seafood was the star of the show.   Check out the menu.

 
The shrimp cocktail was amazing.  The boys also enjoyed oysters which I just can’t bring myself to eat.

Surprisingly I enjoyed the beef slider more than the crab cake, though both were tasty.

 

The appetizers were really a meal in themselves, but I had to peruse the dinner buffet to make sure I wasn’t missing out on anything.   Swordfish? Sign me up.

The swordfish  with mushrooms was delicious, along with the roasted veggies and penne.   After dinner we spent some time taking photos along the river.

Things got hilarious when a guy in a shark suit snuck up behind our photographer.   She was about to turn around when I yelled “One more picture!”  Always willing to help out in a sneak shark attack. 

You can imagine where things went from there.

 


So many people to fit in the sweaty shark head, so little time.

Did I mention there was desert?

Beth and I split the mini sampler above.  I didn’t have anything from the gelato cart, but I was told it was good.

We’ve become regulars at this event every year and it never fails to disappoint.  

 
Free restaurant t-shirts, 80’s style.  Why not? 

After heading to a few more classy establishments we called it a night.  My achy body was dying for bed, but I still managed to get a few more chapters of the Help in before falling asleep.  I know, I know, I’m a few years late to the game.   I tend to avoid the hype, but finally caved and bought it at the airport.  Worth every overpriced page. 

Now we’re heading back to Club Brigham for the weekend.   Have a great Friday!

-k8