Running in Boston

A point of clarification here. My Blog post is titled 'Running in Boston', not to be confused with 'Running Boston' which will take place approximately four weeks from now. (Not for me, but for the elites.)

Spent the last five days in Boston an the weather couldn't have been worse. Okay Sunday got us out of the 40s, but with overcast and rain, it made for a miserable week. But as we all know, runners carry their own weather.

Bonnie and I got out yesterday morning and got a 10 miler in along the Charles River. It was gorgeous. Reminded me of during what we call the 'Bridges Run' in the Twin Cities. The Bridges run can be a circle route that can take you four, six, 10, etc, miles depending on which bridges you want to cross over the Mississippi.

The Charles River was very similar that way. We started in North Boston at the Boston Garden, away from the city, crossed over between Boston College to the Harvard side and back.

It was a straight route on a path that is shared by the bikers but with ample room for both runners/bikers in both directions. Little stop and go for any car traffic. On the way out, you can view all of the Harvard Campus. One the way back, you can see the State Capitol with its Gold Dome that you can follow back into the city. They call Boston 'the city built on a hill'. Until we ran back in on that side, I never knew why they did. But you can see it from the side as you come into the city. It is built on a hill, and ever landmark viewable from that side.

Along with this route, for any walkers in your group, there is the 'Freedom Trail'. It's clearly marked, and starts from Bunker Hill and goes throughout the city through 16 major historical sites. As someone that enjoys history, I would give it high marks.

If you are interested to test what kind of shape your in, try doing the 294 steps up the Bunker Hill Memorial. Oh sure, I ran 3 marathons last year. But when I got out of there and started to walk down the steps by the Massachusetts Gate, my quads were burning. Something I noted in my running journal for future training.

All-in-all, I would rate the Boston running/walking routes 4
(out of 5) stars. I also found a lot of runners out there each morning that took advantage of their running routes. Boston is ideal for the running tourist.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad