Running once again along the mighty Charles

Long live Red Sox Nation!

Today's run (Charles River, Cambridge & Boston): 4 miles

After all the rain on Wednesday I was wondering what conditions we would see this morning. Despite the weather it's been a good trip. I was able to meet my brother for dinner last night near his Cambridge office after a useful and interesting day at the Media Lab. My hope this morning was to run my favorite Cambridge to Boston loop before heading over to MIT for today's activities. I got up early and saw that the skies had cleared but I waited for sunrise before I headed out.

It was 43 degrees and breezy outside when I started. I wore my lightweight half zip shirt with shorts and felt comfortable, especially after leaving shady Kendall Square for the sunny path along Memorial Drive. Like last time I ran this route, I noticed that many runners followed a clockwise direction, opposite to the way I go. It occurred to me today that  those runners probably started their run from the Boston side and came north across the Harvard Bridge.

There were quite a few fast runners this morning. I suspect that some of them were training for Monday's Boston Marathon. In any case I got passed so many times that I stopped counting. I've been feeling slow lately and this didn't help. I maintained a steady stride and crossed the Harvard Bridge toward Boston, chuckling at the measurements in "smoots" as I observed the scull teams practicing on the water. I ran along the southern edge of the river and regretted not having sunglasses for this eastern stretch. I saw a steady stream of runners, one of whom lapped me twice (from the opposite direction) since I'd come over to the Boston side. That meant he was probably running in the 5 minute per mile range.

I crossed the Longfellow Bridge back into Cambridge and followed Main Street back to Kendall Square to complete my run. In all it was only four miles but the city views and the river made it feel like a trip. Two runs while travling ths week and over seven miles covered. I always miss Boston when I visit - it's so great seeing family and it's fun seeing Red Sox merchandise everywhere instead of the ubiquitous Yankee logo.