metromonday

Drove to Metro with Avi; climbed with Avi twice, once with Mike, later switched to Alice. Randy & and his pal were around also. Christie and Jason took the intro course. zomg, so much climbing.

Got in around 6:30, and didn't leave til close. Gotta love it!

5.9. pink one near the 5.8 yellow. unsuccessful, sadly. made it maybe halfway up before giving up.

5.9. topsy turvy. completed practically clean, with avi's encouragement.

5.8. hunter green. almost clean. i think i couldn't do this one last time i tried it.

5.8. the yellow one previously mentioned. pretty tough, but i made it up with some stops along the way.

5.9-. short green one. made it most of the way up, but couldn't quite finish. hopped on the 5.8 pink one right next to it to finish.

5.8-. pink. small handholds. didn't climb clean, but was funfunfun.

5.8+. pink. one i've done before. still couldn't do cleanly, but eff that shit.

5.8. red. cript ticket. after watching alice do this one, it's apparent that i've been doing it wrong... but, yet, i successfully climb it every time and love it, and it's my favorite route? gotta do what you gotta do.

5.9+. pink? or maybe white? the route that avi started the day on is the one i finished on. couldn't get past the place he got stuck... but maybe if it weren't the end of the day?!

And, my end-of-the-day pull-up is getting SO CLOSE to happening. I'm perhaps just as excited about that as I am about being on the verge of 5.9. Well, I guess since I've climbed a 5.9, that means I'm no longer "on the verge"... but still... I'm not quite confident that I've hit my goal of climbing 5.9 before the end of the year.

Also, should've effin' applied for the Red Rocks trip..

Also, after returning home, I headed out again to meet up with Randy, Rosemary, Mike, Avi, and their two other friends to go sledding at Danehy Park. Flipping awesome.

Bike route: 8 miles.

Walking in Winter Wonderland

Due to the #snowpocalypse, Boston got about a foot of snow. Being that people are out of town or otherwise busy, I went for a long walk through Boston.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3373940

8.9 miles, 4 hours, and one break at a used book store to purchase "Snow" by Orhan Pamuk, "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce, something by Kafka, and another book too, I think.

metromonday

This will start getting a little repetitive, but I don't care...

Hit Metro again with Christianne. Brendan showed up simultaneously, as did Avi, Mike, and Randy, so we had quite the crowd!

Brendan and Christianne wanted to get some lead climbing in, so Avi and I hit the climbs together first...

5.7+ yellow overhangy one (clean)

5.8 dark green, right beside yellow overhangy one on the back wall (not clean...)

5.8+ yellow, short route in middle of the short wall (first time finishing... couldn't do it last time I tried!!! still not clean, of course)

Brendan bailed due to his wrist injury, so I swapped out and finished climbing with Christianne.

5.8 super fun red route

5.10a... Christianne made me do this... I cheated/sucked my way up...

5.8+ pink route (not clean. tired.)

Mostly 5.8s now, getting better at 5.8+s. 5.9s by the end of the month for sure. :-)

metromonday

Christianne and I climbed at Metro. Hopefully she'll be my new climbing buddy... I think we're both in need of one. (Though, she's probably looking for someone to lead climb with.)

Routes:

short 5.7 (tree frog, green)

5.8 (white)

5.8 (blue) (a route i couldn't do last time i tried... and still didn't do cleanly)

5.7 (lickety split, blue)

effin' around on some cracks

5.9... handhold was loose, so I popped onto the 5.7 beside it.

5.7+ (split decision, green) (been meaning to do this one for awhile!!!)

5.8 (red) (also been meaning to do this one for awhile!!!)

Slowly but surely, I'm getting better. I can now climb in the 5.8 range, more or less. And I'm able to climb more routes without getting overly exhausted. All smiles.

3 Mile loop

[49, overcast. still t-shirt/shorts weather]

I decided to extend my 2 mile loop to a more acceptable 3 mile loop.

This is going to be my new route for awhile, maybe... Running along the river might be less than ideal as the cold weather approaches.

Was trending towards calf cramps at the end of the run... maybe I'm dehydrated? Maybe I need salt? I vote for salt.

Rock Climbing

I've recently taken to rock climbing, both indoors and outdoors. While I'm not very good (and maybe never will be, given my body type), I'm having a lot of fun doing it, and it's a very different workout/muscle set than I'm used to.

Where to go:

MetroRock has an $8 ladies night on Monday. Boston Rock Gym has a $1 ladies night on Wednesday. And RockSpot has a $10 ladies night on Saturday. Between the three of those, indoor climbing is happily happening without breaking the bank. Additionally, Rumney, NH is ~2.5 hour drive, and works out to about $10 when splitting gas money amongst a few people. Not too shabby at all.

What you need to get started:

Climbing shoes

Harness

Belay Device

(optional) Chalk bag/chalk

I got my shoes from backcountry.com on sale for $60 and my harness and belay device from a friend for $40. My hands sweat mad crazy a lot in the gym, so chalk and chalk bag were totally necessary; got them for ~$15 from backcountry.com during the same sale.

Apartment Hunting Makes for Good Running!

[70 degrees, lightly overcast, somewhat muggy.]

I'm trying to decide between apartments, so today I went for a run to one of them. It's more or less in the same neighborhood I live in now (Cambridgeport), just slightly closer to the river by about maybe 3 minutes walking. I dig it. The neighborhood is quaint, much calmer and quieter than what I'm used to, and the fact that a bus stops right in front of the house is perfect.

In any case, here's my run: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2801240
Distance: 3.5 miles

I seriously hope the last time I went running wasn't actually late April... what a loooser.

just runnnnning in the rain!

The weather today not too inviting for a runner: overcast, mid-50s, rain ranging from light to moderate... and yet, it was a surprisingly AWESOME day to run!!
~4.2 miles, but I walked at least .5 miles of it, due both to my out of shapeness, and my desire to watch the subway crossing the Longfellow bridge.

I'm really glad I'll be staying in the area for a few more years. It's really just a great place to run, even on crappy days like today. There are so many places to explore, the Esplande is just wonderful, and traffic isn't heavy enough to be bothersome. For the most part, I might get stopped a half-dozen time by lights during a run, but that's only because I'm not specifically trying to avoid them, and also because I don't really mind them to begin with. In the winter, it's a little less fun, just because you can get so cold if you aren't constantly moving. However, now that it's trending toward Spring, traffic lights are a welcome addition. (And in the summer, I'll just kind of pray for them.)

I'd really like to run the Freedom Trail sometime before I go overseas this summer. Once I get back, I'll be too out of shape to do it for awhile....
I also thought it'd be pretty freaking awesome to have running tours of Boston. Maybe when I get into better shape, I'll start this up. With the number of tourists flooding the city, I'm sure there are bound to be a few that want to see Boston on foot!!!

Route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2750891

Common Calling

Another pleasant day in Cambridge!! Following what will hopefully be the last snow of the year, and a fairly cold week, the temperature rose to 50ºF this afternoon, with quite a bit of sunshine as well. That calls for a run.

My hamstrings were a little tight due to a PE class that decided to require some squats and lifting, so I thought I'd just do a short run. But, after getting going, Charles St. looked incredibly inviting. I took it rather easy, and paused every mile or so to stretch my hamstrings. It ended up being a great decision to extend the run beyond the Esplanade, as the tourist season is starting to pick up, and there were a ton of people out on the streets. It was like people-watching on the go. :-)

5.2 mi loop
Route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2634321

Pleasant Run

54ºC and sunny here in Cambridge, MA, one of the nicest days since winter started.
I went for a 6 mile run doing a MoS/BU Bridge loop.
Not sure if it was the weather, or the fact that I've been dying to go for a run for days, but I didn't get tired or even think about stopping!!! My right foot was numb for about a mile, as I had tied my laces a little too tightly on that foot. Also, I need to wear double socks to prevent blisters, as I was desperately close to getting some today. Time for the run was a little less than an hour; right on my goal for 10-minute mile pacing.

6 mile route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2616044