Summer running

Today marked my first month in Boston. And today was also the first day of summer.

My ear training professor mentioned it in class yesterday -- “Tomorrow is the first day of summer!” -- but I didn’t think much of it. Neither did I really believe my iPhone weather forecasts for the week, which ranged from 19 to 22 degrees from Sunday to Tuesday, and then leaped to 33 to 35 from Wednesday onwards. After all, in the Philippines, you don’t really have a “first day of tag-init” and a “first day of tag-ulan”, with forecasts screwy, and rain and heat alternating unpredictably all year round.

Today, though, I saw what it all meant, with yesterday’s lovely Baguio-in-the-1980s-esque cool suddenly giving way to today’s hellish Manila-just-before-I-left-last-May-esque heat. I wore shorts to school for the first time, lots of schoolmates came in sando tops, I actually sweated walking down the street, and I was back to the Manila mode of being sabik sa air con.

One good thing that came out of it, though, was a chance for my second outdoor run since arriving in Boston. My first run had been early on a cold, cloudy morning some weeks back, my sweat pretty much froze on my skin -- and I had stuck to the treadmill in the gym since then. But now, with Manila heat and the Boston sun typically setting past 8 PM, my run could pretty much be under Ateneo-before-Hangad-rehearsal conditions. And, I could actually go run by the Charles for the first time.

And so, leaving the house in a “Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project” t-shirt that I had gotten for free from last week’s Pride (in retrospect, that t-shirt both a risk and an advertisement, depending on who it would attract, LOL), I ran down to Kendall Square, out to the north bank of the Charles near MIT, west to the Massachusetts Avenue bridge, across the river and back east along the Charles’ south bank esplanade. (I could have run all the way to Berklee, but decided to take the Esplanade instead to avoid the stoplights in the Berklee area.) 

It was glorious: the silhouettes of the Boston and Cambridge skylines across the river; the sky turning indigo and the river rippling orange in the sunset; little details like ducks swimming single file near the riverbank, moored sailboats, and lots of Bostonians sitting by the river enjoying the fading afternoon; and as I ran, the feel of not really knowing where you’re going, and just figuring it out as you go along, and getting semi-lost in this exciting new city, but then discovering all these sites on the way.    

Well, halfway through the Esplanade on the south bank, I realized some things about “getting semi-lost while running”; so for my next run, here are my notes to myself:

1. As much as you enjoy wandering and getting lost and turning corners to discover something new -- remember that the energy you expended getting semi-lost is the same energy you’ll need getting back home. Because I forgot this, I pretty much walked all the way back. LOL.  
2. Bring $20. It’s not heavy to carry. Or bring your subway card. You don’t need a bulky wallet for either. When your feet are killing you and your calves are cramping up, you’ll be SOOO happy.
3. Study the map, even just a bit, before leaving the house. Even if I was led home by my direction sense (one of the few remaining manly things about me, haha), actually knowing how to get home saves you a lot of stress.
4. And lastly -- get yourself an iPhone runner's strap (or whatever you call it). Take advantage of those "map your run" apps, those city maps when you start getting lost, and a camera that will let you capture all things you enjoyed about your run.

So now, with aching feet, great memories from the run, triumph that I actually made it back home despite myself, and gratitude for that life-saving drinking fountain halfway through the esplanade -- it’s time for me to work on my homework for Lyric Writing class tomorrow.