Run Forrest!

The banks of the Charles River are almost entirely man made. On each side lies an esplanade, which would be wonderfully tranquil if it wasn't for Storrow and Memorial Drives, which were dumped, amid widespread opposition, through the middle of them in the 50s.
Despite the fact that they have what are essentially motorways running through them, they present a really pleasant route into town:





Pleasant as long as you don't mind being surrounded by the hordes of 'trotters', roller bladers, skateboarders and bicyclists. Well, if you can't beat 'em join 'em, and we've come to the conclusion that American food is, despite being generally very tasty indeed, bad for the waist line. So, we've started running. From the BU bridge to the Hatch Shell (essentially downtown) it's about four miles. I haven't been able to run there and back yet, and generally have to stop and pant like a pair of bellows while annoyingly fit people breeze on past for their 15th mile. Let's be under no illusions here - I get overtaken by people walking their dogs. Em usually keeps up with me until the Smoot Bridge and then we go at our separate paces until we meet again going in opposite directions. Getting Em to actually leave the house without whinging and complaining about the fact that it's too hot or too cold or there are too many people about or there are the wrong sort of leaves on the path is quite difficult, but once she's going and realised that her legs aren't going to fall off she's generally OK. In fact she's usually very proud of herself when we get back. I'm quite proud of us too - but let's see how long we manage to keep this up, eh?