A Change of Scene
This week Ben and I packed a U-Haul full of summer “necessities” for a one bedroom sublet in Acton, MA and drove from Madison to Massachusetts. It was not the most pleasant trip in the world–imagine a very bumpy ride resulting from the auto hitch (we dragged the car behind us–and a marginally functioning radio–over the course of more than 1,000 miles.
We arrived in Acton yesterday afternoon to temperatures of 96 degrees and heavy humidity. It was not fun to unload the truck to our “first floor” apartment, as doing so required going up one set of steps and down another. Go figure. We’ve had a chance to get unpacked and settled today, and explore a little bit. This far out from Boston (on the northwest side) the city atmosphere gives way to a rural New England flavor. We stopped by the library, which is in a beautiful old brick building that looks like a church, and we also checked out the beach I had discovered earlier on a short run.
Here is a picture of the beach and lake, located in Nara Park.
I ran about three miles in a loop to the park, and around the lake. It was my first post-half-marathon run, in heat and humidity, and I struggled a lot. Ben and I made a new friend this morning, when I went to buy a new pair of running shoes (I had been running in true clunkers and decided it was time for the real thing). Mark owns Marx Running, right next door to the apartment building, and knows a lot of the trails around here. Mark knows some people I can run with while I’m here, people who live in the area.
On this baking hot and humid afternoon I’m really looking forward to cool Alaskan breezes and showers. I’m sure I’ll be complaining after a few weeks of rain but right now it sounds glorious.