Fall is in full swing here in New England! I have been wanting to take part in a few proper fall time traditions of the region and this past weekend couldn't have been a better one: packed full with feel-good October activities that warms the heart and soul!
Saturday was the start of the two-day world famous Crew event known as the Head of the Charles in which teams from all over the United States (we saw a few international teams as well!) come to compete in a variety of rowing competitions taking place in the Charles River, the river that separates Boston from Cambridge (where MIT and Harvard are located...one intelligent city if you ask me!)
We met up with one of Brandon's friends who just happened to move out here recently from LA with his girlfriend for breakfast at a restaurant called The Paramount in Beacon Hill. The tiny little Paramount serves breakfast, cafeteria style and we could tell by the line that wraps outside the door and around the corner that it was going to be delicious and worth the wait! (And it was!)
After breakfast we scoped out the Head of the Charles festivities, grabbing some free snacks at different booths and watching the crew teams row by on one of the bridges spanning the river. Rowing is one of those sports that I have never been exposed to and know nothing about but it is extremely popular here and I have enjoyed learning more about it..I'm pretty sure they even have rec teams and leagues to join for people who want to row for fun!
Next on the agenda..the event I had been anxiously awaiting for a few weeks...APPLE PICKING!!!
Apple orchards are scattered throughout the countryside here in Massachusetts and as soon as I learned that we could go pick our own apples fresh, straight from the trees, I knew it was something we just had to do. Fortunately, our new Boston friends were down for the excursion as well and we decided to rent a Zip Car for the afternoon and make the half hour venture out to Stow, Massachusetts to check out Honey Pot Orchards. (Zip Car: what an amazing idea! Look it up if you haven't heard of it!
www.zipcar.com)
Honey Pot orchards offers apple picking, a large hedge maze, a country store complete with fresh Apple Cider Donuts and other goodies: jams, apple turnovers, and other baked goods, a small pumpkin patch and farm animals for the kiddies. We picked one big bag of a variety of kinds of apples and indulged in some apple cider donuts. And let me tell you..Apple Cider donuts are phenomenal and you should try them fresh if you ever get the chance. Just don't eat TOO many..we may have learned that the hard way!
Sunday brought on another event I have been looking forward to: the Dorchester Firefighters 10k! It has been quite awhile since I have run in a race and my roommate had brought this one to my attention and thought it would be a fun activity for this Sunday morning, especially since Beth would be running it too, and it started at 10 AM! ( this is rare, races usually start much earlier!)
I couldn't have asked for a more perfect temperature that morning and it was bright and sunny and I was feelin' pretty good going into the race- I have had plenty of time to do a lot of running since we've moved here! I was a little nervous, only because I get competitive... with myself! Always trying to beat my previous times.
I pushed myself really hard and it was one of the hardest run races I have ever completed. I did the first 4 miles in a little over 24 minutes! I dropped back a little at this point, knowing I didn't want to completely run out of gas before the last mile. I ended up placing 3rd place girl and scoring a new Personal Record of 41:48! Beth beat her personal record too! It was a good day for us all!
