Dancing in the Streets

Today I went to a big dance event in Central Square. The street was closed for a couple blocks, there was a DJ and everyone was dancing! Being a city person, I want to take advantage of these things, but I don't always - just a reminder to me that sometimes I do, and it was a lot of fun.

The music was really loud, there were so so so many people, a woman was walking around on stilts with these great wings, this kid climbed a flag pole, a homeless couple was getting it on, two men were squeezing each other's bums, someone climbed on top of the bus stop and the police made them come down. I had ramen and my friends had falafel. Summer in the city is the best!  

Holt Trail up Cardigan

We got today off - a free Monday to go hiking! I was thinking about a bunch of different hikes including Monadnock, Lafayette, Flume and Cardigan. In the end I decided on Cardigan because the weather was a little iffy and I had done Monadnock last year. Mostly glad I went with Cardigan.

I left at like 7, knowing that it's only 2 hours to get there, and that it's not the longest hike. I did want to do the Holt Trail again, just because of the climb-y ness of it. I'm glad that I did! I looked at my previous posting and saw that there were three climb-y parts, but somehow I forgot to mention that the trail is a gradual uphill until you get to the climbing parts, and then it's very slabby and really uphill. It was really fun, even though a little of the rock was wet.

For some reason I needed to take a picture of the sign, even though I have it in the last post :) From the sign, it's a bit of a walk along a really pretty brook, with some nice waterfalls. It's uphill, with a few harder spots, but nothing killer. Then, I got to the crack climb that guy practically climbed over me on the last time - it was super fun! I did it a different way this time, and enjoyed it a lot more. After that was a lot of uphill, some boulders to climb over, and slab. Then the second big climbing bit - this time it was wet, but still fine. A couple times I had to pause to find my footing. Then, more uphill and slab. 

I remember the third climbing bit being the hardest last time. Which is probably why, when I got off route, I didn't look that hard for it - I could see the top and I remembered that the sketchy bit was close to the top, so I just bush whacked. Not the best idea, on a somewhat wet, rocky area, but I made it up! There was one spot in particular where I had to climb a boulder that was about 6 feet, a little wet, and not the greatest holds. And, it was kind of a no-fail zone because if I slipped it was like 20 feet down with no real holds. After that one, there was one other sketchy spot. I made it, though, obviously. I tried to take a picture, but not sure you can really tell how steep it was from the pic. Anyhow, note to self, next time just do the sketchy bit!

At the top I took a nice rest, and ate a pb&j on a bagel - I made the jam myself from raspberries in my garden, and it was delicious! I had an orange too, also so good. And, I looked at Lafayette and the 4000 footers over in that direction, and was glad that I didn't do them, since they were in the clouds.

After Cardigan I went to Firescrew - really nice ridgeline, and then down to the lodge where I cleaned up a little and used a nice, civilized bathroom. The lodge is at the end of a long and hilly dirt road in the middle of nowhere, which is important because when I was leaving I found this:

That is the only bridge out, with a giant truck sitting off the road in the mud. >sigh< You can see from the picture, they got it really wedged in. I waited for about an hour on the road, but it was stressing me out, so I finally went back to the lodge and sat around for about 45 more minutes until they got it moved. So I thought I would beat rush hour traffic, but I didn't completely. Still, the drive home was fine. I stopped and got an egg salad sandwich, just for nostalgia. 

I used my new backpack and I really liked it! It's made for women, and I like how the straps are a little less over my chest. Also, it was nice to be able to just tuck away my poles when going up the steep bits. Sad to not use my old friend the pack, but it is requiring duct tape, so it's felt the love.

I Swam the Charles!

One day a year the city allows swimming in the Charles River - today! I swam in a one mile race that went from the Longfellow to the Harvard bridge and back. My goal was to not come in last, and I managed to do that! I was third to last, doing the swim in 54.01 minutes. Ha! The weather has been kind of bad, and I think a lot of the slower swimmers didn't come. So, I was ahead of the people who stayed in bed, also.

When I signed up for the race I didn't realize that we were supposed to get there at 7 am - I might not have done it if I realized the hour. I was going to blue bike there, but then I woke up at 6:15 and had to make something to eat. By that time I was just like - better drive. I was glad that I did because I was kind of tired after the race, and because it started raining not too long after.

One thing that was nice was that the water was really calm, just a little bit of a wave. That area can get pretty rough - I was glad it wasn't. The race itself started at 8 am with the first heat of faster swimmers. The horn went off, and they were off so fast! The fastest swimmers did the race in about 20 minutes, that's crazy! I was in the second heat. We jumped into the water and swam to a buoy to start. Standing on the dock, I was thinking it was kind of far down, and felt a little nervous. But then I just jumped, and it was fine. We all swam to the start and the horn sounded and we were off!

It was a little crazy when it started because there were so many people. They thinned out after a short amount of time, but there was this one woman who was doing the backstroke who bumped into me 3 times! After the second time I crossed over to the other side of her, and then she crossed back. And, she didn't stop or rearrange or anything, so I had to keep moving. One of the merfolk told me after that I should have just elbowed. Next time. 

Once we got swimming the field thinned out and I was able to have all the space. I tried to follow a swimmer a bit in front of me, and to spot to the point they told me to, but it was hard because my goggles fogged up. For a little while I was struggling a bit with my breathing (probably because I only slept like 4 hours last night) and wanted to stop. But then I reminded myself that it would all be over soon if I just swam, and so I did. I finally got close to the first buoy that we turned around - it was bright orange and huge, but still hard to see for a while. I made it around and headed back - again thinking how long it was. But also, I was thinking "check me out, swimming a race in the Charles!"

It took forever to get to the second buoy, and by that time my goggles were so foggy I had no idea where I was. I kept having to stop and ask the kayakers (who were all around me, I guess in case I drown). Finally I got to the second buoy. From there it was just 100 yards to the shore, but I had no idea where I was suppose to do, which slowed me down even more. I kept popping my head up, and the kayakers would be like "go right!" And then I would go left - and then switch to the right. I finally figured out where the shore was, and headed over. One thing that was really nice is that my friends were cheering for me, it was great to hear people shouting my name! I had to tap my timing chip on a thing, which took a few seconds also, and then we climbed out of the water and were done. The guy in front of me was struggling a little, and after I realized it was because he was like 78. (I want to still be doing this when I'm 78!)  I got out and to be honest felt a little funky and dizzy, but I was psyched to be done! And, the two people behind me were a good minute or so slower.

There were 5 merfolk at the race, after 3 of us when out for waffles with the son and mom of one of the merfolk. There was a waterpolo game happening after that I kind of wanted to watch, but everyone else was done. After eating, I left my stuff in my car and did a little shopping on Newbury street to celebrate. I blue biked to Athleta (just because I could), bought some shorts and a cute little bag, and then walked back to my car. I got home before 2, already having had a full day. Now, I get to be a bum on the couch for the rest of the day, and take a nap!

I might want to improve my swimming before doing another mile race.

One thing that happened this week that sucked was that they discontinued my site for the Lyme Vaccine. They offered me the opportunity to do it at another site, but the two closest ones were 2 hours away - that's 4 hours for a 15 minute visit. I just couldn't justify it. I asked them if they would let me know if I got the vaccine or placebo, and I have a phone call with someone on Tuesday to talk about it. It sounds like they won't let me know for 6 months, so I bought an at-home lyme test and sent it in. I figure if it's negative then I can be pretty sure it was the placebo.

Blue bikes

I had a study visit for my Lyne clinical trial this week, and decided to spend my stipend from it on a year's subscription to blue bikes! I've been thinking that it would be nicer to bike to my garden and would take about the same time given traffic. I could also bike to parkour in the park, and go there to sit in my hammock on nice days. Unfortunately, I can't blue bike to the lake as they don't have any bike docks nearby. 

I went on my first ride today to the garden. Unfortunately there is a big hill between me and the garden, and I will need to figure out the best way to handle it. I went up a couple more gentle ways, but they were still pretty intense. The blue bikes are really heavy, which doesn't help.  There is a bike dock really close to me, and one near to the garden, so that's easy. 

When I got to the garden, there was a baby bunny in my plot. They are cute, but also eating my bean sprouts, so I scooted it out - I initially thought it was stuck in there, but when it left I discovered the hole in the fence. It was getting dark, but I will go fix it this weekend.