Day 27: Bean Town (or how I exercised Boston)

One of Boston’s many pleasures is the North End, home to some of the best Italian food outside of Italy and home to one of our favorite Italian restaurants in the US, Pomodoro.  That is where we ended up last night for dinner.  Fried calamari, salad with fresh shaved Romano cheese, and plates of delicious pasta.  At the end of this wonderful feast we savior a slice of rich and creamy tiramisu served with fresh mint.

With that in mind, it should go without saying, that when I woke up this morning I was in dire need of a run, an all out go to exhaustion, massive calorie burning run that would.  Luckily the Sheraton Copley in down town Boston has a decent gym with plenty of treadmill, elliptical machines, and exercise bike.  Separated by a pool is the weight room filled with a wide assortment of machines, free weights, and floor mats. 

We arrived after a slow and groggy “food hangover” start to our morning.  Kelly hit the elliptical I chose the treadmill.  It was interesting watching as others filed into the hotel gym.  Overwhelmingly the vast majority of them chose the elliptical over the treadmill, this was surprising to me.  I assumed that given the choice most people would chose running, my whole life it had read that the treadmill burned more calories than anything else. Was I wrong?

Picture in your mind, if you would 28 exercising machines lining a room spit in half.  This morning everyone was on the half with elliptical and bicycle and I was all alone on the treadmills.  It didn’t matter I had a great run and it could have been the fuel provided from the pasta or extra calories in general from the dinner the night before.

I started at a 4 mile an hour pace and by the time I was through I was keeping a 6 minute a mile pace.  I found that the barrier to me running faster wasn’t my lungs and breathing by my legs and the amount of pain they were in.  That was pretty much it.

It turned out to be a pretty good day in Boston. The weather cooperated and not only did we get 45 minutes in the morning for AM exercise after lunch we were able to sneak in an additional 40 minute walk through down town.   

As a bonus, after dinner we enjoyed an additional 40 minute stroll down Common Wealth and into the public gardens.  Around the beautiful manicured grounds and into the original Cheers for a quick stop.  Yes, all and all it was a perfect day Boston and believe me you really don’t get very many of those. 

Daily Recap:

Matt and Kelly: 45 min work out in the gym on the elliptical and treadmill

Matt and Kelly: 40 min walk after lunch down town

Matt and Kelly 40 min walk in the evening down Common Wealth, the Public Gardens, and back.

It was a very busy day.