After 3 years of Covid Lockdown finally I could arrange a visit to my children and grandkids living in Wayland MA. I was excited about seeing the new house they bought as well as to meet my children. Another issue was to find best routes to run. I had run twice half-marathon in Boston Run To Remember and I know Boston is the best place to run, routes, scenery, respectful drivers etc.
Very first day I met the neighbor, Dr MD, David Morris, who is a runner also as I have learned from my son and fix a run together for the following morning. Since it was the first time for me in the area, it was a good opportunity to acquaintance with Wayland running routes and streets. So we got together in the morning and David took me a short route because of his limited time to devote that he is an emergency doctor at a hospital. We completed a loop starting from our home via Woodridge Road, Middle School, Loker Elementary and back to home, about 6 km.
Following day I was alone. Randomly I picked a route. While I was running on Rice Road, I saw cars parked along a pond entered there. That was a trail. I started to climb through a forest. I later learned the name of the place was Hamlen Woods.
After a while running I was lost1 in the forest. There were signs on trees and map at corners but unfortunately without glasses I could not solve the problem. I could run back and reach the same spot that I entered but that is not my way. Thanks God there were people walking with their dogs. Finally I found my way in other direction back to the ponds and Rice Street, from thee it was easy to turn back home. It was a hot and humid day. When I got home I dive into pool to get cooled. It was a short but a hard trail run, total 9K and lasted 58 minutes, total ascent 120 meter.
My third run was toward another lake, North Lake or Lake Cochituate in Natick. Again without any preparation I just hit the road. I had to run some distance on the road to reach the lake. When I reached the entrance I saw a path around the lake to run. I asked a 77 years old veteran, Max, that I met at lake beach to give me a direction. He pointed at me a tour around but I did not make a tour around because it was too much for the day and secondly I saw some private area and did not want to disturb anybody. When I get back my running distance was 12K. I was learning the area, roads and environment day by day.
On a later day my adidas pro semi-carbon running shoes2 arrived. Actually I would give a try a real carbon plated shoes (CPS) if I can get a chance and afford it, like “Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT% 2, Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 2.0, HOKA Carbon X 2, ASICS MetaSpeed, Brooks Hyperion Elite 2, New Balance FuelCell RC Elite v2, Saucony Endorphin Pro 3″ and many more shoes with fancy names with their prices around 200-250 $. These shoes, pioneered by Nike, are at the beginning launched just for the elites. Eliud Kipchoge run sub-2 hours marathon by running with one of these types of shoes. But nowadays with so many brand and types come to the market so one can claim that it is time for us, recreational runners, to get one of those. But when I put one of those expensive shoes I felt like a swing cradle and it seems they will tear apart very rapidly.
So I decided to use technology fully later and had ordered a pair “Adidas Adizero Adios Pro” with 100 $ price. Midsole carbon plate is not so stiff like the 250 $ one, but I like it more, because not make me swing too much.
So I laced my Adidas for the first time and started to run another route that I run for the first time. The route was hilly at the beginning. But even so I felt the differences, I was running much faster based on my personal data, placebo effect or shoe? At sixth kilometer road divided and I picked randomly the one goes right. At this point I run downward until I saw the Rice Road sign the only few name familiar. From that point I easily turned back after 1h4 and 12k, which was kinda fast pace with ascends and on unknown soil.
Boston is full of lakes I mentioned before. On my today run I studied for a route toward Dudley Lake. I did not take my phone again and of course no GPS thinking I can find my way. But since it was the first time on the street going to the Lake I missed the turning point and found myself in a village named Saxonville. There I understood that I passed my target and tried to find a way back home. Again the street, Elm Street, I was running on there was no turn to home. Once I entered a dead-end road. At one point I saw a sign Aqueduct. It was a raised path and one can enter through a barrier. I took the risk and started to run on this road. It was much better than running on asphalt. So I reached another big street, crossed and another aqueduct. Finally I understood that I was in friend soil because I was on Wayland Main Street which I run a few days ago. So total distance was 16K.
I promised that I will run around the Dudley Pont. This time I memorized the name of the street that reaches the pond. And I run and turned correct point at this time and find the Lakeshore drive which lay around the pond.
Another day I headed toward East, Weston. This town is known one of the most expensive environment in MA, accordingly houses were more magnificence, large, have ample gardens and expensive. When I saw the road continues I turned toward north at the first street. This time the street I turned seems endless, Pine Street.
I was feeling that I should turn west to get my house. But there is no turning point. Finally I entered first street to the left and after a while I found myself Boston Post Road which is 6-7 km north of home. From that point it was just leg business not to worry about where I am. Total run was 12K with an ascend 110m, and lasted about 1:10. I named this run as Weston Run.
My last run before leaving Wayland was with Dr David again. We run the same route and said goodbye until the next time. I wish I run Boston Marathon one day. Even if I may be qualified in my age group based on my time at İstanbul Marathon, dates, which is in April, does not fit my travel period there.
Besides health benefits of exercising mentioned detailed in my book “Sağlığa Koşu-Running toward Health” this type of travel runs provides many benefits such as getting acquainted with a new city and not being dependent on technological devices, kind of orienteering3 exercise, meeting with people, running with others can turn exercise into an enjoyable social occasion.
Wayland, MA, Aug 1-26, 2022
1 I have every kind of running gear, GPS loaded mobile phone, Garmin Running Watch even Oura Ring.
2 What I found in literature about, CPS is a curved carbon fiber plate is embedded in the midsole of the shoe. The plate itself is like a blade, and is made from lightweight carbon fiber. These blades store kinetic energy (generated by running) like a “spring” which allows the athlete to run and jump farther, faster, and with less fatigue. With every step, the stiff carbon fiber plate helps the foam compress and expand more quickly, returning more energy to the runner as they move. The carbon fiber plate also helps stabilize the runner’s ankle, reducing rotational force and lessening the workload for the calves. In theory, the carbon plate is assisting runners to stay “fresher” for longer throughout a race or hard work out, while recovering more quickly afterwards as their biomechanics have had less strain.
3 Orienteering is a mental and physical exercise that gets participants out into nature. This sport promotes stamina, independence from technology, and spatial reasoning abilities, as well as cooperation skills.
4 Wayland is a quiet, peaceful community located in the MetroWest area of Massachusetts. There are 14,038 residents, living in a total of 4,761 households. The average annual household income in Wayland is $237,882.
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