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August 11, 2004
Did I just cross the river?
This morning, determined to get a good swim in while my newest knee ache heals (I hope), I set out on my bike to the MIT fitness center, which looked pretty cool from the Web site. Once Matt gets his student ID, I'll be able to join the MIT gym, but for now I have to get a guest pass. Anyway, I was going along fine, following my printed-out directions, but all of a sudden I realized I was on a bridge going over the river. I had obviously left the Cambridge/Kendall Sq. area and was heading to Beacon Hill. That much I knew. But I couldn't figure out how to get back to the other side of the bridge I just crossed (heading the other direction) and somehow got to the bike path along Memorial Drive. I stopped a woman who looked like she had paused in the middle of her run and asked her how to get back over the bridge. She gave me directions that were technically correct, but they were more for runners or walkers because I ended up on the same side of the bridge I had come over and having to walk my bike about a half a mile since the only "two-way" part of the road was the sidewalk, too narrow to bike on.
Once I got back on the right side of the bridge, I realized why I had gone over it in the first place. In the MIT area, there are names for streets that are not the same as the street names on maps. How was I supposed to know that "Galilee Way" (or something like that) is the same as "Fulkerson Street"? After another half hour of biking around, I finally stumbled across the street I was looking for and found the gym.
The good news is, the pool there is awesome. 50-meter lap lanes, clean, bright--nicer than any pool I've been in recently, anyway. But by the time I got into the water, it was 8:47 and I told Matt I would be home around 9 to wait for the cable guy with him. Not having a cell phone right now makes things especially difficult when I run into situations like this. I knew the cable guy would never show up on time, so I swam for 30 minutes, not wanting to get out when time was "up." Of course, here I sit at 11 am and the cable guy still has not shown up. Hopefully I'll have an hour later on to lift or do something else, since I feel cheated out of my real workout for the day!
Posted by becky at August 11, 2004 10:47 AM
Comments
I'm going to read this every day. Barbara on my Running Republic running team sent it to me. I'm so proud of you that you are taking time off. I miss you....your favorite running partner, vic
Posted by: Victoria Eileen at August 11, 2004 2:56 PM