To Hill and Back

the devastatingly charming Acorn Street

I should be (and, pretty much, am) proud of myself for this past week’s exercise. In an effort to up the action and make it more fun, I diversified with water classes and a lot more walking. Better yet, I walked around places I haven’t been in yonks.

On Monday, I took a dandy little spin around Beacon Hill. Back when we lived in East Cambridge and worked in Back Bay, Jen and I walked to and from work. Most days, our route was up the Charles on the Cambridge-side and across the Harvard Bridge. About once a week we'd add hill action and, instead, cross the Longfellow Bridge, climb up Grove Street, descend on Pinkney through Louisburg Square, head over to Mt. Vernon, past Acorn, down Chestnut to Charles and on to the Public Garden. It’s a stunningly gorgeous yet vigorous walk and I hadn’t done it in eons.

The area's full of sweet surprises like this child art wall in a wee back alley, the four and a half foot front doors to basement apartments (obvs, this is where Frodo and Bilbo would live IF they'd been city dwellers), the cobblestoned streets, converted garages and, considering the neighborhood's extreme wealth, the wonderfully working class pubs. The Sevens, an old haunt of ours is one of 'em.

The obscenely high Richie Rich quotient does rankle. Of course it does. I saw an ad for a studio condo (approx. 500 square feet of living space) for around 400Gs. Hell's bells, I lamped a parking space going for $350 large. They're steals at these prices! //snort and snark//  Walking around, snapping pics and enjoying the weird and the beautiful is free though.

Change-ups in my workout routine are good. Without them I get bored and eventually just quit. Abandoning exercise is SO not an option. I still have pounds to drop, plus I sleep WAY bettah with regular workouts and peregrinations. Also too, I NEED that precious endorphin action.

So then, I think the key to taking me to the next level is diversity – more walks in different, new or not often frequented areas, continued aqua time as well as different sorts of classes (out of water tai chi mebbe?) and, of course, my usual/my base – elliptical action.