19th – 21st – Post-run and return home

Waking up Tuesday I felt like I had run a marathon the previous day. Funny thing, that. Legs were sore and stiff and the body felt worn out. I managed to hobble my way out of bed, shower and down to have a hearty breakfast in the hotel.

The poster at the hotel where you could write greetings for the runners. 

In spite of my legs’ protest I left the hotel for a walk around without real purpose other than to see parts of the city I hadn’t yet seen and to stretch my legs. The weather was nice for it; clear and ok temperatures but very windy at times. 

My walk ended up lasting only 3-ish hours before I had returned to the hotel to rest; it didn’t feel worth the soreness to continue. And it was so much more comfortable doing nothing in the afternoon.

I ended up going for an early dinner near the hotel where I had a lobster roll, lobster mac & cheese and a clam chowder – the latter what Boston is known for. It was all very tasty but damn, you got to pay for it, too! I spent another hour after dinner to have a small walk around the neighborhood, but that was definitely not a failed attempt to find a place to get dessert. Returning to the hotel I grabbed a couple of chocolate chip cookies before returning to my room to kick back for the remainder of the night.

Clam chowder. Tastes better than it looks.

Lobster mac & cheese and lobster roll.

The last day in Boston was almost a full day – we wouldn’t be meeting at the hotel until late afternoon, so I checked out at noon and returned to the streets. Random walking around brought me past Hanover Street which could easily have been Boston’s Little Italy; the street was packed with Italian restaurants side by side, and everywhere there were a majority of people speaking Italian. Having lunch there was highly satisfactory. During the meal I realized that the USS Constitution was near by (a bit further away on marathon legs) so I headed that way after finishing. 

Sunset.

A beautiful old ship, it’s a the oldest still floating war ship in the world, having been launched in 1797. There is the old philosophical question; “if you change the blade on an axe, and then change the handle, is it still the same axe?”, and I felt it could be related to the ship, as I overheard one of the staff members point out that only around 10% of the ship was original wood, everything else had been replaced at some point. Oh well. Returning to the hotel I met up with the group and together we left for the airport, another short 15 minute drive, quickly went through security (the face of people when you pass them in the priority lane is almost worth the extra price of the ticket!), relaxed and apart from being slightly chaotic in the Reykjavik airport lounge due to getting there at breakfast before all the morning flights it was a very uneventful trip home.

The USS Constitution.

Full album can be seen here.