Boston pictures, etc.

they slice feebly through the atmosphere,
at an angle far too steep for 3:00 pm:
these rays of fall sunshine that somehow
look so warm and feel so chilly, I mean

they skitter across the November grass
that grows in haphazard little rainy-season-clumps of lush green
I will never understand fall in California,
how it manages to feel something like fall after all

the rains are coming and I can smell it on the breeze
I will need that blanket and that cup of tea,
please,
I will need late night talks and staring out the window for a time
and I will need some silly jokes
and some long, long runs that numb my body and my mind

some friends and I decided that being an adult
is not what you thought it would be
you stay the same, and stay the same
but then you look back and realize that something surely must have changed
because this is not the same as that
and you didn't even know you were on a path from there to here

the thing is:
time will never cease to push you,
but you have to keep yourself facing forward
otherwise you get lost, or you move backward,
or you end up in the middle of nowhere

this time next year will suddenly feel like fall again
we can look at ourselves in the slanted sunlight
and try to decide how much we've changed
and which way we're going

Correction: sunny and crisp, but still a little weird

I accidentally just ran 9 miles.  It turns out there are only so many bridges that cross the Charles River, so if you miss one, your run might end up longer than expected... but that's great!  I planned a route of about 8 miles, apparently missed a bridge somewhere, and instead wound up with 9 miles, which was just about perfect.  Napa Valley is coming up in exactly 4 months, so I'm feeling good about the fact that I can still do 9 miles perfectly comfortably.  There are some things I had kind of forgotten about marathon training though...

1) Running in the cold.  The first 1-2 miles are a little uncomfortable, but then you get nice and warmed up, and it feels fantastic.  45 degrees is perfect weather for shorts and a t-shirt, if you can believe it. ;)  After 5 or so more miles, though, it's like my body finds a new equilibrium and remembers that it's 45 degrees out.  So then I usually alternate between feeling perfect and being a little chilly for the last few miles.  If I'm going longer than 10 miles in the cold (which hasn't happened in several years, so I had forgotten this), I really have to wear running tights and/or a long sleeve shirt, though.  10 is about my limit in shorts and a t-shirt once the temperature starts dropping.

2) Chafing.  Ok, I didn't forget that chafing happens, but I sort of forgot the reality of chafing.  When you're starting to get a little tired and feeling like you'd like to be done running now, please, it's not much fun when some part of your body is getting raw from rubbing against some piece of clothing.  A reminder that Body Glide is your friend.

3) Getting ready for a marathon is all about training your legs to deal with the stress.  I never, ever have cardiovascular difficulties during longer runs; it's always my legs that do the complaining.  Today it was my left hamstring a little bit (because I ran a 5K in San Diego this week, and am still a little bit sore, embarrassingly) and then my right calf a tiny bit (probably because I was a little dehydrated).  Things I have learned about my musculature from running so much is that my hamstrings are perpetually tight, they only get more so unless I stretch a little bit, and if I don't stretch an adequate amount, I end up with a back spasm at some point.  I have also learned that my calves threaten to cramp up if I'm not hydrated enough.  And if I get really dehydrated, they do cramp, and that is mi-se-ra-ble.

Enough running talk.  You know, Boston is very nice.  I did my 9 miles up and down the Charles River, and it was quite pretty.  It still feels somewhat weird and foreign, and I can't really imagine living here, but the sun was shining and it was such a quintessentially fall day today that I found myself scooting along with a grin on my face.  The fall leaves are gorgeous, and the buildings are all red and brown brick, and I really like cities that have a river winding through them.  It's very Old World, in a very nice way.

Well.  I'm going to try to get some grading done before the plenary talk at 5:45, and I am going to sleep so well tonight.  (I slept great last night, too.  Now that I'm adjusted to the 3 hour difference, it's time to go back to the west coast.  At least I'll have the end of Daylight Saving Time helping me out on the way back.)  Tomorrow I've got a full morning of talks again, until 12:30.  Then I think I'll walk around Boston a bit and take some pictures before I catch my flight around 6:00 tomorrow night.  And the magic of time zones is such that I'll get back to San Francisco at 9:40 after a 6.5 hour flight.

And so I bid you adieu, until tomorrow when I'm killing time in an airport, most likely.

Boston is dark and cold and weird.

Ok, that's not fair at all.  I've only been here since it's been dark, and it's only cold because I'm staying in some lady's house and I don't want to turn the thermostat up too high.  I found this bed and breakfast on AirBnB, which I highly recommend if you're traveling somewhere and want to find a nice, homey place in your price range, but it turns out the place I'm staying has no one here until Saturday night.  The lady was super nice - she left me a key in a lockbox, the code for the internet, bagels and cream cheese and coffee for breakfast - but she also left her thermostat at 65 degrees and I'm not sure whether that's because she's been out of town for a while or she wants to save money.  But 65 degrees is kinda chilly in a drafty house in Boston.  So I just turned it up to 68 and I hope I don't cost her a fortune or anything.  I guess I'm paying to stay here, so I should be able to turn up the heat a little bit...?  (And isn't it a little weird that she just trusts people to come into her house and hang out while she's gone?  She seems really nice and normal, and I guess I probably seem nice and normal, but I don't think I would let strangers into my house when I'm not there.)

Anyway, another weird thing about Boston so far is that when we were flying in, the sun was setting over the land instead of the ocean, and that made me realize I've been living in California for long enough that it's weird to me when the sun sets on the opposite side of the horizon as the ocean.  Funny how new little normalcies creep into your life without you realizing it.

Another weird thing is that the people look different here.  It's subtle enough that it's not particularly alarming or anything (the majority of people look approximately the same in most places in the U.S., probably), but the predominant style is clearly somewhat different.  Far fewer hipsters, for one thing.  Much less plaid. A lot more tweed, and shoes that have actually been shined.  (Shoes that are actually shineable, in fact.)  More people who get their hair cut regularly.  Fewer tattoos.  I forgot that the "preppy" look existed, to tell you the truth.

So I'm not judging you yet, Boston, since I've only known you for about 5 hours, and pretty much all of that time was spent in the dark, on public transit, but I don't think I like you as much as the west coast, I gotta say.  I don't do well with uptight.

Speaking of uptight, I should probably get back to practicing my conference presentation.  It's at 11:30 in the morning and I want it to be over so I can enjoy the rest of this conference.  I also want to go for a long, long run, either on Saturday or Sunday morning, to work out some anxiety.  What a weird week!  I sit for a while, and then suddenly I'm in San Diego.  And then I sit for a while longer, and suddenly I'm on the exact opposite side of this huge country, on the east coast, where it actually looks and feels like November, which is simultaneously comforting and off-putting.  It's like, "oh right, seasons", but at the same time, it's like coming out of a time warp where you've been trapped in la-la land fog-and-sunshine cycles for some indeterminate amount of time.  And I also lost 3 hours today with the time change, so I keep looking at the clock and going, "what??" because I'm not even remotely tired.  I have no idea how I'm going to get to sleep.

Weirdness abounds, friends, weirdness abounds.