Scenes from Monument Avenue

First things first - I promise a Boston photologue. We had a great time, but unfortunately weather prevented us from participating in the Freedom Trail 5k running tour.

But right now, let's talk about my last two runs, which happened on Wednesday (National Runner's Day - yay) and Thursday.

For about a week, I'd been logging a lot of treadmill time. The weather wasn't cooperative here or during our time in Boston. I was eager and happy to hit the pavement on Wednesday night. The weather was not pretty but it was perfect for running - about 70 degrees, overcast, with a slight breeze. Unfortunately, my run was not quite so perfect. Maybe the fact that I was running way too fast had something to do with it.

Maybe it was the soreness in my right glute, leftover from a challenging yoga class the night before. Maybe it was the huge lunch that I ate which included a big fat slice of lemon butter cake. Whatever it was, I struggled through the whole run. Despite the distraction of the music pumping into my brain via my iPod, I was trying everything possible to distract myself from the fact that my legs felt like lead. This mainly took the form of carefully studying the lawns and gardens that I passed as I ran down Monument Avenue. It seems like everything is in bloom right now, but the gorgeous hydrangeas in the beautifully manicured gardens along my route are what really caught my eye.

I was determined to make last night better. Things didn't start off well... it was kind of warm today (80 degrees) and when I got to the Y I realized that my water bottle was not in my bag. Then I realized that my iPod was also M.I.A. To occupy my mind, I decided to take along my iPhone and document some of the lovely flowers that I had encountered along the avenue the night before.

Aren't they just gorgeous? I think hydrangea are my favorites. I tried to grow a hydrangea of my own but it hasn't worked out very well. We've had it for 4 years and despite my best efforts (which I admit haven't been so great lately), it is a piddly small sad thing that had never bloomed until this year, when it produced one tiny cluster of flowers.

As you can see, my gardening skills are rather pathetic. If I lived on Monument Ave I would be a shame to my neighbors. But then again, I'm sure that their beautiful hydrangeas are the result of professional landscapers and gardeners who are paid to produce and care for such lovely plants.

Aside from taking pretty pictures, I was hoping that being on the lookout for noteworthy landscaping would make me slow down my pace a little bit. It worked... kind of...

...but not really.

Despite the higher temperature, I did feel better for this run. I paused one last time during mile 4 to take a photo of a building on West Franklin Street that I had never noticed before. I have no idea what it is or why it was flying the flags of my three favorite countries, but I had to take a photo of it.

Anybody know what this building houses?? And why are they flying the French, US, and British flags?

BFF is coming to town tomorrow with her husband for a visit. There won't be a lot of running going on, but I'll try to make time to post about Boston because it really was a wonderful trip that I'd like to share!