Doctor's Orders!

I love Santa Barbara! It's one of my new favorite cities.

The Shangri La hotel in LA is now my new favorite hotel. Right off of Ocean, with gorgeous views. Clearly a hotel that used to be a dump but has been newly renovated.

Art Deco, in the way that I might decorate a hotel. Lovely.

Why, might you ask, did I wait until today, in the freezing weather of Boston, to go out for my first run in 8 days? When I had all of the beauty of LA and Santa Barbara at my fingertips previously?

Doctor's orders. Due to my calf strain and some other issues, I have been directed to gain some weight and cut down on running.

"A half hour a day or less would be ideal", she says.

Now the weight gain is no problem. Sitting on my butt and eating for 8 days has already pretty much taken care of that!

But the reduction in miles is hard. And returning to running has been hard, too. It's a weird nebulous area: why run at all if you are supposed to run that little?

A woman of extremes, I tend to be. Something I should work on for the new year?

Squished myself into my compression tights - a proposition after weight gain! - and ran this afternoon. Planned to flout the orders somewhat and run about 80 minutes.

However, the ice made me a good(ish) girl: I did about 55 minutes, instead. Ice and my coordination do not mix well.

So, 1/2 hour is really like an hour, right?

It had been so long since I had run, the start of the run was actually rather slow and painful. I felt the weight and I felt the tightness in my legs. My lungs also felt rusty.

The way back down the Charles, I felt better. Getting into a bit more of a groove, I even managed to pick it up on clear parts.

At least the Charles was beautiful. Ice on either side, with a channel cut through the middle for boats.

Aiming for balance.