This past weekend can be summed up as my mini baseball tour! Friday the 13th consisted of heading out to Shea with 15 running buddies to watch the Reds destroy the Mets. This made the organizer happy as her roots throw her back to the midwest:-) While that was fun, Saturday morning I arose to head up to Beantown for the weekend. My friend had scored box seats at Fenway through her work. Let's just say her work has a little something to do with baseball:-) Anyway. she was gracious enough to offer me one of the four tickets so I went along with her and her two siblings. The day was spent wandering around town enjoying the sites and sounds of Boston.
After a quick cat nap, we walked over to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. I had been there twice before but I couldn't resist a chance to revisit a walk
back in baseball history once more. Sorry Yanks fans, but Yankee Stadium just not have that same old time vibe of Fenway. As you arrive, you see nothing but a sea of Red Sox shirts and Red Sox red everywhere! In order to gain access to Yawkey Way, a street alongside the park, you need a ticket! So Sara went to get the tickets and it turns out box seats really meant BOX SEATS! As you can see from the photo, our seats landed us third row first baseline!
Since our seats were so spectacular, it gave us access to the special restaurant for fans with box seats. I think we were the youngest clientele by 30 years:-p We were happy though to have a seat and nice air conditioned place to relax before the game:) As we entered the Park, you could feel the history of almost 100 years (it opened in 1912). Fenway only seats ~28,000 so it has never left the 1912 feel. I felt like I had to keep pinching myself to make sure that this was really happening!
Oh, forgot to mention, the pitcher was Dice K (otherwise known as Matsuzaka). He's the huge phenom the Sox signed from Japan just so the Yankees wouldn't get him:-p The game itself was fun with the Sox winning 9-4 I believe. David Ortiz (known as "Big Papi") hit his first homerun at Fenway since April and the Sox exploded with a 5 run outburst in the 7th. We sang along to "Sweet Caroline" which is a Sox tradition, not Mets!
After the game, we hit the town for a few hours which left me with a precious few hours of sleep before waking up for the long run. Ah, the time of year where
excuses cannot be made and the run must go on! So on 6 hours of sleep and a couple of beers from a local brewery, I set off to the Charles River for a 14 mile run. As rough as the wakeup was, the breathtaking views over the two+ hours were well worth it! I ran through MIT and Harvard as well as to places that I have no idea where I was! It was simply awesome and made me remember why I love running in different cities and parts of the country (and world!). The Charles River was filled with rowers partaking in morning practice and the trail was filled with local runners, bikers and rollerbladers.
The rest of the day I spent at the river doing what I do best: resting my eyes on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Oh, that and of course, enjoying a water ice:-) Mmm, life was good!
Unfortunately, the way home became a nightmare. The airlines showed their true colors of making unhappy customers. I won't name names but since I flew from New York to Boston you probably can figure it out:-) Anyway, my 4:30pm flight quickly became a 7:15pm flight with a lovely time of an hour and a half or so sitting on the tarmac. We were given no water and just told "we couldn't take off." Thankfully we weren't on the 2:30pm which was sitting beside us as well. Ugh! Fortunately the rest of the weekend was so awesome that I just let it go and remembered the good times:-) Oh, that and hopefully I'll be back in about 9 months:-)
Finally, in case you weren't sure about my loyalties, my Philly roots suffered a blow this past weekend with a 10-2 loss to the St Louis Cardinals on Sunday. It wasn't just any loss but number 10,000. 10,000 losses since they began as a franchise 124 years ago (10,001).
From an ESPN.com article:
"From Connie Mack Stadium to the Vet and Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies have had few moments to celebrate. The franchise, born in 1883 as the Philadelphia Quakers and briefly called the Blue Jays in the mid-1940s, fell to 8,810-10,000.Next on the losing list: the Braves, with 9,681 defeats. It took them stints in three cities (Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta) to reach that total. Not even those lovable losers, the Chicago Cubs, come close at 9,425."
Well, at least they found something they are #1 at in baseball:-p
After a quick cat nap, we walked over to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. I had been there twice before but I couldn't resist a chance to revisit a walk
back in baseball history once more. Sorry Yanks fans, but Yankee Stadium just not have that same old time vibe of Fenway. As you arrive, you see nothing but a sea of Red Sox shirts and Red Sox red everywhere! In order to gain access to Yawkey Way, a street alongside the park, you need a ticket! So Sara went to get the tickets and it turns out box seats really meant BOX SEATS! As you can see from the photo, our seats landed us third row first baseline!Since our seats were so spectacular, it gave us access to the special restaurant for fans with box seats. I think we were the youngest clientele by 30 years:-p We were happy though to have a seat and nice air conditioned place to relax before the game:) As we entered the Park, you could feel the history of almost 100 years (it opened in 1912). Fenway only seats ~28,000 so it has never left the 1912 feel. I felt like I had to keep pinching myself to make sure that this was really happening!Oh, forgot to mention, the pitcher was Dice K (otherwise known as Matsuzaka). He's the huge phenom the Sox signed from Japan just so the Yankees wouldn't get him:-p The game itself was fun with the Sox winning 9-4 I believe. David Ortiz (known as "Big Papi") hit his first homerun at Fenway since April and the Sox exploded with a 5 run outburst in the 7th. We sang along to "Sweet Caroline" which is a Sox tradition, not Mets!
After the game, we hit the town for a few hours which left me with a precious few hours of sleep before waking up for the long run. Ah, the time of year where
excuses cannot be made and the run must go on! So on 6 hours of sleep and a couple of beers from a local brewery, I set off to the Charles River for a 14 mile run. As rough as the wakeup was, the breathtaking views over the two+ hours were well worth it! I ran through MIT and Harvard as well as to places that I have no idea where I was! It was simply awesome and made me remember why I love running in different cities and parts of the country (and world!). The Charles River was filled with rowers partaking in morning practice and the trail was filled with local runners, bikers and rollerbladers. The rest of the day I spent at the river doing what I do best: resting my eyes on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Oh, that and of course, enjoying a water ice:-) Mmm, life was good!
Unfortunately, the way home became a nightmare. The airlines showed their true colors of making unhappy customers. I won't name names but since I flew from New York to Boston you probably can figure it out:-) Anyway, my 4:30pm flight quickly became a 7:15pm flight with a lovely time of an hour and a half or so sitting on the tarmac. We were given no water and just told "we couldn't take off." Thankfully we weren't on the 2:30pm which was sitting beside us as well. Ugh! Fortunately the rest of the weekend was so awesome that I just let it go and remembered the good times:-) Oh, that and hopefully I'll be back in about 9 months:-)
Finally, in case you weren't sure about my loyalties, my Philly roots suffered a blow this past weekend with a 10-2 loss to the St Louis Cardinals on Sunday. It wasn't just any loss but number 10,000. 10,000 losses since they began as a franchise 124 years ago (10,001).
From an ESPN.com article:
"From Connie Mack Stadium to the Vet and Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies have had few moments to celebrate. The franchise, born in 1883 as the Philadelphia Quakers and briefly called the Blue Jays in the mid-1940s, fell to 8,810-10,000.Next on the losing list: the Braves, with 9,681 defeats. It took them stints in three cities (Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta) to reach that total. Not even those lovable losers, the Chicago Cubs, come close at 9,425."
Well, at least they found something they are #1 at in baseball:-p
blah
Philly Fanatic
I am rooting for you to get your BQ... no-one deserves it more than you. Good luck!
Boston
-Josh