Why Boston is the Best and Worst City for Running
My thoughts on a city where it seems like everyone runs
Let me paint a picture for you: it’s 7:30 am on a Saturday in September of 2024, and I’m in a sedan driving down Memorial Ave on my way to move into my new dorm. My boyfriend is driving while I look out the window at the city I will call home for the next two years. It wasn’t the reflection of the morning sun bouncing off the Charles that caught my attention, nor the towering buildings on the Boston side of the river. No, it was ALL OF THE PEOPLE RUNNING… at 7:30 in the morning… on a Saturday.
What city was I moving to? Look, I know the Boston Marathon is a big deal. But I was under the impression that people traveled to Boston to run the marathon—not that everyone in Boston was running all the time. As someone who hadn’t run farther than 2 km in five years, I was starting to get worried. I turned to my boyfriend and said, “I will never be someone running at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. Who even are these people?” I think we can all see where this is going. Lo and behold, Saturdays are now my long run days. Oh yes, you read that correctly—long run days. Meaning, twice a week, I also do short runs.
How on Earth did I get here? Well, I moved to Boston. In the four months I’ve been living here, I have decided that Boston is both the best and worst city for running, and here’s what I mean—starting with the worst.
It seems like everyone here is a runner, which can be very intimidating at first. Running is a sport with a HUGE range of abilities, and it’s so easy to compare yourself to other people. This means it’s also easy to feel incapable, slow, and like you’re inconveniencing others before you even go on a run with them. I wanted to become a runner, but I was so scared to reach out to people one-on-one because my lack of ability would stare them right in the face. Logically, I turned to run clubs and the triathlon team, hoping to blend into a group of people. This was a good start, but I was definitely on the slow end of the group and worried about keeping up over longer distances. It didn’t help that every other person I spoke to was trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon and would ask if that was a goal of mine, too. It was a bit intense, to say the least.
BUT, I’m glad I stuck with it because I also think that Boston is the best city for running. To start, running along the Charles and across its many bridges is an incredible feeling, no matter what time of day. You’re also never alone when running along the Charles. No matter how crappy I’m feeling on my runs, it always feels nice to think about how I got up, got outside, and joined the other people who pushed themselves to run today. The fact that there are so many runners here means there’s a ton of fun races to join, with a bunch of different distances. There are fun 5Ks around Cambridge, the Boston 10K for women, at least two half marathons—and that’s just in the fall and winter! Finally, this city is full of some of the coolest people I never would have met without running. What started as a joking conversation during orientation week has turned into 12 of us flying to California to run a 200-mile relay race in April. Through running I’ve found some great friends who I know are always down to do something a little crazy.
So, while I did become someone who runs, I think I really became someone who loves this city and all of the people in it.
Share this post:
