I took the orange line to the Boston state house. The weather was a bit cold in the morning and it was nice to get moving. I stopped by the Forest Hills T station for a quick bathroom break and then continued on to the arboretum. If I had done better scouting of the route in advance, I would have just waited as the arboretum had portapotties that would have saved me that short detour. My next stop was a quick pop into a 7/11 I passed along the road for a donut and to refill one of the two water bottles I had drank.
As I was passing through Dedham (I think?) I encountered a section where residents had all put their trash out into the sidewalk completely obstructing the pedestrian throughway, which was a bit annoying, but luckily that section did not extend too far. I had put in orders for pickup for food at two places along the route the night before: Brookside Cafe in Norwood and Scram Kitchen in Foxborough. Both of these sandwiches were excellent, and I also made use of their restrooms and refilled my water. One of these came with hash browns, and the other with chips. The salt was very helpful. I also had liquid IV and some gels in my pack and made sure to put liquid IV in at least half of the water I was drinking.
Coming out of Brookside Cafe in Norwood I was still feeling great. However, I started to feel the miles adding up a bit as I was coming into Foxborough, and the stop there for food and the bathroom made me feel a lot better. However, I think I may have stayed stationary a bit too long, because coming out of the rest stop my left knee and right foot were starting to bother me. I started to really struggle as I was coming into Attleborough. As I was a couple miles away, I looked around on google maps to find a place to grab a sandwich that was on the route, and called up a restaurant to try to put in an order for pickup but they were not accepting takeout order. I ended up stopping at a CVS for a few clif bars, and then passed a library and popped in to use the restroom and refill my water. I'm usually bad at staying sufficiently hydrated on longer efforts, and I think I did a better job this time around as I needed to use the restroom relatively frequently during my run. I'm sure it added some total time, but feels worth it to me.
My legs were really feeling it as I exited the town center, and I stopped at a stone wall by a grassy area next to the route and sat down and ate some of the food I had picked up at CVS as well as a couple gels. My right foot and left knee were hurting more now, and I considered stopping but decided to run/walk the rest of the way. As I got closer to the RI border, I started to recognize more places from my childhood (I grew up in Providence) and that was a nice moral boost. I passed along an ice cream place I had not seen or thought about in over a decade that I remembered my parents taking me to when I was in grade school. I took a couple more gels, finished my liquid IV and water, and found new energy along the Ten Mile River Greenway Bike Path. My original hope had been coming in under 12 hours, but I knew that was not going to happen. However, looking at the trains, I still really wanted to make the 8:12 so I wasn't stuck waiting at the station for several hours.
Along waterfront drive, there was a lot of construction and it took a bit of looking around to find the best way onto the bridge that was still close to the intented route and my pace slowed a bit. I also mis-nav-ed a bit coming off the bridge, but took the stairs back up and kept going to the correct exit. Entering Canal Street, I started to get very excited. This was where I grew up, and I recognized everything I passed. It was a very nostalgic way to finish. The state house was lit up, and it felt wonderful to arrive there.
Luckily, the train station is located right next to the state house. I snapped a few pictures at the State House, and then hurried to the train. I could hear the train coming into the station as I decended the state house steps. I made the train :) but cramped up on the ride back to Boston. The walk from the train to the station was slow and stiff. I grabbed a quick bite and refilled my water in South Station, and then headed home.
No one ran with me, but I told a few friends about my intended run in advance and texted them some of the photos I took along the route. I also let them know when I had finished and that I had made it safely onto the train.
Note 1: I started my watch shortly before the run began and ended it shortly after. The elapsed time for the activity was 12:27:20, but the time from the start to the end was 12:25:13 (elapsed, not moving). When I go to Garmin to export the "trimmed" activity, it won't let me and I am not sure why, so if you don't accept the more precise 12:25:13 I am fine submitting under 12:27:20.
Note 2: There were a few places along the route, most noticably in the park at the start and near the end on either side of the East Bay Bike Path Bridge crossing over into Providence where there was construction blocking the exact route. In those cases, I ran parallel to the route along the fence, or in one case where an entire street was blocked, took the next street over to continue on a legally accessible path. The total route I took was longer due to these small detours and the parallel lanes were no lesser in elevation. I have a few pictures I snapped of the construction blockage that I took as I ran past.