The Greenway: Piers Park to Constitution Beach
Distance: 5 - 8 miles Jeremy’s energy expenditure (Resistance included): 1,500 calories
The Greenway near East Boston Memorial Park
Jeremy Watts—imm May 9, 2020
One day I decided to take a water taxi from Boston Seaport District to East Boston and explore. Being from Ohio I was generally unfamiliar with Boston. I had never been to East Boston and had once been told that there was “no such thing as East Boston.” What a nice surprise when I took a trip to see what was on the other side of the water! I found really great park areas, an outdoor gym, a positive vibe, and a great running trail that easily navigated through East Boston and Constitution Beach to Harbor View/Oriental Heights.
Piers Park Outdoor Gym, East Boston
This rout begins at Piers Park where the outdoor gym is also located, so I like to begin with a set of pull ups to increase my heart rate, and burn through some immediate stores of blood glucose. I then proceed northwest along Marginal Street for 400 meters or so where the street junctions with East Boston Greenway. The Running trail can be easily followed northeast through the area to East Boston Memorial Park and stadium. The path can be followed around the circumference of the park to increase distance and duration to your run, or immediately head northeast again for 300 meters under Route 1A and continue along the path, skirting the road and I-90.
View from Lewis Mall Harbor Park, E. Boston
Along the left side of your view is Bremen Street Community Park, which similar to Piers Park has a lot of open space with natural grass, an awesome children’s playground, and a spray fountain. The fitness and leisure traffic is usually tasteful and I’ve noticed some fast runners on this path which is always nice given I’m a competitive person and this usually stokes a fire to pick up my pace and access more of my body fat for energy! The path crosses under I-90 and continues eastward passing Al Festa Little League Field on the left and then gently bends northerly towards Constitution Beach. You get a really great view of the outgoing and incoming flights at Logan International Airport from the beach and this is where I turn around to head back.
Click image for complete route!
I follow the same route to Piers Park, and given that I can’t pass up an opportunity for resistance training when there is an outdoor gym on the route, I return to the starting point, and use the equipment for approximately 20-30 minutes of muscular strength and endurance training. The route in its entirety is approximately 6 miles and given the right intensity and duration of the total training session, I burn in between 1,200 and 2,000 calories, so make sure your nutrition, sleep, and motivation levels are right before navigating my exercise session of the East Boston Greenway!