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But it's a helluva lot tougher than it looks! Unlike the locals like Josh, for which this is old-hat, you won't find much in Texas to run over like the Brooklyn Bridge. Why did I want to run it? Because it's there. You know what I mean.
The past 2-3 weeks have been busy, and I've been off the blogs and low on running. I'm still traveling every week, and for reasons too long and too trivial to list, I found myself with luggage, mid-week, at work, downtown in the shadow the bridge. Even though I ran last night in Central Park (barely missing Gawker run-ins with Cap'n Kirk, Texas-Ex Matthew McConnaughey, and still-better-as-Lois-Lane Teri Hatcher), I decided at 6pm to change and go for a run instead of heading to my (next) hotel.I started out at the Staten Island Ferry terminal and followed the water to the base of the bridge. I found my way to the entrance, which was actually a few blocks back "inland". From the entrance, it was tough as nails for me to make it up the incline, and I definitely felt it in my calves. There was also a fair amount of weaving in and around pedestrians in the single 6-foot wide lane reserved for walkers, runners, strollers and dogs in both directions, plus people standing on the side posing for pictures from people standing in the middle! At times you had no choice but to bleed into the next lane reserved for bikers, but you really had to watch your back. I finally reached the middle section, which was flat and much windier and cooler - I'm guessing in the low 60's. I didn't get to enjoy the view as much as I could have, instead focusing on not passing out! After that, it was on to the long decline into Brooklyn. 16:30-ish one-way.During my break, I wasn't feeling too good about the return trip, but finally decided I'd better get going or I'd be stuck in Brooklyn all night. I'd have left sooner if I had read Anne's post about the dreadin's always worst than the doin'! How I missed this coming over I don't know, but the incline from the Brooklyn side is much more gradual, which meant that the decline into Manhattan would be almost like a free-fall! Well, sorta. It still was tough overall, but I made the return leg in 13:45. This one bridge should last me a while.
Two weeks ago I stayed in Chelsea for a change, at 23rd and 6th. I only managed one run, but as you all know, you see so much more when you're running at ground level. From my hotel, I zig-zagged west until I hit the water, 
then turned north along the Hudson River. If not for this run, I probably would never have come this close to the USS Intrepid, now a floating museum at 46th street. Running past this old aircraft carrier, you can't help but feel the history and imagine the scenes that it must have gone through. I stopped for a brief moment, then pushed on, missing a few details, if you can call the Concorde parked on the port side of this ship a "detail"! I made it north to 59th street, turned east and ran to the corner of Central Park, then back south again to Chelsea, finishing about a 6 mile rectangular route.
Back in my hotel, it took me a couple of nights to figure out what this was outside my window. I know it's not the clearest pic ever, but the bright light is the top of the Empire State Building, and the reddish glow is street level 6th Ave. I didn't recognize it at first because it appeared to be not that tall, but maybe that was because of the angle from my room - I was on the 16th floor, which isn't that high really. I wasn't in a fancy hotel by a long shot, but I think view turned out pretty good, don't you?
Last week, back in Midtown, I thought it might be nice to run along the East River for a change, so I headed out east. I was somewhere around the low 50's streets, and when I got to the East River, there wasn't a path to run on! Bummer. Ended up just running around town, down to Rockerfeller Center and the NBC Today Show, but didn't wait around for Katie to come outside. Later that week, I thought it might be nice to run across the Queensboro Bridge, since it's on the NYC Marathon course. I like this shot of the grand old bridge - credit Rachelleb - she always seems to get nice pics of ordinary things from great angles. Anyway, when I got there, I found out it's closed to foot traffic! Bummer again.This week, I was hoping for a good consistent non-stop run, uninterrupted by closed bridges, missing sidewalks, stoplights, morning talk-shows, and old warships. I got my chance last night, getting back to my hotel at 7:00 to change, out again by 7:10, warmed up and at Central Park by 7:15 or so. I started running a counter clockwise loop, and soon fell into a comfortable rhythm. I've never run around the entire park before, and felt this might be the time to do it. It was cool, I was in shorts and short sleeves, and it felt perfect. I've only previously run to the northern edge and back, and when I passed that point and kept going, everything was new to me ... including the hills! They were actually a nice break from the routine pace, and there were a bunch of people training on them. I finally made it past the hills, down the homestretch, and back to Columbus Circle in 54:20 for 6 miles. It felt really really good.
She could outrun me any day, any place, any time, and it wouldn't even be close.
She could run full-out across 6 soccer fields at sunset while I was still making my way across the first one, and nothing and no one could catch her.
She could literally pull me around the neighborhood - me holding onto the leash like Ben-Hur with white knuckles, struggling to stay upright on my rollerblades, knowing that a single lapse of concentration meant concrete-roadway-face-plant-time, while she loped along casually enjoying the butterflies and flowers. She could dream of chasing rabbits with the best of them, squeaking and sputtering, stammering and whole-body shuddering in her sleep, while we could only wonder what a grand old time she was having.Our first baby, before the human kind even showed up, turns 14 tomorrow. In her twilight years, there are no more sprints, the chase is off, there aren't even any more runs. But while she's still with us, she'll always be our baby. Happy Birthday Shari!
WARNING: Brag-o-meter set on high ...Sydney, our youngest at age 4 and destined to forever be the baby in our family, started soccer this year. Playing in a 4/5 girls league, our 4-yr olds were routinely clobbered by veteran 5-yr olds playing in their second season. I'm talking 10-1, 12-0, not-counting-anymore-to-zero thrashings.
This weekend, Sydney decided to have her coming out party. In a double-header, she scored 3 goals in one and 5 goals in a row in the other, and we won both games! In most cases, she simply figured out how to get a jump on everyone else, and out-ran the pack on her way to the goal. That's her being chased by the entire team of 6 blue jerseys, with nothing but green in front of her.This is the first opportunity she's had to show a focused, organized and sustained run of any reasonable distance. As a Dad and a runner, I couldn't be more proud of my baby! Is it too early to make plans for Boston 2018?
But some are more adult than others. Anne tells us that "one in five employees currently use company resources to look up porn, gamble online, check on their favorite sports, read personal e-mail, shop on eBay and hook up through an online dating service."
Perhaps they were like me last night, when I had to use the hotel's business computer since I left my laptop charger at work. If you had 3 guesses as to whose RBF blog I was denied entry to because the hotel's content filter slammed it into the "Adult Category", would it be:
1. Runner Susan,
2. Breaking The Tape, or
3. Lick This!And the winner is ...?
Exactly 2 weeks off since my last run, and I've waited as long as I can to rest my knee. Decided not to pound the pavement, so I tried it out indoors on the hotel treadmill. 3-ish miles at a pedestrian pace and all looks good so far. Yes!My runner friend and veteran of various marathons and the Hood-to-Coast relay, who has "seen it all" in terms or runner ailments, warned me not to push it too fast too soon. I'll take his advice and ease back into the running slowly.
Another runner friend who is an OBGYN strongly recommended acupunture! This office is so close to my home, I could run there in about 3 minutes. I might give the needles a try just for grins - it can't hurt, can it? Anyone else tried this?In other news, I've discovered yet some more restaurants in NYC. One is the dubiously named Yum Yum Thai restaurant at 44th and 9th, and right across the street from them is an Indonesian restaurant I tried tonight called Bali Nusa Induh. I thought both were pretty decent. But the piece de resistance discovery was a Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown near Baxter and Canal called Jaya. Extremely spicy! I could've used a towel to dry off after my run ... uh, my meal!
Tried out the knee this evening, after almost a week off. Decided to take it a little bit cautiously, so I ran only 3 and did it on the hotel treadmill. I started out favoring the left knee a little and could tell my right knee was taking more of a pounding, but after a quick warmup it evened out just fine.
The knee works perfectly when I'm sitting, standing, walking, and now even running. The only thing I can't do yet is put weight on it if I need to go from a stand to a squat, or a squat to a stand (which thankfully is not very often!). I'm going to go with the flow and hope it heals itself. C+ so far on the knee.
After my run I headed out in search of dinner. While I'm here in NYC, I'm trying not to eat at the same place twice, so I can sample as many restaurants and as many cuisines as possible. I'm usually by myself, so I'm not into going to a fancy place for a long sit down affair. I'd rather do take-out and Starbucks, then back to the hotel to check out blogs over dinner!
I discovered a whole slew of restaurants one block over on 9th Ave, and they look more like small neighborhood type places. I had Thai at Pam Real Thai earlier this week; the reviews were great but I thought the food could've been better. After wandering a bit, I stumbled upon Amish Fine Food. What a find! I'm not one to get all excited over a grocery store, but this place had all sorts of 
interesting stuff I'd never seen before. There were (new to me) energy bars, granola bars, chocolates, candies, cookies, Beefeater flavored tea, biscotti, pizelles, snack mix, dried fruit, jams etc. There was also fresh fruit, cakes, pastries, baklava, sushi, soup and pizza. I ended up getting dinner from the food bar - a Greek salad, grilled salmon with rice pilaf and string beans almondine, and a tub of fresh cut pineapple! I forced myself to not go by the key lime pie and baklava again, but to head to the checkout line instead. I'm definitely going back to sample more of their stuff. A+, even if there's nothing Amish about them - what the hey?
I finished my RW mag yesterday on the plane. My 4:02p flight from JFK-DFW was finally pushing off at 7:30p (we had to switch planes on the ground after they found an oil leak on the first plane). But now the pilot tells us we're like #19 for takeoff ...
So I'm reading this stuff about TMS and how some forms of pain are not physical but psychological. I wish it wasn't apropos, but I just developed a bum knee this past week, the first time I've ever had anything close to resembling an injury. I ran 6 on Tue, no problem. I ran 6 again on Thu and at the turnaround in Central Park, my left knee started hurting. I managed to make it back to my hotel, but the stairs up and down the subway later were good for a couple of near-miss stumbles!I'm thinking/hoping it's just a small case of patella tendinitis, and a little rest will do. But does anyone believe this TMS stuff? Somehow I'm not ready to begin deep soul-searching therapy for my knee just yet! What do you think?
Running Jayhawk has a great list going on "You know you're a runner if ...". I thought I had heard them all, but she's got some good ones! Go take a look and add your own; my addition is:"You know you're a runner if you get rid of snot in ways you'd rather die than be seen doing in public, but wtf, if the snot runs ..."
Pressure's on ... I like my lottery chances though. For a variety of reasons, I think 69-28 is a lucky number ;)
But it's a helluva lot tougher than it looks! Unlike the locals like Josh, for which this is old-hat, you won't find much in Texas to run over like the Brooklyn Bridge. Why did I want to run it? Because it's there. You know what I mean.
