Run 40

Run number 40, I can't decide if that's a big number or a little number.  In ways it's both.  It seems like I just started this little adventure, so having 40 runs under my belt is pretty cool.  But I've also got a long way to go.  
Today's route was the area on the lower east side under near the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge.  It was kind of an unusual mix of sights.  In the beginning I was still finishing up the last of China Town, but then I ran though residential areas, schools, and towards the end I was in a marine area.  I ran under the manhattan bridge multiple times.  The buildings were shorter and further apart.  It didn't really feel like I was in the NYC I know.  Again I saw another area that I would probably never end up in if it wasn't for this blog.  


Time: 1pm
Distance: 5.51 miles
Time: 44:34 minutes
Music: shuffle 

Run 39

Today's route was all about filling in missing gaps.  On a previous run I had missed a section of 69th street, so I started there.  I have also been running the upper west side in two directions, working north from 59th street and south from 96th street.  I had one little section that I needed to fill in to connect the two.  It was a short run, only 3 miles, that is why I'm trying to run streets in order, so that I don't skip areas or end up with little tidbits here and there.
While I was running one of my all time favorite songs came on.  It's been a while since I've shared any music with you.  Usually I'm very lyrically driven, but I love this song because of the melodies and music more than the words.  It's from a musical called The Wild Party. A single voice starts the song and then 3 others are slowly added.  When the 4 parts come together, they magically lay on top of each other creating a musical kaleidoscope.  Close you eyes and listen to it, twice.  Empty your mind and let the musical kaleidoscope take over.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Time: 5pm
Distance: 3.02 Miles
Time: 25:52 minutes
Music: The Wild Party  

Run 38 NYC Winter

Holy Cow! It's cold out side.  We have been having a fairly mild winter so far, but today's run chilled me to the bone.  No unseasonably nice weather any more.  What I've been wearing the past month is no longer sufficient.  The ice in the gutter should have given me a clue.  
Today I ran Canal Street, which is a bustling mecca for the world's best knock-offs.  With everyone bustling around doing holiday shopping, it was very crowded.  The streets were more like parking lots.  I was passing cars, that should have been driving, left and right.  I don't know why anyone drives into NYC.  You can get most places quicker and cheaper on foot.  
I was planning on waiting until the first big snow storm to introduce my next photo album, but today seems appropriate.  So here it is:  Winter in NYC.  Most of these pics were taken the past two years, but like I've said before I will continue to add new photos to these albums when I take them.  (Like I just added photos to the behind the scene album)

(click for full album)

Time: 2pm
Distance: 5.95 Miles
Time: 51:58 minutes
Music: Alanis Morisette

Run 37

Quick and easy run today.  I have to admit I love the upper west side and the houses/apartments are amazing and I'd love to live in one, the area is very nice.  BUT, it makes for a pretty boring run, lol.  I've done 4 routes in this area and they are beginning to blur together.  The most entertaining part for me is that there are so many Christmas tree stands, right on the street corners.  It's like I'm running through a perfectly manicured forest and if you know me, I sure do love a good Christmas tree. :)

Time: noon

Distance: 4.02 miles

Time: 35:09 minutes

Music: Madonna

Run 36 Variety 2

It truly is amazing, how much I am seeing as I go out running.  I've mentioned before, that if I was really going to do this blog as accurately as I'd like to. I would have to go on my run and then do the same route again snapping photographs and taking notes.  Well, I ended up doing a route that I felt was worthy of this type of treatment.  The run itself was only 6 miles and took 51 minutes.  But then the next day I went back and walked (about half) of the route and did a 2 hour photo shoot.  Since then I have been making photo collages, editing photos and not finally piecing it all together.  What was so special about this route was the enormous variety of neighborhoods and sights I saw, in just 51 minutes.  I'm not going to go in too much detail, I'm going to let the photos do the talking. 

I started the route on the corner of Broome Street and Lafayette Street.  This is right in the middle of a shopping district in SoHo.   

After leaving Soho, I found my self in a residential community in the east side.  Where I was met by a man standing on the street holding his Trombone.  He saw me running towards him and decided to play a charge for me (only in NYC).  After the residential area and a school,  I arrived at the Williamsburg Bridge and the East River.

I then turned around and followed Grand Street west, back through the residential area, but quickly found myself in the north end of Little Italy. 

And immediately in Chinatown as well.

After Chinatown I swung back through SoHo, and shortly later hit West Street and the Hudson River. 

After turning around I got detoured by the exit of the Holland tunnel.  Everyone one driving onto the island of Manhattan only has a few bridges and tunnels to get you here.  

I then ended my run on the cobblestone roads in the Meat-packing district. Old warehouses that are all being remodeled into shops, restaurants, apartments, etc.  Imaging seeing all this in less than an hour.  It was pretty amazing.  I feel like words can't describe it, even pictures don't quite do it justice, but I hope you get a sense of how neat this experience is.  Here's more random pics taking through out the route.    

I hope you enjoyed, good bye and "Good Lock"

Time: 3pm

Distance: 5.99 miles

Time: 51:15

Music: Evita 

Run 35

A word to the wise, don't drink a bunch of OJ and then go on a run.  I spent most of this run trying not to throw up, lol.  So my power of observation and insight was a little distracted.  I was able to plan a route and stick to it, until I ended a little earlier than planned.  


Time: 12:25 PM
Distance: 4.73 miles
Time: 44:06 Minutes
Music: Shuffle

Run 34

Just a quick easy run today.  No obstacles, no grand epiphany to tell you about.  I started on 90th street and ran south to 83th between Riverside Dr. and Central park.  The houses in this area are amazing.  I'd love to live on Riverside Dr. but I think it's currently out of my price range, lol.


Time: 11:30 am
Distance: 5.21 miles
Time: 44:06 minutes
Music: Random

Run 33 67th Street!!

Some times there's sections of New York City that are magical.  I probably can't explain why or even describe it.  It happens when a bunch or different factors fall into place just at the right moment.  It has to do with the weather, the surroundings, the people, your mood and attitude, your pace, your mind, the activities your doing, the sounds you hear, the energy around you and so much more.  I pulled the following from my journal, an entry on August 1, 2010, as an example of what I'm talking about.


"Why I live in NYC, center of the universe.  I just saw a production of Our Town staring Helen Hunt.  It was a fabulous production with a talented cast, it was beautiful, entertaining and thought provoking.  Helen was everything I expected her to be, near perfection, the ease at which she tells a story is remarkable. It was a treat and a pleasure to see her perform live, a mixture of admiration, jealousy and awe. I left the theatre with a euphoric feeling, everything was beautiful, perfect and amazing.  I was walking down the street right behind Helen Hunt, disguised in cargo shorts, a back pack and sunglasses she walked unnoticed down the street to a massage parlor, seems like a nice treat in between shows.  There were bakeries and shops on every corner, parks filled with blooming flowers, which, of course, I did stop and smell.  The temperature was perfect for a city stroll, not too hot, but sunny with a cool, light summer breeze.  I enter the subway to find a street musician playing a mandolin or some exotic instrument to enjoy as I waited for my train, which came in just a few short minutes. 

I don’t want to wake up from my post show euphoric bliss!"

One of these magical moments happened to my as a ran a specific block of 67th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.  Modern buildings in general have lost the artistic flare that used to go into them.  The ornate decorations and detail have disappeared.  Some of those old buildings are still around NYC.  I was having a nice run when I happened into this block of 67th Street.  There was about 5 beautiful old buildings right in a row.  I felt like I had wandered onto a movie set or back in time or even into a dream.  I ran with a smile on my face.  It made such an impression on me that I went back later to take some pictures so I can share them with you.  Too bad the pictures alone aren't enough to create one of those magical moments I mentioned, but I hope you know the feeling.  

Time: 2pm

Distance: 4.08 miles

Time: 33:46 minutes

Music: Jewel

Run 32

Well, today was supposed to by a quick and easy run, back and forth a few times and then I'm out of there. But if you look at the map of today's run, I hit 7 dead ends and had to turn around each time.  It was one of the most obstructed runs I've done so far.  It was a bit frustrating, good thing most of my routes are not like this or I would have never gotten this far.  The map is looking pretty good, have you peeked at it lately??


Time:1:45pm
Distance: 5.02 miles
Time: 39:56 minutes
Music: Aida

Run 30 & 31

I was able to squeeze another run in with Steven before he headed back to DC.  I had to get to work and he had to catch his bus, so time was a bit limited but we ran 58th and 59th streets.  That now ends my obstacle free river to river runs.  If you look at my map, from 60th-110th street I have a this little thing in the way called Central park.  Down south I'm still dealing with street names and streets running in any direction they want, forget the east/west orientation, lol. I'm just happy that the weather has been beautiful and so far NYC winter has not stopped me from hitting the road.


Time: 1:30 pm
Distance: 4.72 miles
Time: 46:38 minutes
Music: Chatting with Steven


Today I needed to take the subway up town.  Instead of wasting being up there I decided to to an uptown run.  So far I've mainly be running the streets in order working away both directions from my house, with just a few exceptions.  I'm not married to the idea, just some sort of order seems to make sense to make sure I cover every square inch.  I was up on 96th Street and ran south, between the Hudson River and Central Park, covering 96th-91st streets.  This area was mainly residential. I struggled a bit today.  It was my third day in a row running.  I didn't have Steven to motivate me.  It was just after a holiday.  I was able to force myself to do 4 miles.  Running uptown was a little less exciting than my other recent runs.  But before I make too harsh a judgment I want to give it another try.  So for now I'll bite my tongue. :P      


Time: 1 pm
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 34:46 minutes
Music: Chess

Run 28 & 29

It's cold and dark out side and I'm very tempted to stay in bed, snuggled tightly underneath my covers.  It's hard to get motivated to bundle up and go running, but once I'm out there I'm very glad and excited.  I love the way the winter light hits NYC.  I'm seeing things in a way I haven't before.  It's motivating and makes me want to see and do even more.  Today I ran east on Houston street and then back west on Prince street. Prince Street in SoHo was downright magical.  Cobble stone streets, great independent shops, endless restaurants to try, cute apartment buildings, and such a great vibe and energy.  I'm thinking next time I need to move this my be one of the places I look for an apartment.   


Time: 1 pm
Distance: 4.23 Miles
Time: 38:06
Music: Alanis Morissette


Today was my first time with a guest runner.  My best friend Steve is visiting me from DC and he joined me running 56th and 57th streets today.  It was a very beautiful day. Having him on the run, renewed my thinking a bit.  Some times I forget to enjoy my surroundings,  To look up and see the buildings, look out and see the views.  But since I was trying to show off my city and my running experience,  it was fun to notice small old buildings, we saw a cute little old church, we run into a nice park at the end of the street over looking the east river with a great view of the Queensboro Bridge.  I love NYC! 


Here's Steven's thoughts about joining me on my run: "Running outside in NYC with my best friend, inspired me and made me look forward to the future. It reminded me of what a strong person I am and how much life has in store." 




Time: 2pm
Distance: 5.71 miles
Time: 56:04
Music: Chatting with Steven

Run 27

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, every where I go.


I was running out of time today, so I ran closer to home. I ran 52nd-55th streets. I'd been busy and out of town and it's been to long since I've run. I probably should have done a shorter run, to get me back into the swing of things, but at the same time I wanted to make up for lost time and run far. I ended up running over 8 miles. My hip socket hurt the next day. It's about a week before Thanksgiving and everywhere I looked I could see Christmas decorations being put up or already up. The store windows have Christmas displays, the trees and buildings have lights, The Rockefeller Center tree is being assembled, It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. NYC is a quite magical around Christmas. It is going to be a nice time of year. But I'm not gonna jump full into the season until after turkey day.


I found an article written last year about how St. Patrick's Cathedral prepares for Christmas:

(Click for Article) Photo: Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

Time: 2:00 pm
Distance: 8.16 miles
Time: 1:06:37
Music: Alanis Morissette

Run 26 Behind the scenes

If anyone out there is actually following this, you might have noticed that it's been over a week since my last post.  I hurt my foot so I had to take a little time off.  Not really sure how I did it, or what is wrong, but taking it easy for a few days seemed to work.  


Today I ran 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st streets.  Kind of an accomplishment since I have been counting down since I started over 2 months ago on 47th street.  Too bad it's a false sense of accomplishment, because I'm far from done.  I'm still far from the southern tip on Manhattan and then I have to work my way north.  


I've decided to add a new feature to the blog.  I would really like to cover the areas I jog twice.  Like I've mentioned before, I can't jog and take pictures at the same time.  So ideally, after my jog I'd like to go back the same route and take some shots.  In reality, I don't have time to do that.  I do want to share some of my photographs with you.  I'm going to introduce a few different albums.  When I first post them, they may only have a few photos, but as time goes by I will continue to add photos to them.  By the time the blog is over, they should be a nice little collection.  I will introduce the albums in posts, but there will also be a separate page, where you can go straight to all of them.  


There are many things NYC is know for.  I like to quote Jonathan Larson's RENT and say, "New York City, center of the universe." One thing that isn't talked about much is how all this can happen in such a small area.  How can over 1.5 million people live on 23 square miles of land on the island of Manhattan.  As I have been running I am seeing things that most people don't.  Lots of people see or go on a horse drawn carriage ride in central park, but how many people see where the horse stables are?  We expect the trash to be removed and the streets plowed after a snow storm, but where are the garbage trucks kept?  


Here is my first NYC album,  entitled, "Behind the scenes". It's images of construction sites, alleys, storage, anything that isn't "meant" to be seen.  I hope you enjoy. 

(click for full album)

Time: 10:30 am
Distance: 5.59 miles
Time: 51:33 minutes
Music: Jo Dee Messina   

Run 24 & 25

Well, it's a good thing I'm flexible.  I started a run yesterday and right after I started I got a text message that I needed to be back home asap.  So instead of continuing on my planned route I took a a b-line up 8th ave back home.  I hadn't run enough to consider it a run at the point I got the text, and I knew I could probably run home just as fast as waiting for the subway.  So I did my first jog on an avenue instead of a street.  There was more traffic, but that meant the lights were in my favor, more often.  I got home quickly and still was able to complete 4.5 miles and cover new territory.


Time: noon
Distance: 4.53 miles
Time: 39:55 minutes
Music: Sugarland


NYC is beautiful right now.  We got scared that we were going to skip fall and head straight into winter.  But days like today (and yesterday)  give me hope we still have some decent days to come.  The air is brisk but not freezing.  The leaves are changing colors and the sun is low in the sky creating harsh sunlight and long drawn out shadows.  It really is unique and different if you take the time to stop and notice.


Time 3:30pm
Distance: 6.09 miles
Time: 55:43 minutes
Music: Next to Normal

Run 23

It finally stopped raining/snowing/sleeting and my muscle soreness has weaned enough to hit the road again.  So I took off on a run today trying unsuccessfully not to get lost.  As I took my first few steps I realized I was very unprepared for this run.  First of all I forgot my knee strap.  Second, I didn't have my Nike+ running chip in my shoes, so this run will be undocumented, you will just have to take my word for it.
Running shoes are starting to become a thorn in my side.  I've now been through 2 pairs.  If I was running so much and so hard that I wore out 2 pairs in two months, that would be one thing.  BUT, instead they are just falling apart or being ruined by room mates, lol.  After returning from a crazy summer, where my old shoes became Hawaiian trail hiking shoes, I got a new pair at about the same time I started this blog.  They only lasted about a month and then a big chunk of the foam on the heel broke off.  I knew that couldn't be good for my feet or running posture, so I got a new pair.  After breaking in this new pair just in time for the race, I got them all muddy running the Urbanathlon.  I washed them after the race, and trying to be helpful my room mate threw them in the dryer.  Running shoes and dryers don't mix.  They are now melted and totally misshapen and deformed.  Hopefully the next pair last much longer.






Time: 10:30 am
Distance: 4.45 Miles
Time: 0:39:56 minutes
Music: Kelly Clarkson

Run 22 Central Park and Urbanathlon

I wanted to do a nice long, un-interrupt run to prepare for my upcoming race, so I decided to hit Central Park.  This is will probably not be my last run in Central Park.  I started off with a plan to run 10 miles.  I took off.  The first mile seemed long.  After that the next few went pretty well.  It was nice to see more runners than smokers.  There were a lot of other people out for a little exercise.  Usually I'm running alone. Not many people choice to run the crowded streets of NYC.  So running next to and with people was a bit usual for me.  It sure does feel good to pass people and it feels pretty darn crappy when some one else zooms past you.  I guess I have a bit of a competitive nature.  When I was about 5 miles into the run I heard a group of guys quickly approaching.  They were moving quickly and looked like pretty serious runners.  I wasn't very excited to have them pass me.  I decided to let them pass, but then try and keep up with them.  So after they passed I picked up the pace and stayed with them.  I was impressed with my ability to keep up, but even then some super human ran up and passed all of us.  I'm afraid there's always gonna be some one faster than me.  I followed the guys for about 3/4 of a mile and then they stopped.  I wanted them to keep pushing me.  As I continued with out them, I hit a huge wall.  I slowed down and wanted to stop, but I fought the feeling and after about a half mile I was feeling good again.  Things went smoothly until I hit 8 miles.  I started to get tired and my knee started to hurt.  It sure would have been easy to stop there, but luckily determination won and I finished the 10 miles.  

The next day I was a little sore, but felt comfortable that I would be ok running the race on Saturday! 

Central Park is such an important part of NYC.  I don't spend a lot of time in Central Park, but the time I have spent there is a valuable part of my NYC experience. Central park consists of 250 acres of lawns, 24,000 trees, 150 acres of lakes and streams and 130 acres of woodlands, 9,000 benches, 26 ballfields and 21 playgrounds, 36 bridges, 52  fountains, monuments, and sculptures.  38 million people visit the park each year.  Here's a few of my favorite pictures I've taken in Central Park. 

After my long Central Park run, I was going to take it easy before the race, do a few short jogs, but nothing hard core.  A busy week caught up to me, with work, Halloween, hosting a party, race planning, etc and I didn't squeeze in any more before it was race day! 

The alarm went off at 5:15 am.  If you know me, I'm more likely to see 5 am if I'm still up from the night before, not because I'm getting up.  I had all of my running clothes and everything I needed for the race laid out the night before.  Had a quick protein shake and cookie for breakfast.  (I'm sure any running expect would suggest eating cookies for breakfast the morning of the race.)  I headed over to Citi-field in Flushing Queens.  It was dark, cold and wet.  I got there before the sunrise and hoping it would be a nice one, since I was up to see it anyway.  Too bad the storm clouds completely blocked it.  I was nervous and excited.  But I had a dilemma.  It was sprinkling and cold, so I had no idea what to wear for the actually race.  I had a long sleeve running shirt, a thermal shirt and a water proof jacket.  I needed to figure out which combination of the three I should wear.  Right before the race, it started to rain pretty heavily, should I wear the jacket? I wasn't really planning to.  I decided to go with the shirt and thermal, ditching the jacket, which ended up being a good choice, despite the rain and freezing temp I was pretty comfortable through out the race.  

Before I knew the air gun went off and I was racing.  I started at a nice even pace, a comfortable one that I knew I could run at for a long time.  Before I got to the first obstacle course I saw some one drop out, limping and in pain.  I felt sorry for him, but maliciously thought, "looks like I'm doing better than him."  We got to the first obstacle and my first Urbanathlon instantly became my first Tough Mudder too.  The rain had the ground a muddy mess and all the people who had already climbed over obstacle one, covered everything else with mud. The obstacles proved to be much easier and shorter than I had expected, I found myself wishing they were harder.  I was booking it along, skipping hydration stations, passing a good amount of people, especially on the obstacles.  Every now and then some one would pass me and it would drive me crazy.  

When I got to the stair climb I knew I was over 2/3 done.  At that point I knew I was fine and decided to step it up.  I cruised throughout the stair climb and ran harder and faster the rest of the race.  Crossing the finish line a happy camper, proud with what I had done.  

I completed the 9.5 miles and 8 obstacle courses in 1 hour and 23 minutes.  The results were posted today and here's where I ended up. I was 274 of 1,894 runners.  I was 41/348 in my age category.  I now wish I would have started at a quicker pace.  The race was broken down into three legs.  Each leg I improved my standing.  Leg one I was in 433rd place, leg two I was in 284th place, leg three I was in 176th place.  They also had a separate ranking for the stair climb, I was 156th.   Not to shabby for a first attempt.  

Shortly after the race it started snowing.  It's been snowing/raining/sleeting for the past few days and I've been sore, which are both great excuses not to run.  Hopefully tomorrow I head out again.  I'm worried about being able to run a lot this winter.  We'll see what happens.  

(Central Park run)

Time: 6pm

Distance: 10 miles

Time: 1:23:58

Music: random

Run 21

I totally messed up my first run in those weird streets with names below the ones with numbers.  Unfamiliar  territory isn't easy.  On my jogs so far I have been running from the Hudson River straight across a street to the East River.  Every once in a while, I'd have to take a detour and go around the block, that was annoying, but nothing compare to what I face now, lol.  My run plan used to consist of two or three street numbers, like today I'm going to run 12, 13, and 14th streets.  Below 14th street, the new routes will consist of bends and turns and names and getting lost.  This is the route I had planned to run today:

   

Confusing Hudson Street and Greenwich Avenue this is what I ended up running:

I'm sure I'll figure out a better system soon, wish me luck!

Time: 1 pm

Distance: 5.4 miles

Time: 45:35 Minutes

Music: Zanna Don't, the musical

Run 20

It's getting cold. I've been excited about how much territory I'm covering.  My NYC map is starting to look very colorful. Today I was sad that soon it maybe too cold to run outside, I don't want to stop, but I don't want to freeze either.
Today I ran the east side of 8-11 streets.  I am getting very close to running out of numbers. The streets no longer run in a straight line either.  I used to just run, but now I'm going to need to plan out my path before I take off.  One week until I run the Urbanathlon!!  


Time: 1:30pm
Distance: 6.58 miles
Time: 1:00:08
Music: Chely Wright

Run 19

This isn't working.  Another run today and nothing to blog.  I was a beautiful day.  The air was clean and crisp after yesterday's rain.  Nice blue sky with quick moving white fluffy clouds.  The problem today was that the main vehicle of this blog is to run. But all of the items and ideas I had to blog about need photographs to go along with them.  I want to share what I see and many times I can't do that in words.  If I'm stopping to take photographs all over the place, then I'm no longer running.  Hmmm, now we have a dilemma.   I ran by any old broken guitar on the street. Who cares right, more trash.  But with my camera I may have been able to capture the beauty I saw, and the story it told.   After turning around I should have passed it again, but it was already gone.  Like in life and NYC some times you have a very limited amount of time to take advantage of some thing.  
So if I figure out how to keep running and take picture, I'll let you know, in the mean time I'll do my best to give you interesting posts.


Time: noon
Distance: 7.88 miles
Time: 1:11:27
Music: Passion

Run 18

Not much to say today, did a quick run, wasn't feel very good, felt like I had a cold coming on, but also got a flu shot the day before, maybe just a side effect??  No great insight or discoveries.  It's getting colder, wetter and pretty soon the streets are gonna get really unfamiliar and start having names instead of numbers.  Things could get interesting pretty quickly.  I think I'm gonna get lost! 


Time: 7pm
Distance: 5.4 miles
Time: 51:18 Minutes
Music: I forget again...

Run 17

I started to run out of time day, my to-do list was sitting there, not getting done and I didn't have much time before I had to head to work.  So I headed out quickly to do a run.  I ran 50th and 51st streets.  So far I have not been able to cross FRD Drive to actually get to the edge of the east river.  Well, that ended to today, at the end of 51st street there was a really cute, park and bridge that crossed over FDR Dr.

Towards the end of the run the wind was really starting to pick up.  Trying to be as observant as possible I noticed a little something blowing towards me.  I looked down and it was a small, red foam clown nose.  All I could think about was I hope the rest of the clown was ok and in one piece and hopefully he has a spare nose!  

Time: 1:30 pm

Distance: 5.01 Miles

Time: 47:28 Minutes

Music: Adele

Run 16 Parking

Today I took off with the intention run 6 miles, but with my new found distance ability I didn't stop there, I ended up running over 8 miles.  I ran 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st streets.  As I run around NYC, I some times think about what it's like to live here.  How are daily lives are different from other people in other cities.  How my life has changed in the different locations.  Here's one example.  I grew up in Arizona, where there was plenty of space.   Plenty of space means plenty of parking.  Paying for parking was not something I was used to.  As the years and locations went by, I have gotten use to the idea.   But I still cringe when I see what people pay for parking in NYC.  We are talking and arm and leg here!! 


There's one place near Time Square that charges $11.83 per HALF hour (yes, 30 minutes)  and then there is a 18.375% sales tax on top of that.  If you were to go to a 2 hour movie, that would be about $56.  Not to mention the valet is gonna expect a tip on top of that.  Now you understand why I buy a $104/month subway card and travel that way.  


Trying to park on the street is just as big as a catastrophe.  Finding a spot, parallel parking, the meters cost 50 cents per 10 minutes and the biggest headache of all is trying to decipher all of the signs, to see if you can legal park there.   While researching this post I found a pretty neat web site, called Primo Spot
(http://www.primospot.com/) From the website or your mobile device you can log into your location and find available street parking, garages, pricing, and the funnest feature (in my opinion) a view of all the parking signs that apply to that area.  Check it out.  


For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I've been talking some pictures of parking signs and lots to share with you.  I Hope you enjoy. 

Time: 2 pm
Distance: 1:20:32
Time: 8.57 miles
Music: Miranda Lambert

Run 15

So a few days ago I decided to push myself on the pace, today I decided to try and do a long run and push myself on distance.  I usually run about 4 to 4.5 miles.  I had plenty of time and it was another really nice day, so why not run as far as I can. There's always little experiences that happen only in New York.  My run today started with one of those, shortly after I started I could hear an accordion playing.  I looked around to try and figure out where it was coming from.  I spotted a guy sitting 3 or 4 stories up, on his fire escape practicing away.  It was one of those scenes that could be the opening scene to a movie or novel,  
"With the unseasonably warm autumn sun blazing high above Pavel sits on his 3rd story NYC fire escape practicing his accordion.  We pan out to the bustling street below, where...."  These little experiences are the ones that make you take a step back and say, "I live in New York City".  With everyday life quickly passing by some times we forget that.  


I also noticed all the sudden that everyone around me was looking up into the sky.  So I peeked to see what the attraction was and a sky-writer was writing a message in the sky.  I didn't hang around to see what it said, but it was fun anyway.

So I ran down 25th and 24th streets, after that I wanted to stop, because that is as far as I normally run, but like I said I wanted to try and push my distance today, so I was gonna try and do one more street or even 2 if I could make it.  So 23rd street was completed and I put my mind to it and decided I wasn't gonna stop until after 22nd street was checked off the list too.  As the run went along, I'll have to admit it was harder to pay attention to my surroundings.  I was just determined to run.  At the end of the day I ran 8.41 miles. Pretty much twice as far as I usually run.  You may be wondering how much slower my average pace was.  To my surprise it was 9:04/mile, which is right in the same ball park I've been running.  Not to shabby I'd have to admit.  


So now I guess I need to start running three streets per run instead of two.  Time permitting, that is my new goal.  


Time: 4pm
Distance: 8.41 miles
Time: 1:16:17
Music: Spring Awakening

Run 14 Beautiful day!

I have no big epiphany again today, but what I can tell you is that it was a beautiful day.  The weather was perfect, the sun was shining, the temperature was ideal, and I had good luck with traffic lights.  It was my first run with my new running shoes.  The night before I had cleaned and organized, so I was ready to conquer the world.  During my run I couldn't help but be up beat.  I had a good out look.  I was feeling healthy and strong.  The creative juices were flowing.  I was coming up with ideas left and right.  Everything thing just seemed to be falling into place, all the elements were in line and I think it was one of my favorite/best runs so far.  To top it all off, at the end my numbers were great too.  It was my fastest pace yet (8:40/mile) and one of my longest runs.  Like I said, Today is a beautiful day!  


Get out there and exercise, do what ever you enjoy, just do something.  


Time: 2pm
Distance: 4.6 miles
Time: 39:56
Music: Lady Antebellum, new album, Own the night 

Run 13

It looks like all of my good traffic light karma was used up yesterday, because today I was stopped at just about every light.  Today I ran 28th and 29th streets.  It was a good run.  I didn't have too many thoughts, other than being excited for registering for my first race.  I will be running Men's Health Urbanathlon on Oct 29.   It is a 9 mile race with 7 different obstacle courses through out the race, including barricades, tire field, cargo nets, marine hurdles, stair climb, parallel bars, monkey bars, NYC taxi and buses to climb over and jeeps to climb through.  I saw it advertised a while ago and have been thinking of doing it, but thought it might be too long and hard.  I guess it gives me added motivation to run more during October, other than the last of the good weather.   It just seemed to make sense.  Wish me luck!! 


Time: 9pm
Distance: 4.51 miles
Time: 41:35
Music: I forgot, lol

Run 12

Time is always an issue.  Where does it go? How do we get more of it?  How can we use it wisely?  Even though I am enjoying running and enjoying this blog, I have to be careful not to let it take up too much time.  I have so many things I want and need to do, the list is endless.  As my running locations get further away from my house, it takes even more time to do a run.  It takes about 20 minutes to get to and from my starting/ending point, possibly longer as I get further away.  It then takes me about 45 minutes to run.  Then it takes another 30-60 minutes to blog depending on the complexity of the post.  That starts to add up to a lot of time.  So my goal today was to run faster.  First of all, I didn't have very much time to go running and secondly I want to push myself.  Most of my jogs have been about 45 minutes long at a pace of 9:30/mile.  I've been on enough runs to try and improve those numbers, so my goal tonight was to have a pace under 9 min/mile, which means my run should be less time.  

Since I was short on time, I started running the opposite direction, since it was closer to my house.  I ran 48th and 49th streets.  Earlier in the day I had went shopping for new fall weather work out clothes.  I also bought an ionic knee strap.  After I run about 3 miles my knees start to get sore, nothing major, I'm just not as young as I used to be.  So with my new clothes, knee strap and time goal I took off.  Luckily I had very few obstacles.  Both streets pretty much went straight through and I had good luck at the traffic lights.  Some times our minds are tricked.  My knee didn't bother me at all.  Whether the strap actually worked, or it was just a mental thing, who knows, but I can run faster and farther with it on.  

So as I completed the run I was pretty pleased with the results.  I ended up running 4.16 miles in 37:31 minutes, which is a pace of exactly 9 minutes/mile.  I wanted to be under 9, but I can't complain about 9.  :)

Time: 9:30 PM

Distance: 4.16 miles

Time: 37:31 Minutes

Music: Jewel (yes, this will be a reoccurring theme)