Ahhhhh! Today's run was frustrating and annoying. First of all, like I've mentioned before that getting to the upper east side is not the easiest task. I had some extra time tonight, so I decided to do a long run and finally finish the east side of the park, making life much easier. Maybe my bad attitude caused this to be a difficult run. It ended up being full of dead ends, backtracking and obstacles. Deciding on a path was not easy, I had to watch my phone and map the whole time so I didn't miss anything. I was running at night so I wore my blinking light on my arm so I won't get hit by a car, but instead I had not one but two different dogs leap at me, luckily I was just out of reach.
On a positive note, I had a friend mention an area of NYC that he had never been in. Thanks to this little adventure, I was able to say I had been there. Also I ran over 10 miles, marathon here I come....
Time: 7pm Distance: 10.5 miles Time: 1:28:47 Music: Dia Frampton (Red) Madonna (MDNA)
Today's run was filled with mixed emotions. It started off because I was supposed to be at work. I got a call from my job, telling me that I wasn't needed that night and I could take the day off. Glad to have the night off and worried about making enough money started the emotional mood swings. So having an unexpected night off I decide I need to take advantage of it, to seize the day, be productive, conquer the world. So I set off to go running. I round the corner of 105th street along side Riverside park. It's 15 minutes or so before sunset (again my favorite time of day). The light is making the buildings glow and spring is decorating the city and park with blossoms. The daffodils and tulips remind me of my mom. I'm excited to see the beautiful scene, but it makes me annoyed with myself that I don't get out and see and do more things. I continue running, I'm listening to Christina Perri's Album. I'm literally counting the miles that I run and a song comes on called "Miles" and it's main message is, "Don't count the miles, count the I love you's". I wonder if I'm on the right path, literally and figuratively. Now that I think about it, maybe this album had quite a bit to do with the emotional roller coaster I was on durning the run, with songs like Sad song, jar of hearts, and distance. Towards the end of the run, I turn the corner of 111th street, I'm slapped in the face with a beautiful view of the Cathedral of St John the Devine. This is why I'm doing this.
NYC, the city the never sleeps. In some cases this is an accurate statement, other times it is not. Tonight I did a night run. It's been a while (too cold) since I've been out at night. The streets are so much less crowed at night. It was nice to have a less interrupted run. I was able to pick up the pace a bit, without as many stops. Even at midnight the amount of people that were out and about would surprise a lot of you. At the same time, it's also surprising how quiet NYC can be. 1.6 million people live in Manhattan. With numbers like that, you would think you could never be alone. The grocery store closes to Times Square (and my house) closes at midnight. What happened to never sleeping?
Time: 11pm Distance: 4.1 miles Time: 32:40 minutes Music: Passion
As you can tell, I'm back in NYC, the weather is amazing, the cold is gone and I'm running like a mad man. The main thing I noticed on my run today was that the light has changed. It is no longer the low angled winter light. The sun is higher in the sky. The tulips and daffodils are blooming. The trees are beginning to bloom and getting a new coat of leaves. I'm looking forward to covering a lot of ground in the next couple of months (before it gets too hot, lol).
Time: 6pm Distance: 5.55 miles Time: 46:08 minutes Music: Kelly Clarkson
I didn't have much time before work, so I ran up 8th ave along the edge of central park and then back down 9th ave. It was St Patrick's Day and NYC was a sea of green. It was entertaining running through a magical land of leprechauns.
Time: 1:30 pm Distance 6.23 miles Time: 48:40 Music: Assassins
Living (and running) in NYC you see some pretty unusual things. Today's sighting topped the list for me. As I rounded the corner of 86th Street the street was blocked off to traffic. As I got further down the block I came across hundreds of elementary students playing in the street. The school closes off the street during recess and lets the kids play in the street. Is this not crazy! There's no playground equipment no sports field, just cement. The kids were running around chasing each other, screaming, playing, having a grand old time, but I just can't imaging having recess with out a slide, monkey bars or a swing. Also, isn't teaching the kids to playing in the street a bad idea??
Time: noon Distance: 6.44 miles Time: 59:39 Music: i forget
