Whew!

I had been nervous about this run for the past week. Don't know why: it's just a practice run.

But I had been. To the point where, Friday morning, as I was working on my lesson plans, I caught myself wondering why I didn't just go early, to stop the nervous anticipation.

Starting at 9:00 am is great for several reasons. The sun is out, I can eat more for breakfast, and Ivy League will grace me with his presence. However, it also gives me lists of time to think about how painful and long my run might be.

There is a bonus to being half-asleep for most of your run. Not Friday, though.

My goal was to run at least 21, if not 22. Met up with Ivy League with 1 1/2 under my belt and started down Prospect Park West with him. Besides the fact that I hate running loops in Prospect Park, I was glad we weren't trying to run in the park for another reason. The tornado had devastated portions of the park. So sad, seeing the carcasses of formerly majestic trees. I wanted to turn away, as there was something unsettlingly voyeuristic in staring - like seeing a former beauty in a bad strip club somewhere. But I looked anyway.

This year in general has been rough on the park. Winds, snows, and torrential rains.

So Ivy League and I run down to the cemetery. We had to go a bit slowly at first because of digestion issues. I couldn't keep on pace and kept surging ahead and chattering loudly about kids these days and their inability to disambiguate the logical implications of an 'if...then' statement and it's truth value.

If Ivy League hadn't been in a bad mood before.......I think, had I been listening to myself, I would have punched me. Luckily, even I don't listen to myself!

We started picking it up past the start of the cemetery. Especially because it smelled awful! Ivy League said later he didn't smell it but I don't see how. Fifth avenue side of the cemetery is annoying at the best of times. The combination of irresponsible pet owners, the drenching rain the night before, and the humidity created a miasma of horridness. I almost threw up. The smell lasted the entire length of the cemetery. But, finishing the cemetery meant that part four of the run was done.

Only twenty more to go!

We had amazing luck with the lights on Fifth, especially since we were running at the tail end of rush hour. Got to the park turnoff and over to Owls Head without having to stop. My water bottles were already feeling a bit heavy but the rest of me felt good. My knee had given me a scare under the overpass but had reduced it's screaming to a muted moan.

I tried to stick to one pace. I could tell I had been annoying Ivy League with my surging and falling back. "remember: he'll actually run with you during the week. Don't annoy him too much!"

Onto the Shore Promenade. I was excited about this part. I had never been to the end before. Plus, running on the Promenade, I feel like I'm in Vancouver, not in the middle of the city right next to Belk Parkway. I decided that the promenade was my next segment.

Ivy League splits the run up differently. He tends to pick landmarks and estimate how long it will take to get there. I never like to be reminded how little time we've been running, or how little time it actually takes to get to seemingly far-away spots, as it reminds me how much further I have left. though he is scarily accurate about the times needed.

We picked up the pace more on the Promenade. It was sunny and beautiful but with no water. Ivy League had been better about drinking from his water bottle than I had with mine and he had almost finished his already. We finally found a fountain near the Toys 'R' Us near the connector path.

My legs were feeling quite tired by this point but the excitement of running someplace new mitigated it. We were in the backwaters of Coney Island, as far as I could tell. One of those interesting places in Brooklyn that seems as far from truly urban life as you can get and still be in the city. Some sort of strange suburb. We managed to navigate this part pretty well, however, and found ourselves right near the boardwalk.

Seeing the beach, I wanted to stay here all day. But I used my willpower to keep moving. Part 13 of the run done. Now for running up Ocean Parkway.

By this time, I was really tired. The humidity, while not quite as bad as my last long run, was still enough that my eyes had been burning from sweat since the Promenade. My sweat band was so soaked it was useless. I started counting down the lettered avenues. The song in my head had switched to my 'i'm really tired and need extra motivation' song a long time prior.

Then we hit the lights. That was probably the hardest part of the run: hitting so many light in the middle of the alphabet. My legs didn't want to stop. When they finally did, they didn't want to start moving again. I despaired of finishing. We weren't talking to each other at this point. Too ready to be done.

Ivy League did an amazing pick-up around the park. By the time I got up to Washington and Eastern Parkway, he was a full block ahead - likely two. Knowing I hadn't really slowed down, this was impressive. I ran down to Rogers and back up a block, just to try to finish up the 22. Hope I made it but declared it good enough.

2;57:30 something. Not great but, at this point, I'm just happy I finished.

Introduced Ivy League to the pleasures of ice baths, too. I think everyone in the world is better at taking ice baths than me. Small children would be. Grannies. But I did it because I promised the Vivacious Redhead that I'd ice. Brrrrrrrrr.