Bringing Slickers Back

I have to agree with an op/ed article in the NYT fairly recently. Golf umbrellas?! In NYC?! Especially Manhattan? Come on. That's just beyond the pale.

I had a lot of time to think about this today, as Gorgeous and I encountered a lot of umbrellas on our run. I could rant about umbrellas for a long time.

I noticed that everybody who we passed had wet legs. I'll bet that, if they had worn a rain slicker, their legs would have been less wet. And they would have had better visibility. And they wouldn't have been swinging their stupid umbrellas around in the wind and rain, forcing me to fend off multiple sticks to the eye. Hmmmph.

Besides the umbrellas, however, the run wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. That was, in large part, because of the company.

In fact, the two worst parts of the run were waiting for Gorgeous on Smith and Union and walking to the subway at the end. Brrrrrr.

I, of course, was paranoid I was going to be late to meet her. So I hoofed it up to Smith and Union, to get there about 10 minutes early. Did I mention the rain? And the wind? And the fact I was wearing a tank top? Yeah.

I got there early enough, in fact, to realize that, in my usual space cadet manner, I had crosswired Smith with Carroll and had told her to meet me on the corner of Carroll and Union. Which don't cross each other. Brilliant. Visions of waiting for hours flitted through my head as I alternated between poking my head out into the street and huddling next to the closed grocery to keep out of the wind.

Luckily, Gorgeous is much more level-headed than me and, so, she was able to find me despite my gaff. Off we went.

I had run down Eastern past Grand Army and down Union to meet her. We then ran up to Court, dodging the puddles and umbrellas as best we could, and headed up over the Brooklyn Bridge.

"Wow. I've never seen it so deserted!" exclaimed Gorgeous. In fact, the only times I had seen it so barren of tourists were other crazy times to run, like in snowstorms and in torrential rain. We didn't have truly torrential rain just then but, I can assure you, there is a brisk wind over that bridge!

Off to find the East Side Greenway. Neither of us could remember quite how to get on but, after a few stops to scratch our heads, we stumbled upon it - not too far from its terminus by the bridge. Good. Smooth sailing now.

Except for the huge puddles! Much of the path was flooded. We got creative, making paths and loops that were never intended to be a part of the running path. Oh, and the rain. During this part of the run - when we were right by the water with the wind - something broke up above. And dumped water all over. Almost in sheets. Gorgeous was wringing out her shirt and the water was streaming out of it. My skirt was so soaked it was sticking to the front of my legs. I took advantage of the scarcity of people to pull up the skirt part so that I was basically running in Spankies. Drastic times and all.

Gorgeous was smart in telling me to wear a light shirt, though, because, as soon as the rain would lighten, my shirt would start to dry out. And by 'dry out', I mean it would stop sticking to me.

Due to the flooding, we decided to cross at 23rd over to 1st Avenue. Dodging people up the hill was fun and took our minds off of the weather. "What, we're here? Already? That's a good sign!"

I had a slightly different opinion. I still felt great but my quad was a bit tired and I had definitely been on the lookout for the 58th Street turn off. That involved a lot of squinting.

Here's where it got a bit annoying. Rush hour and crossing Midtown are not two things that mix well. We stopped a lot. So we took advantage by having some more water and Gu. Thankfully, I had brought the trusty water bottles.

"I should really carry one!" "No. I need to make sure that I keep these huge biceps even. Wouldn't want one arm to get even more ripped than the other." "Oh." Awkward silence.

Wended through to 7th and then moved over to 57th. Then down 10th to 55th and over to 11th and 54th. Last time we'd need to stop for a light for a while. My legs were starting to be at the point where no stopping is better, so I was happy.

West Side path. Deserted. We were queens for the morning. The sort that you might see at 7:00am in Chinatown, with last night's dress drooping around them, trudging for the subway and for forgetfulness. I started singing to myself in my head and counting down the streets.

Right near our turn-off, we stopped for some more water - almost none of the fountains work now, so we were glad for the water bottles - and gu/shot blocks. I took my inhaler: stupid excess humidity and cold!

Over to Houston. We were really excited now: we just had to get to the bridge.

The bridge that had been looming on the landscape and in our minds for most of the run.

The Williamsburg. Going from Manhattan to Brooklyn. The worst direction.

Dodging people and golf umbrellas (grr!), we got to Bowery. "This is one of my favorite parts of Manhattan! I love looking at all the commercial kitchen equipment!" This was a pleasant surprise. It's one of my favorite parts of Manhattan, too, but I don't get much corroboration on that. Most people can't see past the industrialness of this area.

Over to Kenmare/Delancey. Managed to stay on the better side (the left) for bridge access. Then. Gulp. Up the bridge.

They've resurfaced recently. The first thing both of us noticed was the squeaking. In the rain, we sounded like a bad dj, going off on the record scratching. First part of the bridge down. Second thing we noticed. There's a lot of graffitti, considering it just got resurfaced. "Maybe it's the whole new thing." Hmmmmmm.

Carefully, carefully down the tricky descent to Bedford. Now I was really excited. I felt pretty good and....We....Were....Almost....Done!

Relatively speaking, of course.

Next part eerily quite as we ran down the bike lane. A nice downhill until we crossed Flatbush. About two lights after, we had to stop. I realized that we hadn't had to stop for a light since turning onto Delancy. Wow. Gorgeous was stretching her hamstring out now whenever we had to stop. Every time I had to start up again, the left side of my back gave a sharp warning pain.

But otherwise, Cake and Ice Cream!

Got some love at the gas station we stopped at for some PowerAde. Kept running up the hill. And up the hill. Crossed Myrtle. A bit of a breather there: the hill flattens out. Then back to climbing until Fulton. Got some more love.

"Mm. Mm. You sure are sexy." Gorgeous and I looked at each other and started cracking up. We had been in the wind and rain for who knows how long. An eye check for the gentleman would be in order.

Got stopped by the light on Atlantic. A bummer, given stopping wasn't as awesome as it could have been at that point in time. Then, the final climb up to Eastern Parkway. We managed to avoid the swimming hole on Franklin and got ourselves to Grand Army. I decided to run to the Tea Lounge for some hot coffee and Gorgeous decided to run home, to make sure she hit 22. Plus, walking wasn't a really pleasant idea in this weather.

Despite it being Tea Lounge coffee, it tasted great. Plus the bar of goodness that I likely ought not have eaten. Then the walk to the subway.

In the rain. In soaked sneakers, socks, tank top and skirt. It wasn't pretty. But I got home!

No ice bath for me. Gorgeous managed one but I'm too much of a wimp. Maybe when it's not raining.......

23. Not bad! The pace felt slow but at least I got out today. And we already know I'm not going to tear up this next marathon.....Maybe the next one.