Top 10, Three Times Over!

My new favorite long-run route. Plus, not one but TWO Ivy League-ers. Wow. I was just happy to be there.

"Running Routes for the Urban-Curious". Ivy League's new business tag line. Seriously. I go on the best runs with him. This run even beat my Promenade to Ocean Parkway run, which I thought was a pretty fantastic route. Surreality is key.

NY to most people: Times Square. Crowded streets. That burning metal smell of the pretzel carts. Cars, lights, cars, lights, park. Ah. At least we're in the park. More people. Bikes. EEK - got sideswiped by one! More people.

Surreal NY: Seagulls and an empty beachfront. Sand in your running shoes. "Keep NYC clean" trash cans being whipped by the salt-tinged breeze off the ocean. Interspersed by "Beware of Dog" signs and lots of young men who don't seem to keep regular business hours. tore

Ivy League and LSE met up with me at 9:00am at GAP. The day before, with the Vivacious Redhead, I had experienced some asthma problems, even after taking my inhaler twice. The butterflies in my stomach tore each others' wings off in their schitzophrenic cartwheels. I brought my IPod just in case. "Running with the Devil" could always be my companion, if they majorly outclassed me. "I've already had a fantastically productive morning", I rationalized. "Curtains washed. House cleaned. Work started. And around-the-house dance party, of course." So, really, how was I ever expected to keep up?

Last long run before the NYC marathon. And I'm not particularly prepared.

From GAP, we ran down Prospect Park West and Prospect Park Southwest. I had explained to LSE the basic idea behind the runs Ivy League and I do together. That's the loop-around. You go at your own pace and loop back around every so often if you are ahead. Everyone can go at his/her own pace. Perfect for me for this run, as I had been worried that I should do a solo long run, to get the psychic power from doing so. This way, I could run by myself for a lot of it, while knowing that people are around me, pushing me a bit. No one likes to seem like a complete slacker!

LSE insisted on etiquette, at first, making sure to slow down to run with me or Ivy League. After a while, though, he realized we were serious about the loop-around and became more casual, running off for several miles and coming back to check in. He still must have been holding back a bit, as we could always see him up ahead. But once he started doing that, the run got back into a good, familiar rhythme: this is what Ivy League and I do on all of these shared long runs.

Once we hit the circle, it was off to Ocean Parkway. I had worn the Girdle (aka compression shorts) and my long-sleeved Boston shirt, afraid of the wind and the possible rain, while trying not to overdress for this borderline weather. On Ocean, I found myself staring off into the pink clouds poking out of the bright blue sky, smiling ridiculously because of the colors and the sun, and thinking that I should have worn a tank top or at least short sleeves. Without the wind, it was pretty warm.

We saw three other joggers on Ocean Parkway: a record, even for a weekend morning, which it was not, and for a more normal time of day. More and more surreality. Warm, sunny, joggers, McMansions. I could have been in Alabama! Except for the whole joggers part.

Didn't have to stop much on Ocean, so kept up a good but comfortable pace. I was coughing and was really phlegm-y (ugh) but my lungs were behaving themselves. Ivy League had the coughs, too, so I didn't feel as self-concious as I sometimes do about my semi-regular coughing. "It must be so annoying to run by me in races", I remarked to myself for the 100th time.

Down Avenue T to Marine Park. Surreal in that a) its a huge suburban-type park in the middle of the largest borough of NYC and b) I had just been there the day before, with the Vivacious Redhead. Stopped for the first water and gu and then headed off. I had, as usual, brought both water bottles. Everyone appreciated this by the end of the run. Surrounded by water for much of the run but no potable water until the Rockaway boardwalk.

A quick jag over to Avenue U (V?) and then down over to Flatbush. Ran a ways on Flatbush. Very urban. Different urban than East New York: more like an urban shell? Lots of empty sidewalks, fast cars and boat docks. We went down this for a while.

Then the bridge. "You are the awesomest route planner ever!" I screamed at Ivy League after finishing the bridge, once I got my breath back from the biting wind that tore it out of me. Marine Bridge is, hands-down, the bridge with the best view in all of NY that you can run over on a regular basis. Plus, the seagulls. And the cross-wind. First pushing you across, next toying with throwing you over into traffic. Quixotic and refreshing. I was smiling like Ed Macmahon had just rung my doorbell. And I was really glad that I hadn't taken off my shirt like I had wanted to when running along the sunny and less-windy Flatbush. It was cold!

Totally uncharted territory. We were over in Riis Beach now. Just off the bridge, we ran into some sort of recreation area, with a ginormous parking lot, lots of rusting grills, and nothing else except seagulls and two cars. We were running down a six-lane road in NYC. In the middle of the road. Eery in its blustery stillness. Stopped for more gu and water: Ivy League's bottle was almost empty and mine didn't have too much left. "Gotta look for water."

LSE again off in the lead, we ran into more suburban wonderland. Waving to the landscapers and lawn-mowers outside of looming houses they likely did not own. Sunlight through the trees. For a nosy person like me, this was pretty awesome. I could imagine how others lived. "I'll bet at least some commute to Manhattan. Or maybe just to Brooklyn. How many cars would the whole family have to have? How long does it take to clean that place?"

Then, we cut over to the beach. We were running on the boardwalk. In October. In Rockaway. Seagulls, sand, sunshine and surreal. I kept seeing those NYC trashcans.

We were on and off the boardwalk for a while. LSE ran on the beach with the seagulls while Ivy League and I stuck to the springy boardwalk. Somewhere during this part of the run, I began to think, "Did I slow down a lot? Am I really really tired? Or are they picking it up?"

Of course. It being the last 5 miles, Ivy League picked it up. Without warning. Knowing that I would try to keep up if I could. Sometimes I think he's a pretty effective coach that way. Other times, I curse silently inside my head and watch him disappear into the distance. Today, I hung on just a touch behind him. Counting down the beach streets now: 125, 124, 99....... The boardwalk was being repaired, so a quick sad run down a busy side road littered with half-rotted animal carcasses and then back onto the beach. Down to 27. And I wasn't too far behind them! How did this happen? Maybe it was the fear of being lost and alone in the middle of Rockaway.

"Aah. Now we just have to get to the subway." Except, why did we pass the subway? Where are we? And why are they running so fast? My weak quad started to pull a bit. I resolved to use this as an excuse not to tear off like a crazy person and to just make sure that LSE and Ivy League were enough within my fuzzy eyesight that I could see when they made a turn. "Oh, I was just tacking on to make sure we had done 20" Ivy League explained after they abruptly turned around in front of me. Hmmmph. I had already done 1 1/2 before meeting them. I was a bit pouty by this point but brightened at the thought of the subway.

Got them to stop before getting on the subway so that we could get some snacks and walk around a bit to cool down. The muscles, not us. By this time, the temperature had dropped significantly and the wind had picked up even more, which was quite a feat. LSE tried to buy a sweatshirt to prevent hypothermia but could only find an aqua t-shirt with a screen-printed "I :heart: Rockaway." Tried not to laugh but didn't succeed. Though I kind of wished I had the shirt after sitting on the subway, waiting for it to go somewhere!

Long subway ride home. Mott Avenue stop on the A is a long ways away from Hoyt, which is where we had to transfer to get back to the 2/3. Could have walked from Nostrand but I was shivering so much by this point that I didn't think I'd be able to make it unless I ran. Which wasn't going to happen. Decided that was my ice bath.

About 22 miles in 2:47 or 2:48, assuming I stopped and started the watch accurately. I likely didn't, as I don't think I was going that fast during the run. Still, we must have averaged under 8/mile, which is good enough for me right now. Tired enough that I couldn't finish Friday's crossword. Must try again today, when the brain has started functioning again.