That's going to be the new title of my blog, 'cuz that's about all I seem to do lately. It sure describes yesterday's long run to a t. Oh, sorry, that should be say it describes yesterday's "long" "run" to a t. Didja see the finger quotes I did there?
If you think I'm sounding a bit off my feed, then two points to you for perception. I am a bit disgruntled, as running goes. I spent four of five miles yesterday coughing my head off, bringing up all kinds of junk, some of it green, some green with red spots, and some of it brown. Worse, the legs just would not cooperate. I ended up walking half the distance, roughly, due to shin splints, not lungs! Yeah, shin splints are back. Guess I need to get the calf stretcher thingie out again and nip this in the bud.
Yesterday wasn't all bad. I did a straight-out route to the Verazanno and up to the 95th street R station; a route that took me along a couple miles of the Belt parkway, which was shut down (eastbound) for the 5 borough bike tour. Thousands of bikes went by as I jogged/walked toward the bridge and it was really great to see so many people out enjoying the damn-near-perfect weather. (Being solar-powered didn't seem to help me any yesterday, though.)
Though the bike tour ends in Staten Island, the Verazanno Bridge can be a formidible obstacle to finishing the ride comfortably. Why they would put the single highest, steepest, and longest hill of the route at the end is beyond me, but there it is. "There it is" being the operable phrase for a number of cyclists who decided to join me at the 95th street station rather than go all the way to Staten Island. The conversation were varied, and the reasons for stopping in Brooklyn even more, but all were variations on the same theme: "So I'm lookin' at that beautiful bitch of a bridge and I'm thinkin': no fuckin' way." One of the guys I chatted with on the train had tackled the ride with zero training. I mean he hadn't even been on a bike in over a year. "I got off the couch and onto the bike. My quads are killing me."
Still, it's a 42 mile ride and I think with a smidgen of training, that would be a good cross-training workout. I plan to do it next year. First things first, though: time to start my own cycling to work thing again. I am planning to start on Wednesday.
As for my pitiful running scene, I'm bummed, but I can't stay bummed. I got two good ego strokes today, one for design, one for teaching, and I guess two out of three ain't bad.
P.S. A HUGE, HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS TO LIA OF RUNLIARUN, WHO JUST FINISHED HER FIRST MARATHON IN A SCANT 4 HOURS AND 34 MINUTES!!
2 comments:
No pity parties allowed for more than 5 minutes!!
Enjoy the biking--and just keep walking....we'll walk the lakefront next time you're in town ....and I have a copy of my car keys now ;)
Sorry for the state of the running scene, but it's gonna turn around. Everything is cyclical, after all. And you are right, at least other things work out. And thank you, thank you for mentioning me.
Post a Comment