Cowboy Hazel

I had my faith in the city restored today. After such a beautiful twelve mile run in the rain, over the bridges and through the different boroughs, it would be impossible not to love this place.

For the first time in I don't even know how long, I slept in until after noon today. It was almost 3:00 by the time I finally got out the door for my run. It was just drizzling then and I felt comfortable in my shorts and t-shirt.

I headed north up Pleasant Ave, then meandered over through Harlem up to the Madison Avenue Bridge. I crossed into the Bronx just as the sky really opened up. Huge raindrops were everywhere and the roars of the cars going through puddles was overwhelming. There was so much energy, so much noise, it was impossible not to internalize it. I headed down deserted streets next to junkyards and abandoned buildings, spools of barbed wire overhead. In some strange way, it was indescribably scenic.

I ran up the winding ramp to the Triboro and began heading south. Then down onto Randall's Island and under the bridge. It was dark and echoey and the huge pillars gave the impression of a cathedral. After a mile or so, I had to leave the comfortable darkness and re-emerge to climb up onto the surface of the bridge once again. Up there, everything was grey and cool. Looking back over my shoulder, I couldn't even see the city.

After arriving in Queens, I took an uneventful jaunt across suburban Crescent Street towards the Queensboro. And the long steady climb up over Roosevelt Island, next to trams and subways, suddenly thrust back into the populated world of bicyclists and other runners.

Down the other side, back in Manhattan, loop back towards the river. Do a quick mental check of how everything is feeling. Other than being really hungry, I was feeling great. Relaxed even more the last three miles up the East River and rolled back to the corner of 116th & Pleasant feeling like I'd hardly even exerted myself.

8 more days.