New York

Last night I had a really good run. Still so hot, in the 90s, but the humidity was down yesterday. Left for a run a little after 7 PM with new tunes on my MP3. When I' m feeling lazy, it's very tempting to go run circle around the little park which is only 3 blocks away. But I tend to go home more quickly because (a) I am close to home, and (b) running circles around the park (4x=1 mile) gets pretty boring. So, I headed for the river.

It is about a mile through a slightly shady neighborhood to get to the track I like. Drank so water a a trick fountain which spurts in my face, and did laps around the track. The track is around a soccer field and there were lots of people running and walking, in addition to the players and a few people in the bleachers. I have no idea how big the track is, which is pretty lame. The NYC Parks website says it is "0.25", does that mean it is a 1/4 mile? I read somewhere else that it is a 1/4 around Washington Square Park, but it seems a lot further around the park than around this track. Maybe I should get one of those GPS pedometers. Maybe I'll just ask someone at the track next time I go. This is pretty basic running knowledge that I should have by now.

Anyway, I ran 4 loops around the track, with some faster intervals, depending on my music. In my own little world, I did stretches & crunches on the astroturf, with the sunset in front of me, the river behind me, and two soccer games going on right next to me. On the way back, I actually ran through an open fire hydrant "sprinkler". Very NYC. Then around the park for good measure and home. I think it was ~3.5m over all. Since I have managed to almost completely avoid running in the heat in the midst of summer, that is pretty good for me.

All the goings on in London are bringing back memories of 9/11 and making me nostalgic about my city. They started doing some random checks of backpacks and packages on the subway today. I heard that someone suggested a total ban on backpacks in the NYC subway. Obviously that person does not live ini New York. I really don't see many options for making the transit systems safer. I go through Grand Central a lot, and there are still National Guard types with dogs (bomb-sniffing?) hanging around. We need to get some more of the dogs.

I missed my workout Tuesday, so although today was supposed to be a rest day, I was going to run 4. Didn't happen. Set the alarm for 6 and went back to sleep for two hours. Good thing I am working from home today. Have I mentioned that it is hot?