Cowboy Hazel

Ever since I started running here in New York, I have always thought it would be cool to do a run around the entire island of Manhattan. Yesterday, I finally made it happen. Our route took just over 33 miles, but we could have made it in under 32 if it weren't for a couple detours. A month or two ago, I mentioned my plan to run around the island to Antonio and asked if he wanted to join me. "Sure." We both thought it would be a good idea to get it in before our spring marathons, but didn't want to do it before the NYC Half, so this weekend was settled on as the perfect time for it. By a lucky coincidence, my old running partner Sarah was in town for the week and was able to join us for the first half. And finally, I convinced Helen that she should come out and run with us too, so I ended up having all three of them out there to start the journey with.

We met up at 120th & 1st and started running uptown. I had spent a considerable amount of time on Google Earth trying to figure out how to stay as close to the water as possible on this stretch, but there was construction I didn't know about and we ended up getting detoured onto the Willis Avenue bridge less than a mile into the run. Rather than turning around immediately, we decided to just cut across the Bronx and then come back over the next bridge. This was actually a little longer than the originally planned route, so it didn't feel like cheating. As any of you who have run through the Bronx know, though, it was far from scenic, and we were glad to get back into Manhattan.

We ran part of the Macombs Dam Bridge and then hung a right to run down the Wednesday Hill that Antonio and I used to always run. The path on the other side of that is one of my favorite spots in the city to run and yesterday was no exception. It was nice, sunny, and quiet. We chatted a bunch, took a lot of photos and kept the mood very light, trying not to think too much about the fact that we'd be running for the next four hours.



We had to go through a stretch of urban streets under a raised subway before getting up to the northern tip of Manhattan. It was almost a shock to the senses how quickly the peaceful path turned into noisy city and then back to peaceful path again.

Coming down the Hudson, we all settled into a bit of a groove and sped up a little as we were no longer snapping tons of photos. We stopped at a bodega and I grabbed a Gatorade and crackers with cheese about mile 9. Then at 125th Street, we said goodbye to Helen and she ran back across to East Harlem. Shortly after that, we passed the spot where Sarah and I got drenched by a passing car earlier in the week and had a good chuckle about that. Sarah left us a couple miles later, around 70th Street.

I was already starting to feel tired even though we were only 16 miles in and started to worry that it was going to be a long day. I was also getting really hungry and suggested that we make a detour over to McDonald's when we got down to 34th Street. Antonio agreed and so we cut over to 10th Avenue and I ate a couple cheeseburgers and had an iced tea. It sat well on the stomach and the calories gave me a boost almost immediately. Maybe a mile after we left McDonald's, I looked at my watch and saw we were doing 7:20's. "Oops, we better slow it down," I said. And then, "You know, I think it's a good sign that we're having to make ourselves slow down at mile 20." I may have spoken too soon.

We were both hurting by the time that we reached the southern tip of the island and decided to stop at the ferry terminal to get some Gatorade and use the bathroom. Turning the corner and heading back towards home along the East River was a big mental boost though. "Only four more bridges." But, right after saying that, I got a nasty sideache and started to feel really tired. The mood had definitely changed. There was no more snapping of photos and our conversation got more and more sparse as the miles wore on. Fatigue has a way of doing that.

I'm in the middle of reading Gotham, a hefty book about New York City's history and so throughout the run, I kept mentioning random historical tidbits. Running near the old Corlears Hook, I mentioned to Antonio that the word hooker came into use because so many prostitutes had congregated at that spot back in the early 1800s.

Maybe a mile later, we made our final stop at a gas station for one last Gatorade. Soon the Queensboro was in sight, and then we were past it. "No more bridges." We couldn't run the stretch over by the East River because they're doing construction still, so we had to stay on York Avenue longer than normal. Running on city streets that late into a run always concerns me because reflexes are shot. Luckily, there were no incidents other than Antonio running into a car that stopped unexpectedly in front of him, and that resulted in no injury.

At 81st Street, we were able to head over to the park over the FDR and both of us were thrilled to be on familiar ground so close to home. 2.5 miles to go, 2 miles to go, "Ooh, there's Costco," 1 mile to go, "There's the 120th Street Bridge. I see it!" Finally, we made it across the bridge and back to 1st Avenue. It took us 4 hours, 19 minutes, and 49 seconds to run the 33.08 miles, a 7:51/mile pace overall.

I slept eleven hours last night and am still pretty tired/sore today. I planned on running 10 with Helen, but after we started running, I realized that my legs weren't up to that yet and we only did 6. Even so, I finished the week with almost 70 miles and am feeling good about where my Boston training is. This next week will be my last hard week before I start backing off a little in taper mode. Time flies...