A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

On Friday afternoon I got an amazing surprise email. Roommate Jen who I ran with last week was willing to come into the city and run with me again on Saturday. I was beyond thrilled to not have to do 18 alone, because I've never completed more than 14 miles solo and I was scared! 

Jen is so funny, because she kept apologizing and asking if it was "okay" and wanting to ensure she wouldn't mess up my pace or wasn't asking me to start out too early. I found it hilarious because A) we're basically the exact same pace and B) I would go ANYTIME to not have to run alone! 

A lot of people thrive on that alone time, and so do I...to a point! But more than a couple of hours of alone time running makes MeriG into a bit of a looney toon. I am not super into listening to music when I do long runs, instead opting for nerd-time rocking out to NPR. [Becoming more informed whilest running makes me feel super productive!]

But my ideal is to run and chat with friends, because it makes the time pass so much faster and is great for Quality Time. So, yeah, Jen. I was "okay" with you "crashing" my run. 

And as far as the early start was concerned? A 5:30am wake-up call and 6:30 start time is admittedly gross. But it also allows you to see views such as this...

View of the East River at Sunrise

And when you see a sunrise like that on a crisp, cool Saturday morning with a wonderful friend? It's still a little gross to be awake, but it makes it pretty worth it as a whole.


We started at my apartment and ran to the East River. Running through and beyond Carl Schulz park, we ran along the river up until the path ended at 125th and then retraced out steps back down until the path ends at 60th St (1st 6 miles).

Seriously!!

Roomies on the run!

From there, we ran down 1st Avenue and re-entered the East River path in the 20s. We took this path around the Southern tip of Manhattan and up the West Side, ending in the 60s on the West Side.

Pretty bridges on a pretty day

See the Statue of Liberty yonder!

The weather was absolutely stunning. A still, sunny, 40-degree day. I had properly bundled up (a feat that I've been having a bit of trouble with with the winter running!) so I was even too warm for a lot of it. But mostly comfortable and cozy.

Thumbs up in front of Jersey

Lookin' classy in my favorite new Purple Brooks 1/2 Zip pullover

I'll post sometime soon about what I've learned about winter laying, because I think it would be helpful for newbies. Look for that sometime in the upcoming days!

Even though I've done this route a bunch of times now, I came across this cool quote as we ran near Tribeca on the West Side. It reads: "I can said without wind. I can row without oars. But I cannot part from my friend without tears." I thought it was really poignant and beautiful.

Perhaps the best part of the run, though, was trying to explain to Jen what SantaCon was. She hadn't heard of it, so as we ran I told her about the masses of thousands of people dressed as Santa who descend on the city and spread joy [read: create drunken havoc]. I don't think she quite believed me.

Well, at 10 am as we were finishing our run, we ended right at Pier 84. Which happened -- previously unbeknownst to me -- to be the exact starting place and time of SantaCon.

Thousands of Santas coming from all directions to meet at this spot. I guess she believed me in the end! I've never actually participated in SantaCon, and I thought it was an interesting juxtaposition for "Old Me" (who always wanted to do it, but always had a conflict) and "New Me" who finished an 18 mile run at 10 am on a Saturday. Fascinating.

Three more long runs until taper starts again for Miami! Eek!

Was your weekend full of running? Or of drunken mayhem?