Running As Fast As I Can . . . in Central Park

The beauty of NYC is that no one blinks twice over whack jobs, weirdos, or assorted whatnots (no wonder I like it here!) as long as said WWWs aren’t infringing on the imaginary, but very real, lines NYers draw around themselves. Case in point: this morning I head to the park to run, happen upon the neighborhood raving homeless man and a woman dressed in fishnets, hooker heels, black and pink hair (it’s morning), both mixing seamlessly with busy, suit-dressed men and women on the way to work. There was nary a blink of an eye. But then comes a woman, clearly out to get her run in before she joined the suit-clad masses on her way to Wall Street, running with headphones, singing out loud (loudly, and not even a good song) in what appeared to me to be a desperate effort to finish up a torturous run. SHE pissed people off. SHE was interrupting people’s quiet space. SHE crossed people’s lines. I say whatever it takes to finish the run. (And people say I have control issues. Snort.)

As to my run (and all you runners who found this site due to Carilyn’s massively great ultrarunning, don’t dismay, she will be here, and my slug running should in no way mar her athletic reputation) I shuffled up to the Reservoir and back. Two miles—ten minutes up, nine and a half back. But let me tell you, given my past life as a fairly serious runner (used to put in 77 mile weeks—yes, I’m being defensive) I shuffle with damn good form. All this is to say that my goal is to pick up the pace and the mileage. I had gotten up to 5 miles this summer, but then life got in the way and the next thing you know, I’m back down to slugging out a miserable two. Maybe I should start singing out loud…..