13.1 NYC Week in Review

80 miles
2 doubles
5 days in NYC
5 AFDs
1 airport reunion

Another week, another successful Karhu and Craft event in the books. This week's festivities brought me to the drizzly, cold, sleety "spring" weather that is New York City in early April. Despite exhaustive and exhausting workday shifts at our partner account, City Sports in Midtown, I somehow managed to keep the mileage respectable and the quality acceptable for the week. Several of these runs were dark solo Central Park outings in the early morning hours, but on other occasions I was lucky enough to have some pavement- or trail-pounding company.

The first of these group jaunts, a Wednesday night run club at City Sports, also found us in Central Park after meandering past some famous sights such as Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall with the bright lights of Times Square as our backdrop. We jogged through the park to a landmark called Belvedere's Castle--I have no idea who Belvedere was, nor would I suspect that he ever lived in this alleged domicile--then made a nice big loop past the former Tavern on the Green and Columbus Circle before returning to the store.

In contrast to this run's relaxed pace, my next group run o'fun left me with heavy legs and a reaffirmation of the unpleasant reality that I am, in fact, horribly out of shape. Earlier in the week I'd made contact with my friend Heidi, whom Caitlin and I had run with several times when she was visiting her in-laws in Charlotte earlier this winter, in hopes that we could meet up for a run. Unfortunately she was out of town but helpfully referred me to her friends and NYAC teammates Reilly and Betsy. Considering how small the running community is, it should come as no surprise that we were only two degrees separated as Reilly was teammates with my good friend Dave Nightingale and Betsy ran with my friend and former coach Jeff "G-Unit" Gaudette's girlfriend Melanie. Sight unseen, we made plans via email to meet in Central Park and embark on an "easy morning run" together. The meeting went off without a hitch, and from an observer's perspective I'm sure it appeared as though the three young, stunningly attractive, blond-ponytailed girls were laughing and chatting away and enjoying the pleasure of each other's company while running at a leisurely pace. While mostly true, in actuality it would be more accurate to say that two of the young, stunningly attractive, blond ponytailed girls were running at a leisurely pace. I, on the other hand, was basically in full tempo run mode from the outset. It felt like we were running my marathon pace up and down the undulating terrain, and though I'm sure the pace wasn't quite that quick I have no doubt that I covered well over 11 miles during the ensuing 75 minutes (and yes, that includes my shuffling/hobbling last solo mile back to my hotel). In the end, it was definitely a good wakeup call for me and a nice little unplanned workout. Turns out Reilly and Betsy ran sub-1:14 and sub-1:17 respectively at the NYC Half a few weeks ago, so they're definitely legit. I also owe them a thank you for being incredibly friendly and welcoming and also for tactfully ignoring the huffing and puffing and wheezing noises being emitted from my general direction.

Finally, my last accompanied run of the trip took place in the picturesque trails of Sleepy Hollow, north of NYC in Westchester County. While the headless horseman's absence was a bit of a disappointment, I had a great time traversing the breathtaking carriage trails and wooded areas with my new friends Shebna and Kelly for 90 minutes on a gorgeous Sunday morning. Oh, and I meant "breathtaking" in the literal sense of the word--the unrelenting hills made 7:30 pace a struggle during some portions. I met Kelly and Shebna through my friend and gracious hostess for Saturday night, Madeleine, who unfortunately is sidelined for a few weeks due to a foot injury. After brunch at the Horseman Diner, Madeleine and I packed up and headed to LaGuardia to see me off. In a delightfully unexpected turn of events, the stars aligned just in time to allow us to meet up with our long-lost friend and my former virtual training partner Jilane before seeing me off. As a communications advisor for the artist formerly known as the NFL Player's Association, Jilane is probably the only person I know whose work and travel schedule rivals mine. Thus it was only fitting that our first reunion since she watched me run at Penn Relays last year would take place with carry-on luggage in hand and an airport PA system blaring overhead. Forced ambience notwithstanding, it was a special treat to spend some quality time with these two friends before leaving on a jet plane once again.

Whew, so there you have it. Another week in the books, a few more miles tallied both on my feet and in the air. Life is short but sweet for certain, and I'm just along for the ride.