Trails, a bridge, a lighthouse, 20 miles, and a CAMERA

The Plan was to do 20 miles, Saturday, 9 am. By then it was already 75 degrees. Yeah, we could have gone early, but… blah, it’s a Saturday!

We were going to get the possibly last weird tan lines of the year with a run to Riverside Park, over the George Washington Bridge, to NJ, around Palisades park, and back. And I decided to bring my camera!

I warned Blaise (you heard of him, my training partner for over 15 months, and a the osomest TP in the world!) as soon as he locked up his bike on our usual meeting spot. Say cheese!

The park was crowded, lots of people doing their long runs!

We got going and I was complaining… The first miles always feel slow and painful until I get going… I usually need 3 or 4 miles to get loose and in a rhythm. We cut across Central Park, over to the Upper West side’s Riverside Park which was a bit more quiet.

That bridge is where we are headed… I don’t know what is is about big bridges that fascinates me!

Is it really running if you’re stopping for so many pictures… aaaaah, whatever!!! Then we go into the bridge, which has some great views, but in between the cyclists, the wind, the cars and the noise it can be a bit too much… it just takes a few minutes to adjust, but it’s a really nice nice 1.4 miles on the bridge. Check it out!

Once we got to the park… ahhhh, some dark trails then some nasty steep stairs to the trails down by the water… Really REALLY Steep!!!

(yeah, that is my water bottle stuck in the back of my bra, best way to get your hands free!)

but look how gorgeous!!!

It’s amazing to think that all of his is just minutes away from NYC!

We run in some amazing trails there…

Getting back up those steps was a LOT of work. Blaise figured it’d be easier in all fours.

I couldn’t stop laughing all the way up…. and we were so tired by then, it took us like 5 minutes to do the easiest equation the world…. We did 12.7 miles, how many more to 20? THAT took like 5 minutes. We overdid it and ended up with 21 miles! When you’re having a good time, more is MORE!

This is what we did, as Garmin sees it, so you can get an idea:

It had gotten really hot: 87 degrees! These tan lines will last a bit into Fall!! Once I got back to the Upper East Side, I was having a hard time deciding how to recover… hmmmm.