When (OSOM) Mr.Bacon posted about the Scavenger hunt I got so super excited I wanted to run out of work, lace up, and go out for pictures. Is there anything more exciting than pictures??? anything?
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There’s Mary too. You all know she is “The Most Amazing Woman In The Whole Wide World”, right?
Katherine Switzer, who I had met in Boston earlier this year. You know her: a true pioneer of women’s running. She created this race, along with Fred Lebow, and was the first woman to run NYCM (won it twice) and the first winner of Boston (after they established the women’s category). She was also the one who pushed for adding the women’s marathon to the Olympics.
Where would we be without her?? Well, I’ll tell you: we’d still be holding our uterus so it wouldn’t fall out when we run; and running anything but marathons!
And, the myth, the woman, THE Paulinator! Not sure if Paula is a soccer fan but she didn’t say a peep about the Argentinian shirt. I was not about to bring it up.
There’s 6 miles of trails in Central Park and, for me, that is the best part of this magical city. You just have to experience it if you don’t believe me: it’s an oasis in a very crowded, busy, and loud city. I also think Running on dirt makes my balance better, I get to use a wider array of muscles and my legs don’t get that much pavement pounding on them.
I usually get to Central Park early, around 6 am before work, or around 7 pm, after work. The colors in the morning light are more than a sight, and it’s never the same; and at 7 pm, when the sun is setting, it’s even better.
I don’t usually go on the trails unless there’s daylight as there is not much lighting in there. But last night I wanted to do 6 miles and as the sun was setting, I told myself I’d stay on the trails until I could see and then I’d switch to the road. For a few minutes I started seeing things I hadn’t seen before in the daylight: all the lit trees in the Tavern on the Green, the lit Museum of Natural History, fabulous!
That’s when the magic happened. A few minutes later, I was running in the dark. I fought with my idea of switching to the road and I won.
Have you ever run in the complete utter darkness?
There are a few bridges in the trails I cross through, some are tunnel-like… and at night it’s completely dark in there, you don’t see the road, you don’t know where you are, all you see is the “light at the end of the tunnel”. I had never run in the dark like this, but I thought that is what heaven must be like. With no road in view, I felt I was running on air, I was floating but with speed… it was strange and amazing. I closed my eyes and kept going. Yes, it’s stupid and dangerous, but oh my god was it exhilarating…