The Joe Nation 2007 NYC Marathon Log

It's Friday.
At least one of us ran.
Maybe more?

Hey Dags, wanna run along the Charles sometime?

Yes, sure! Just gimme a few weeks to get in shape. Else I can bring a bike and then you can chase me.

OK, I'll check back with you.
I haven't run along the Charles for quite a while.

There is an East River Park with long stretches of running room, but I've haven't been on it in years and don't know the 42nd Street nabe well enough to say where you could get on or off of it. Could be really close.

The Cloisters is up the hill from our apartment. Next Saturday the weather should be beautiful.. I'll be in Gramercy Park shilling housewares.

Joe(I slept most of today.)Nation

shillig housewares... shilling housewares... what can that mean?


like your new look!

Love your avatar, Joe (houseware shiller to the borough) Nation.

Osso (did I just kill the basil plant?) buco

somebody tell me what a houseware shiller is, or i'll keeo staring like this till i die.

Wikipedia on 'shill'


Ah, shiller is wrong of course, that would be shill. (It just spilled out.)

Talking about running along the Charles got me jazzed up to do it. And on
the perfect day. I parked along Mem Drive at about seven and walked
across to the sidewalk along the river. The sun was shining, just a few
scattered clouds and a light breeze. I ran toward the Longfellow Bridge
and then past it to the Science Museum Bridge. There were lots of sculls
on the river and you could hear the coaches on their megaphones. "The
good news is there'll be beer and pizza after practice." I imagined them
saying, "The bad news is that coach wants to go waterskiing."

I crossed over to the Boston side and ran along the Esplanade, past the
Hatch Shell. There's a howitizer on the water side of the Shell. Must be
in commemoration of the Guard artillery batteries that accompany the
Pops in the 1812 Overture on the Fourth of July.

I ran on up past the Mass. Ave. Bridge. A sign warned that the bridge
would be closed Sunday. I had heard they're filming scenes for a movie
about the MIT guys who made a ton of money at 21 until the casinos
caught on to them. I used to work with one of those guys. Wicked smaht.

I didn't cross back over to Cambridge until I got to River St. By then there
were some crew races in progress, probably inter-squad. I'm always
struck by the power and grace of a racing crew. I was flagging but the
sight of them perked me up.

I finally got back to my car and chugged a Gatorade. I mapped the route
later and found it was 7.1. I'd planned to run ten. Oh well, next week.

Excellent.

Joe(I used to look out my window at the Shell)Nation

Good luck tomorrow, Joe!
Let us know how it goes.

Yes. Run well Joe(fast as the wind) Nation. It should be nice weather for a change.

Tfooey tfooey tfooey

(ya know, for good luck. We Slovaks do that.)

...but not into the wind...

ya could have said that before i spat!

Don't worry -- it's good luck!

Spring busted a gut this Sunday morning and the sunbathers were out in the Sheep Meadow at 9:ooAM as I crossed over to the start of the Four Mile Run for the Parks. (The money raised goes, pretty much, right back into beautifying all the parks of New York City so the runners are running for their own benefit as well as those of the other locals.)

Did I say runners?

I meant to say Mob of Runners.

Nearly 7000 in the Four Mile and another five or so thousand of kids and their parents. The kids raced before us and they were very cute. Three year olds wearing numbers being chased by their dads. It's tough going from the wide open space of the Sheep Meadow to this:
But here are the people in front of me.

And here are the people behind me.

I was lucky enough to spot a guy I've run with before, although he doesn't know it. He wears a shirt that says he is training for next weeks half marathon in New Jersey and I have found if I can stay up with him I get a pretty good time.

I was worried about this race. I got a twinge in my right knee yesterday morning on a downhill and it didn't seem to be much better early this morning, but I stretched and massaged and ran about a mile and half to warm up and during the race I didn't feel a thing.

37:53 about a 9:30 pace. Missed a personal record by thirty seconds. I'll have another chance next week at the same distance.

Walking across the Sheep Meadow to go home .


Joe(so serene)Nation

He, he... reminds me of Beans (Albina). God forbid I ever predicted something would go well; I'd hear "Tfooey tfooey tfooey, Beel" in a serious, scolding tone.

Well, in some things i'll always be a forreigner. I've no idea who the albino Beans are.

But, I do know that this thread has inspired me to move again. I finally broke the impasse and didn't have to stop million times today. In fact, I didn't have to stop. It's still pathetic, but less than a week ago.
Thanks, Joe.

Good luck next week...and then next week...and next!

Anything going on with NYC a2k posse next weekend?

Great run, Joe!
9:28 is great and with a little elbow room, you'd have done even better.
Do you mean you're doing another 4 mile race next weekend? Egad!