Okay, so while I do refer to it as a fun run, make no mistake; it was pretty tough. It was good, though, and definitely different from most of the runs I do. I've biked across the George Washington Bridge, which is mildly terrifying, but I'd never run across it until Saturday. When all was said and done we'd done about 16 miles. This run has a story behind it, as well. On Thursday the run was on my mind since we'd planned on doing another long run in preparation for the New Jersey Ultra Fest. Originally I'd planned on doing all or at least part of an 18 mile route that goes back and forth between Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, crossing the Williamsburg, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queensborough, and Pulaski bridges. The bridges provide plenty in terms of challenging hills. The Queensborough feels especially endless, just like it does in the NYC Marathon. I was all set to do that route when I spoke with my friend Helen, whom I hadn't told about the run. She mentioned that the Hoboken St. Patrick's Day parade was taking place on Saturday and that a friend of hers was having a party starting at 9:30 (yes, in the morning). I glumly responded that I would be in the midst of a run at that time and so wouldn't be able to make it. She suggested (possibly jokingly, I'm not really sure) that I should run there. I sort of dismissed it at first, but then it began to grow on me. I love functional runs. So I mapped it out and made sure Jared was okay with it.
We started at about 9:30 and made our way north to Central Park. I decided to go up the east side of the park since it would give us a little more in terms of distance. We made it up to Harlem Hill and exited from the northwest corner of the park. We then ran west on 110th street until we got to Riverside Dr. We ran along that from about 110 to 160 and then had to take a right onto Fort Washington in order to make it toward the ramp of the GWB. That ramp was much less scary when I ran it than when I biked it. Running the bridge itself is glorious, the hill doesn't seem that bad and the wind is great, not to mention the view. Once we got off the bridge, I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to get to River Road, which is what we ended up spending most of our time running in New Jersey. But it was fine, the ramp led right to it and we began running south in New Jersey. It got a little boring at that point since we ran along the same road for about 7 miles, but it was still much different than what I normally run.
We made it down to the Port Imperial ferry terminal, where Jared had to catch the ferry back to the city for a Quidditch match. I took the light rail into Hoboken and did, in fact, make it to the party and even managed to see some of the parade.
Unfortunately, I did not do the indoor triathlon today. When I signed up for it I completely forgot that I had a sketch comedy class at noon. Under normal circumstances I would have done the tri and shown up to class late, but if I had been more than 15 minutes late I wouldn't have been let in. I did go down to Park Slope anyway hoping that I'd at least be able to do one or two parts of it. No luck, though. On the bright side, the race director said I could apply the entry fee to the championships on March 27th.
So that is that for the weekend. I continued my streak today by doing the Phoebe Loop. People are always entertained when we run by; it's probably because Phoebe looks like a running sausage with pointy ears. Upcoming this week: tri training. I'm hoping to get in a couple of swims, a couple of runs, and some time on the spin bike. Eventually I'll need to start doing rides in the park in order to prepare for when I can start training with Team Lipstick again. I still have a phobia of biking with a group, and the only way to fix that is to put in the time and the miles. Hopefully I'll also be able to get my new bike soon.
One more thing, vote in my poll! Tell me what your goals are this spring and let me know if there's one that I've missed.
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