treadmill run

Needed to run yesterday in the morning, so ran at the gym at work. Weirdly empty when I arrived, and was only joined by a total of 4 people while I was in there. Not sure if that's just a sign of the season, that people are exercising outside, or something sadder.

Anyway, ran a 5+50+5 for 5.89 miles, slowly increasing the pace. Felt good and loose (if bored...) throughout the run.

Memorial Day Run

On a long weekend, it was really hard to make ourselves run on Sunday morning... so we didn't. But we did run today, since it feels a bit like a Sunday, even though it's Monday. But we got up today and ran. We ran the loop from the Burke-Gilman Trail out to Golden Gardens, then up the stairs, and then back home. Let's just say that we may have been a bit dehydrated this morning after the sunshine and cider of the last two days, and poor Wil got a banging headache. But we stopped a couple of times to get water (including a little sprint across the Locks) and Wil soldiered on. It wasn't the longest or fastest run, but we did get just under 8 miles in today.

One of the run's highlights was seeing a bald eagle fly about 10 feet away from us, being chased by a group of noisy, angry crows.

Golden Gate Park run

Got in to SF, dropped the bags at the hotel, and headed out to Golden Gate Park for a run. Lindsay was awesome and pretended that I wasn't slowing her down.
One big highlight -- finally saw the buffalo in the park. And somehow despite the Muni getting pretty full on our way back to the hotel, we somehow had plenty of room to ourselves. Plenty of room.

I ran to work on national cycle to work day...

Wil's here again...

Today is national cycle to work day, (but having left my bike at work after going for a beer and deciding to be sensible and take the bus home instead of ride home, I had nothing to ride in on..)

So I ran with the hundreds of extra bikes on the trails this morning. It's a nice sunny morning and I felt faster, stronger, better... (I was supposed to run in yesterday, but the torrential rain would have made it a miserable affair.)

Got downtown checked Nike plus and it turns out that I kept exactly the same pace as Tuesday 6 miles in one hour and nine minutes. Slower than I would have liked, but steady and most importantly done...

Roosevelt Island Run

So I finally found myself back in NYC with time to do the "secret dream run". Last time I was in NYC, I heard about Roosevelt Island, and saw the tram. I just couldn't organize my time so that I could run there. So I decided that, next time I was in NYC, I would run there.

This morning, because I had a little time before heading to a meeting at the agency, I finally got my Roosevelt Island run.


I walked over to the tram, paid my $2, and then climbed aboard. First and foremost: awesome. It's the best $2 trip in NYC. :)


You stand in this big aerial tram, with 20 or so other folks, and then you lift off. It's very quiet, very smooth. People gather at the windows and watch the city glide by, talking quietly. Absolutely lovely. Soaring over the East River towards Roosevelt Island:


Once back on the ground, it was easy to get oriented, head to the riverside, and start my run. I ran south first, following the very nice riverfront path as far as it would go. The southern tip of the island is closed off -- looks like they're restoring a building and creating a park -- but then I just turned left across the island, which was really just a hundred yards or so, and then headed north.


There's a lighthouse at the northern tip of the island. I passed a couple of guys fishing but really didn't see many people. Of course, it was a weekday morning, so I shouldn't have been surprised. It's a nice run -- pretty much nicely paved paths all the way around, no traffic, and nice views. It also feels like a small town that just happens to be next to Manhattan. Pretty cute.


Running along the west side of the island, I passed some super cute art:


It's only about 3 miles around the island. (In fact, they were holding a 5K fun run the following weekend -- pity!) So I soon found myself almost back where I started. Now, I don't really know why I didn't just run a bit farther and then cross over the (very narrow) center of the island. But I didn't. I just ran along the west side until I reached the tram again.





I didn't really feel ready to leave the island yet. I walked up to Main Street (cute!), stopped at the Duane Reade for a drink, and stretched out. Really cute place. But finally, it was time to head back to the hotel to get changed and checked out. I got to the tram station just in time to see one leaving, but that just means that another one was leaving the other side.


Finally, back on board the tram and headed back to Manhattan. A nice little run that I would happily do again. Maybe next time I'm in NYC I can do the loop twice.

Disneyland Half Course Announced!

Hooray! The 2009 Disneyland Half Marathon course has been announced -- and I'm thrilled to say that the course will run through Angel Stadium this year. Finally, my chance to run around at least part of the bases of a major league stadium. Okay, so the stadium portion happens between miles 9 and 10, so, let's be honest here, I'll be shuffling. Still, very exciting!

Reservoir Run

After getting to the hotel last night, I changed clothes and headed out for my planned run... around the reservoir in Central Park. It was lovely and peaceful and a great place to run. Stranger running from the hotel to the park boundary and back -- you'd think in a place that has so many people in such a small area would mean that people a) are spatially aware; b) walk in straight lines; and/or c) understand that one person cannot go any more single file, but that groups of 3 can. But still, good to FINALLY get some miles in during the month of May. 5.02 miles overall. Bravo to Wil for RUNNING TO WORK. I still haven't sorted the backpack/shoe issues to make that workable.
More pics from the run:


Very few people actually take note of this.


Still, super pretty.

Wil raised from the bed and Ran!!!!

Well hi y’all…

I guess I don’t post here very often, as the runs we do and Sunny writes about are usually shared events. If they aren’t shared then I usually have some sort of reason (or should that be excuse?) as to why I am not running or am just glad to be done.

This morning Sunny got up early to jet of to New York for a few days, so I decided that I should not use that as another excuse not to run (especially as I convinced us to not run on Sunday with the promise that I would start running again without making (or making up) reasons and excuses.

I ran the longest run since the marathon in January by throwing on my running shoes and strapping on my pack to run to work. Just over 6 miles, all quite slowly (an hour and nine minutes. The time was lengthened as when I got downtown as I did seem to hit a lot of red lights, happily the red lights I hit weren’t something that I welcomed (as per our long runs previously). So I guess that even if I am slow I’ve not lost out a lot on my fitness.

Cycling has helped with the fitness, (but to be truthful I have been extending the reasons/excuses to avoid the bike for the last week or two. All good reasons, we’ve had lots of 4pm rain and I’ve been indulging in a quick pint after work most nights with the colleagues I will no longer have in around 7 weeks.)

But anyway to end on a high note…

I got up ran six miles with no problems at all, in fact I feel good and enlivened for a day at work. I also feel that I am now not in any danger at all of not being in the position to run the half marathon which we are due to run at the end of June.


Wil