Thursday, July 10, 2008

Random Thoughts on a Thursday Evening

Some thoughts percolating following an evening run from work in Manhattan to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade (about 7.75 miles).

-- Running down 1st Avenue in Manhattan and then along the East River ... is not the most enjoyable run in the world. It's OK once you get into the park area, but the first part, which is on busy roadways and then crowds you close to the FDR, is getting kind of old. (True, much of the West Side Highway run is also close to the highway ...)

-- You can see all four NYC Waterfalls from the Manhattan side ... yet, the one based on the Brooklyn piers wasn't functioning tonight.

-- It's worth checking out the movies that are held in the Brooklyn Bridge Park in Dumbo on Thursday evenings. It took me a second to realize that, no, massive trash hadn't washed onto shore, but it was a huge crowd watching tonight's offering: "Stand By Me." It's a personal favorite, and not just because of the running component: Wil Wheaton, running across the bridge, desperately trying to beat the train. (Yeah, I've done that. Stupid, stupid, stupid.)

-- Running across the Brooklyn Bridge during a beautiful summer evening: It's crowded, like weekend crowded. Still, the views, and the sense of belonging, makes it worthwhile.

-- Later on this evening, was leafing through the Road Runner Sports catalog and looking at the watches. Most of the options from Timex and Nike include wristbands that can't be replaced (except by sending them back to the companies). After duct tape held my Timex Ironman together for a few months, the band finally disintegrated, and I'm temporarily wearing my $10 Kmart special that continues to do the basic job. Open to any suggestions to prolong the watch, which is now just serving as the morning wakeup alarm.

-- How's the marathon training going? July is a key base month before you get into August and September ... (I'm negotiating with my knee about how many times a week I can run.)

-- Are you excited for the Olympics? In spite of all the politics, NBC hoopla, etc. -- it's just great to be able to watch the top U.S. runners -- no, make that the top runners around the world -- strut on center stage and get the due they deserve.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not environmentally correct, I know, but Campmor tends to have the slightly obsolete Timex running watches at such bargain prices that, even when physically possible, it's not worth it to replace the band.

Brooklyn Runner said...

Yep, I've got the Campmor catalog. My problem with the Timex and Nike watches (and others) is that they are preventing me from extending the life of the watch ... because of the watch band (I would usually go through two or three bands per watch before the battery died -- at that point, I usually cave).