Six Weeks Until the End of Summer

How the heck did this creep up so fast?

Six weeks from tonight, we'll be savoring the last bit of the Labor Day barbecue (or more likely, stuck in traffic in Connecticut or New Jersey). Yes, summer stretches on for a couple of more weeks, but some may already be in school.

Excluding tonight (and I already have, after walking outside from work and going "ewww, it's humid, let's get some ice cream"), there's six solid weeks of training, starting tomorrow and finishing up with a long run on Labor Day (or maybe the New Haven 20K?). 42 days of sweat, sweat, sweat.

Or, to put it more positively: 6 weeks of base building to gear you for that key summer race, whether it be the New York Marathon or the Fifth Avenue Mile.

So let's pound out some second-half-of-summer plans, shall we? Vacations always muck up some plans if you're in Greater New York, but let me toss out these as some delightful possibilities.

-- Race over the Brooklyn Bridge (if not on Aug. 2, then on another 5 a.m. morning when no one is there).

-- Get your cross-country legs on by traveling up to Van Cortlandt Park. The last two races in the VCTC series are July 30 and Aug. 13.

-- Smash your 5K record in Prospect Park. Aug. 5 and 19 are the last two races in this series, but September has plenty more.

-- Try a long run you've never done before. Search here at the USATF site to get some ideas.

-- Even better: See how many New York City bridges you can bag in one run.

-- Plot your vacation, and then reach out to the local running club to meet them for a run. (If you've never do this, it's worth it - guess what? Runners from Boston are just like runners from New York!)

-- Take the ferry out to Governor's Island.

-- Go for a run on the trails of Rockefeller State Park, or for a more challenging day, head up to Bear Mountain (easily accessible by bus or MetroNorth)

-- Go for a run at night when there's a full moon.

-- Hook up with the New York chapter of the Hash House Harriers.

Ackk, I'm running out of time. So let me hear from you - what do you want to do.

And of course, for inspiration ....



*** This version UPDATES and CORRECTS a previous mention about the starting day for New York students. One would think I'd know this ... geesh ... ***