Waterfront Breezes and the Sheepshead Bay Elephant

Sunday: East Flatbush, Flatlands, Bergen Beach, Mill Basin, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, Homecrest, Gravesend

Distance: 12.79 miles
Time: 1:45
Pace: 8:13
Temp: 80
Dewpoint: 69
Weather: sunny and breezy

Unique Miles Today: 12.75
Total Unique Miles: 124.50
Percent of Brooklyn Run: 7.15

Route: I started at the intersection of Flatbush and Nostrand, up a block to Glenwood, then east to Utica, south to Avenue N, east again to E. 71st, down to Avenue Y, and over a block and back up E. 70th to Avenue U. Then west to E. 65th, down through Mill Basin to National Drive and back up to Avenue U on E. 64th. West on Avenue U to Burnett, then a loop through Gerritsen Beach on Avenue X, Allen, Aster, Florence, Bevy, Allen again, and Plumb 2nd Street, ending on Avenue W. Then down to Bragg, north to Avenue U, and west to Gravesend Neck Road, which I ran down to where it joined Avenue W, which I took to McDonald. I finished by running north on McDonald to Whitney. I took the F home.

Notes: Over the last few days there has been a noticeable buzz around town regarding an incipient heatwave, so I expected the worst this morning. Recalling that it was palpably cooler by the water when I ran through a bit of Coney Island the other day, I planned a route that would take me through some as-of-yet unvisited waterfront neighborhoods, partially to start filling in some of the gaps on my big map but mostly to try and outrun the heat. In reality, it wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated (the real high temps are supposed to hit us tomorow and Tuesday), and I got to see some new territory. The waterfront communities I saw today each had their own identities, too -- Gerritsen Beach is a warren of narrow streets with tidy little cottages, Mill Basin was as suburban as any place in New Jersey, with some pretty ostentatious new homes and a surfeit of SUVs, while Bergen Beach was somewhere in the middle, with a little industrial zone along the west.

By the way, two things I really like about running in Brooklyn, as opposed to other places I've been: First, there are sidewalks everywhere, so I'm not forced to run in the street like I am when I'm in, say Augusta, Georgia (where my folks live, and where I'll be for a couple of days later this week). Second, the no-right-turn-on-red law, which makes traffic at least somewhat more predicable at intersections.

As usual, there was plenty that caught my eye. Here's a sampling of things that also caught my camera's CCD:


Utica Avenue, Flatlands


Looking out over Mill Basin


On Gravesend Neck Road in Homecrest


Last week, the Midwood Cow. Today, the Sheepshead Bay Elephant