Dead Ends and Water Views

Sunday 8/13: Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, & Gerritsen Beach

Distance: 12.03 miles
Time: 1:35
Pace: 7:54
Temp: 68
Dewpoint: 50
Weather: sunny

click on image for interactive map


Unique Miles Today: 11.49
Total Unique Miles: 247.17
Percent of Brooklyn Run: 14.19

Route: I began today at McDonald and Avenue U, then east on Avenue U to E. 18th Street, south to Voorhies, east a block to E. 19th, back up to Avenue U, east to Ocean Ave, back down to Voorhies, over a block to E. 21st, north to Avenue U, east to Nostrand, south to Avenue X, east to Bragg, south a block to Avenue Y and then back up to Avenue X on Brigham, east to Knapp, north to Whitney, and east again to Plumb 1st Street. Then I ran a couple of dead end streets (Garland, and a piece of Fane) before heading south on Ebony to Bijou, over a block to Dictum, south to Florence, west to Fane, south to Gotham, west to the dead end and then back east to Gerritsen. Finally I went north back to Florence, west to Celest, north to Bijou, west to Dictum again, and then north, continuing onto Plumb 2nd and heading west on Whitney, then north on Plumb 1st, up a block on Gerritesen to Avenue V, west on Avenue V to E. 15th, north to Avenue S, west to E. 2nd, north to Avenue P, and then west a block to McDonald. Whew.

Notes: Today's venture was another one of those pretty average runs, with neither the pulse-quickening sense of danger that accompanies my forays into the rougher neighborhoods nor the tedium of the completely suburban-style residential ones. I took a pretty circuitous route through an area in the southern reaches of the borough, partly out of boredom and partly to more assiduously approach the task of filling in some of my map in a more systematic manner. This is because, I'm beginning to realize, following more or less random routes will eventually lead to a substantial number of little unran "islands," which will necessitate a lot of non-unique miles (and some pretty accurate record-keeping) to fill in. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it. So from here on out I'll try to mix up the more "exploratory" runs with the more cartographically purposeful ones. Regardless, the weather was nearly perfect for this time of the year, and I was, of course, delighted to be running in a nice, cushy new pair of shoes.

In non-running news I went to see Mozart's opera Zaide last night at the Rose Theater (which is in an upscale shopping mall on Columbus Circle) It was a Peter Sellars production, so the story of a grumpy Muslim imprisoning a sweet young couple was, naturally, updated to take place in a modern-day sweatshop where workers slept under sewing machines. Zaide was one of the composer's unfinished works, so it's rarely performed, and for this reason alone it was great to see it (and the music was mostly wonderful, too). However, it was originally a singspiel (meaning it had spoken lines between the songs) but over the centuries the dialog was lost, meaning that the singers just kind of hammed it up with exaggerated pantomime to move the story along. Whatever. I liked it. And speaking of music, I was thinking of heading down to McCarren Park for the free concert with Deerhoof and Beirut. I am, after all, a man of eclectic tastes.

Blah, blah, blah. I'm going to take a nap. Behold, today's photos:


Not sure what to make of this one (E. 19th Street)


A beach, of sorts, on Shell Bank Creek (Off Knapp Street)


Avenue U


Side of a restaurant on Bijou Avenue


Ominous signage at the foot of Gotham Avenue in Gerritsen Beach