A Little Less Pondering, a Little More Running

Friday 8/25: Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, Marine Park, Flatlands, Mill Basin, Canarsie

Distance: 9.73 miles
Time: 1:15
Pace: 7:42
Temp: 72
Dewpoint: 66
Weather: cloudy & humid

click on image for interactive map

Unique Miles Today: 9.34
Total Unique Miles: 303.01
Percent of Brooklyn Run: 17.39

Route: Today I began at McDonald and Kings Highway, headed east on the latter (which soon became Avenue R) to 22nd, south to Voorhies, east a block to 23rd, up a block to Avenue Z, east another block to 24th and back down to Voorhies, then east one more block to Bedford, north back to Avenue Z, west to 24th again, and then north up to Avenue R. I went east again to Gerritsen, south to Fillmore, stayed on Fillmore to Avenue T then quickly looped around the little triangle there back to 57th, north to Avenue O, east to 61st, south to Avenue T, east to 64th, south a block to Avenue U, east a block to 65th, north to Avenue M, back west to 59th, and north to Glenwood. I then followed Glenwood east to 100th and took the L train home from Rockaway Parkway.

Notes: While I pondered a lot of things on today's run, I'll resist the urge to philosophize this morning, sticking instead to a more-or-less straightforward reporting of things as I saw them. Yes, I headed back down to the southern reaches of the borough yet again, for two main reasons: First, it's easy for me to get there transportation-wise (I just take the G to Smith/9th and then take the F as far as I need to go). Second, I'm actively trying to fill in some of the neighborhoods down there (Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, Bath Beach, Flatlands, Brighton Beach, Coney Island), simply because while I realize that I don't mind spending an hour each way on the train during the summer, this might change during the colder temperatures and shorter days to come in December and January. In other words, every long journey down to Gravesend now is one less trip I make down there in the dead of winter. But some of these areas -- parts of Sheepshead Bay and Flatlands in particular -- are a good hike from any subway station, which also means I'll need to do longer runs, on average, to get in a lot of streets down there. Yet another reason to work on them in the summertime. In any event today's venture was pretty typical, with the usual sights and sounds (and, indeed, smells). The Rockaway Parkway subway station is a busy place, though, maybe because it's as far as the L (or any train, for that matter) penetrates into the area, and because of the free bus transfers there. I'm taking tomorrow off, as I usually do on Saturdays, and will shoot for a longer (12-13 miles) run on Sunday.

Oh, and I did indeed pass the 300 unique mile mark, for what that's worth. However, I think the next significant milestone (in my mind, at least) will be when I hit 25% of Brooklyn run, which should happen in early October or so.

It was pretty gloomy out today (after several weeks of warm but mostly pleasant weather), so the photos suffered a bit. Nonetheless, here's what I've come up with today:


Off of 22nd Street in Sheepshead Bay


Sheepshead Bay


Corner of Paerdegat Avenue and 59th Street, near where Canarsie, Flatlands, and East Flatbush meet


Glenwood Avenue in Canarsie


Also on Glenwood (less than a block east of the previous picture)