(What's Becoming) My Weekly Trip to Canarsie

Wednesday 9/7: Canarsie

Distance: 7.94 miles
Time: 1:00
Pace: 7:33
Temp: 64
Dewpoint: 58
Weather: sunny

click on image for interactive map



Unique Miles Today: 7.09
Total Unique Miles: 383.40
Percent of Brooklyn Run: 22.00

Route: I started at Glenwood and E. 101st, went south to Seaview Avenue, west a block to E. 100th and then doubling back to E. 102nd, north to Flatlands, east to E. 103rd, south back to Seaview, east another block to E. 104th, north to Avenue M, east to E. 105th, south once again to Seaview but doubling back to Flatlands 10th, east to E. 108th, then working my way north by going back and forth between E. 105th and E. 108th back to Avenue M, west to E. 104th, north to Avenue L, west to Rockaway Parkway, north to Holmes, west to E. 95th, north to Avenue K, west to E. 86th, north to Church, east to E. 89th but doubling back to E. 88th, north to Flatlands, east to E. 93rd, north to Foster, west to Remsen, south to Bedell, east to E. 92nd then back north to Foster, east to Rockaway Avenue and south to where it runs into Rockaway Parkway, then south to Farragut and east a block to 98th.

Notes: Exactly a week after last running in Canarsie, I went back for another round. I've been getting pretty serious about running the farther reaches of the borough (and ignoring the closer neighborhoods) for now, but today the real truth is that I had to move the car at 9:30, and Canarsie is accesible by the L train which ususally gets me back home relatively quickly (at least compared to, say, the Q from Brighton Beach or something). Moving the car twice a week (thanks to alternate side-of-the-street laws) is essentially a form of expiation for the admittedly selfish act of keeping a car in the city, a sort of voluntary tax paid in aggravation and spare time rather than dollars. And it's an effective one -- many are the times I've pondered selling the car (well, if it was mine to sell, which it isn't) after deciding that it's not worth stressing out about parking spaces twice weekly just to be able to drive to Fairway once a month or my brother's in Jersey even more infrequently. But Kate likes to keep the car in case she wants to ditch town on the weekend (which she did just last week, actually), while I think I'd be happier without one. Anyway, it's taken care of now, but it's kind of funny that I based my running route today (both in terms of length and location) on maximizing my chances of getting back to Greenpoint by 9:30 and avoid a ticket (what are they now, $45?). It's quite amazing how much influence our vehicles can have over us sometimes. Maybe that's why I like running as much as I do -- I feel a lot better being on my feet than behind the wheel.

And speaking of running, today's jaunt was uneventful, but marked by the same busy streets and sidewalks I noticed yesterday in Sheepshead Bay, a result of my running right around the same time that neighborhood kids are trudging off to school. It didn't help, of course, that I unthinkingly planned today's route to pass within a block of Canarsie High School, right around 8:00. It was nice, however, to see bright, real, direct sunshine, unfettered by showers or storms or, in fact, any cloud cover at all. As I've mentioned numerous times, I sure don't mind running in cloudy conditions or even rain. But we've had a wet eight or ten days here, and it was certainly pleasant enough to see blue skies and sunlight.

Because my route today was almost entirely residential, and because I was in kind of in a hurry to finish up (you know, so I could get back to move the car), I only ended up taking a half-dozen pictures today. Here are half of them:


Outside a bike repair place on Rockaway Parkway


In the market for a new scrim? (Flatlands Avenue)


More fun with anthropomorphized meat, also on Flatlands Ave