Mill Basin: File Under "Completed"

Monday 10/9, Run #63: Flatlands, Mill Basin

Distance: 9.77
Time: 1:15
Pace: 7:41
Temp: 62
Dewpoint: 52
Weather: sunny

click on image for interactive map


Unique Miles Today: 6.58
Total Unique Miles: 500.30
Percent of Brooklyn Run: 28.71

Route: This one began at Avenue K and E. 40th Street. Then I went east on Avenue K to E. 45th, south to Avenue N, east to Ralph Avenue, south to Mill Ave, continued southeast on Mill Ave to Strickland, east to E. 66th, south to Ohio Walk, west to Mill Ave, south to Mayfair, east to E. 66th, north to Whitman, around Whitman (which is semicircular) back to E. 66th, over a block to Mayfair, around Mayfair (also a semicircle, as are Barlow and Gaylord) back to E. 66th, over to Barlow and around to E. 66th again, and on to Gaylord. I then made the first right onto Indiana, went south to National, east to Kansas, north to Arkansas, west to Indiana and doubled back, continued on to Montana, south to National again, east around the curve to Arkansas, west to Montana then doubling back to Bassett, west to Gaylord, around to Utah Walk and doubling back to Gaylord, then on to E. 66th. Then it was south back to Bassett, east to Gaylord then doubling back and continuing on to Mill Ave, then north just a few yards to E. 60th, west to Strickland, south to E. 59th, south to Mayfair, west back to Strickland, south to E. 57th, east to Mill Ave, north a block to Mayfair again, southeast to E. 66th, west to E. 56th, south to National, west to Arkansas, east back to E. 56th, north to Whitman, west to National, north to E. 66th, east to Strickland, north back to Mill Ave (with a little diversion into the unfinished development on the north side of the street) and continuing up to Avenue U. (note: most of the streets in Mill Basin curve around, so cardinal directions here are used pretty loosely, though they'd be apparent in context to anyone looking at a map).

Notes: It was a beautiful morning, and a fine day to achieve two minor milestones. First, I (barely) crossed the 500 unique mile threshold, which I have to admit makes it seem like I've actually been making some progress. If that wasn't proof enough, however, I'm also now finished with Mill Basin, making it the third neighborhood I've completed, all of them in the last week and a half. Baby steps, as it were, but steps nonetheless.

Mill Basin is still Mill Basin -- long, curving, and pleasant tree-lined streets with some of the more lavish and ostentatious homes in Brooklyn, especially when you get close to the water. Once past the initial shock of architectural excess, though, it's a fine place to run (I even spied a fellow runner at one point). Much of the neighborhood I ran today is laid out as a semicircle, with concentric streets looping to and from E. 66th Street, with a few others serving as "spokes" that radiate from the inner loop (Gaylord) to the outer (Whitman). Of particular note, however, are several pedestrian walks (Utah, Indiana, and Bassett Walks) that cut through the neigborhood, features that never fail to excite me, perhaps due to my status as a pedestrian myself. Interestingly, these narrow paths lined by tall fences are about the only places in the neighborhood with any graffiti to speak of. There's none of the elaborate type you see in other places, mind you, but rather crude tags demonstrating that even wealthy kids need street cred (or at least something to do while sneaking furtive beers). In any event, I think they're wonderful (the walks, that is), and add significantly to the landscape there.

Okay. I'll be taking a day or two off (I know, I say that every time), but this time I mean it. Meanwhile, today's photographic offering:


One of the many tasteful homes on Bassett Avenue


Looking down Ohio Walk


Factory off of Strickland (and right near where I saw the chickens last week)