Senses Working Overtime

Saturday 12/9, Run #96: Sunset Park

Distance: 8.83 miles
Time: 1:05
Pace: 7:22
Temp: 28
Wind Chill: 16
Weather: sunny & windy

click on image for interactive map


Unique Miles Today: 7.58
Total Unique Miles: 750.85
Percent of Brooklyn Run: 43.09

For the complete route, click here

Notes: After an unscheduled extra day off yesterday (which, by the way, probably had nothing to do with the frigid temperatures and eight-degree wind chill), I was back on the road today for another visit to Sunset Park. I really enjoy running this neighborhood, and one of the things I like best is that it's kind of a multisensory experience -- especially along 5th Avenue, which in many ways is the Hispanic counterpart to the neighborhood's Chinese-American axis a few blocks over on 8th Avenue. In addition to enough visual distractions that it's pretty much a miracle I didn't get run over or knock over any pedestrians, there's also music coming from stores or blaring from car stereos (and, at one point, from a guy singing and playing the accordian with fingers that must've been completely frozen), and the various smells (mostly good ones, too), wafting out from the many restaruants and bakeries.

In fact, because of the bustling streets and the obvious Hispanic and Chinese influences it's the kind of place that a travel guide would call something like a "vibrant ethnic enclave." That's all well and good, of course, but I don't think the travel guides pay too much attention to what made the biggest impression on me as a runner, and that's the hills -- which are especially steep moving up from 3rd to 6th Avenues. My legs haven't received a workout like this in a while.

Okay, I'll be back tomorrow with more stories and hopefully, a handful of photos. In the meantime, here's a few from today:


Under the Gowanus Expressway


5th Avenue


Also on 5th Avenue


51st Street


Last day for this mural on 47th Street


Wedding cakes on 5th Avenue