On Running (or Not)

No, I'm still not running, though I have to admit I'm getting kind of itchy of late. Thankfully, any temptation to hit the road has been tempered by the craptacular local weather (last Friday featured something like sixteen non-stop hours of sleet), which is keeping me safely indoors and hard at work on the dissertation. This is probably a good thing, too, since my legs have been persistently refusing to heal on any kind of timely schedule. To be honest, I'm starting to get worried. My trip to Iowa City got pushed back to the beginning of April, so I'll visit the doctor while I'm out there and hopefully figure out what the problem is. I'm not quite sure how this happened, but besides meeting with my advisor, spending some quality time at the University library, and going to the doctor, it looks like this trip will also include some 17th-century opera and -- thanks to my pal Nat up in Racine, Wisconsin (who just picked up some super-cheap tickets on eBay) -- a Cubs-Brewers game in Milwaukee. Funny how these things work out.

But in the spirit of honesty, I probably ought to admit that even when I resume running, I'll most likely cut back substantially on the mileage, maybe doing one or two runs a week towards the "every street in Brooklyn" thing. Seriously, besides doing a number on my legs this whole endeavor has been a lot more time-consuming than it might seem at first glance (the record-keeping and map-related stuff alone probably took an hour and a half per run), and Kate's not going to support me forever. I've been making steady progress with my writing over the last two months, and I really need to keep the momentum going.

Does this mean I'm throwing in the towel? No, not yet. But maybe it'd be best to put things officially on hiatus for the time being -- that would at least free me from having to write these humiliating little explanations every couple of weeks. Sure, I'd like to finish what I've started, even if it takes a lot longer than originally planned. But when it comes right down to it, I'd still rather be "that guy who ran half of Brooklyn and finished his dissertation" than "that guy who ran all of Brooklyn" and didn't.

Oh, and since I mentioned my advisor, I should also mention Through Deaf Eyes, a documentary about Deaf history and culture which features interviews with him. It premiers Wednesday, March 21 on PBS stations nationwide (check your local listings, of course).

And, just for old time's sake, here are a few more photos from the Runs Brooklyn archives:


Greenpoint


Floyd Bennett Field


Bay Ridge