The Shrub in the Park Disrupts Exercise

Tuesday evening, my friend and running coach, Jon, accompanied me to Central Park so we could have a nice run around the Reservoir. There’s a 1.58 mile track along the bank of the Reservoir where runners become counter clockwise traffic around the water. Our plan was to walk to the park, have our run, then walk back before the sun set. When we got to the park, the 85th street transverse and the road to the east of the Reservoir was blocked by barriers and uniformed officers.

Dubya had been in Harlem at a charter school beating a dead horse, so my run was delayed by his motorcade. After waiting a good 15 minutes to half an hour for him to pass, I considered flipping off his limo, but the men looking out of the back of the black SUV’s and pointing automatic rifles at the crowd kind of changed my mind about that action.

When we finally ran, I kept a slow pace in order to make sure I could run an entire lap, but also to watch the pretty women pass me. While last week I ran an assumed mile to mile and a half, it wasn’t continuous running. I had to walk a couple of times during the run. My run last night, however, I was able to complete without stopping or walking. Although I realize that for a runner, a mere 1.58 miles isn’t much, but I’ve just started this and I’m very pleased with myself.

Hopefully within a couple of weeks I’ll be able to make it around twice.