An Evening River Run

This morning I opted again to sleep in, which meant an after-work workout was in my future. I should have probably stayed late at work today, but the workout meant that I had to hurry home (especially as I really wanted to workout outside if at all possible). Of course, once I actually left work, I dawdled a little bit walking home instead of my usual half-walk/half-jog pace. I decided while I was walking home that it was just about the perfect temperature for a run, so I got home, changed clothes and headed out.

I remembered that I've been wanting to run along the Westside path again for a while. The bike path isn't as nice there as the running path and I've been wanting to go again since I actually think it's nicer than running in the park. I just like being near the water and the change in scenery.

I was sort-of running against the sun tonight. I've never been a fan of fall. I actually think anyone who says that they like fall is fatally flawed. Why would you like something that signals the start of winter? I really don't like how much shorter the days are getting. I knew I'd have to be back to my house by 7:30 in order to be home by dark. Also, as much as I like running on this Westside path, the couple of blocks from my apartment to the path are pretty desolate and not exactly where I wanted to be at dark.

Because I was short on time, I knew that this wasn't going to be a really long run, but I knew that I needed to do something today and anything would be better than nothing. I started out running at a pretty slow pace. I just wanted to like running today. I wasn't out to beat any records, just to enjoy myself. I think that I really want to try to remember that all of this is supposed to be fun -- especially the race itself. I'd rather run a little bit slower and not hate the whole thing. Seems like a good trade off.

I just followed the paths and enjoyed watching people out on kayaks on the river. I also thought about swimming in the Hudson and I wondered what would happen if I just got in and started swimming? I mean, there are no posted signs saying that you can't swim there. I don't think I would do it unsupervised, mainly because of the boat traffic in the river, but it was just something interesting to think about.

I can't be 100% sure of the mileage for today because apparently some of the paths that I ran along are newer than the satellite maps on Google Pedometer! I think that a fair estimate is 3.5 miles, which I ran in 35:43 (10:12 pace). The run on the way there was slightly longer (1.9 miles) than the run on the way back (1.6 miles) because I took an extra pathway and I ran out onto a pier on the way there and skipped it on the way back. I made it home just in time for the sun to go down. I heard a teammate talking about Westchester the other day and she said that the sun is in your eyes a good portion of the race, so it sounds like I'll have the opposite problem then. I think I need to practice running/biking with my sunglasses on more than I have been recently.