birdw0rds

Second week jogged in at just over 30 miles, included an excellent bright, cool jaunt with a couple of Flightmates via the NYC Bridges II route. Up and over the exposed, Hell Gate chunk of the Triboro’ (sorry…RFK…) Bridge is always fun, and added value of a skip around the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens and a cable car ride back to Manhattan.  First ‘race’ down too: a cold Central Park 5 miler in the name of Lebow – didn’t push it pacewise, but  Manhattan Half is a mere week+ away, so eyes, and legs, on that.

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The 2010 race(s) to Joysey.  Weekends’re filling up already:

- Sat Jan 9: Fred Lebow 5 miler
- Sun Jan 24: Manhattan Half
- Sun Feb 7: Gridiron 4 miler
- Sun Feb 21: Cherry Tree 10 miler
- Sun Feb 28: Al Gordon 4 miler
- Sun Mar 21: NYC Half
- Sun Mar 28: Colon Cancer 15K
- Sat Apr 3: Flushing Meadows Half
- Sun Apr 11: Danbury CT Half
- Sun May 2: NJ Marathon

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Despite not getting organised enough to run long proper, the birdlegs clocked up 23 miles as an ease into this binary year. If that’s maintained as a mean throughout the next 51, the annual 1K mileage goal is achievable at least.  The temperature in Gotham has been jumping all over the area, which has made dressing for the cool / cold / fookenfreezing a challenge.  ‘Tis a measure of the recent frigidness that tonight’s -1 degC around the Central Park Loop felt comfortable.  Compared to Sunday’s dawn ride over the wind-blasted Brooklyn Bridge, was not exactly tropical, but not teeth-freezing biting neither.

Have also got motivated enough to restart the defatflabfookering core strength routine. Those planks (yer plank!) and crunches and (in)stability balling are gruelling, but it’s the only way to stabilise the chubby-middled trollness.  Am now waddling around like there’s a surgically-inserted medicine ball in me trunk given the stiff abs, but give it a few more weeks and I’ll be back in the swing. He. Says. With. Conviction.

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‘Twas a tad surreal, but the birdlegs saw out the end of the Naughties and the beginning of what?, the Teenies?, by joining the other Nut runners in Central Park for a slushy 4 miler.  Sort of odd to countdown to the new year, watch fireworks for about 5 seconds, and then start running, but there you go.  Was a bit tricky underfoot around the turns due to the slush underfoot, but no real problem.

Thanks to a fellow Joester, I finally dipped my bod into the briney in Coney Island on the 1st – the annual Polar Bear dip has been on my NYC list for years. We made it a ‘tri’ of sorts with the midnight run, a 40+ mile bike ride to Coney and back, and the frigid dip into the Atlantic.  All toughens you up, right?  Quite the event there on the beach when we got there – lots of New York colour.

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