I'm sorry, but I can't keep this to myself

This evening on a fairly busy subway platform I looked up to see a man flossing his teeth.

Then this well dressed man of about 60 handed the floss to the women he was traveling with.  She then proceeded to floss her teeth with it and then handed it back to the man who put it in his wallet.

That's it.

Mixing Business and Pleasure.

On Saturday I will be Couse Director of a race on the bike path under the Verrazano Bridge.  My boss and I were talking about the fact that we did not know if the the Sandy repairs were finished or if the path was covered with blown or plowed snow.  So I decided to take a run down there and check it out.   It looked like this.  http://www.gmap-pedometer.com?r=6219350

5 miles of streets followed by 5 miles of park.

I was able to report back that unless it snows more the path was runnable.

They were actually filling the pothole on the Belt Parkway, so I was running faster than the traffic.

This is me having fun.

When  got to the subway in Bensonhurst, I saw the one thing I wanted to see under the El.  A Chinese Bakery. Nothing like a steamed pork bun after a 10 mile run.

I don't get it

Shrubs in AstroTurf.

yea, it looks even freakier with the leftover snow on it.

but not less freaky in this summer Street view


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It turned out to be a really good run that was part a a surprisingly good day.  On Saturday I met up with my running club but was just off my game and jumped on the subway after 5 miles.  Sunday, I was staff at a marathon and spent a lot of time on a bike.  So I pushed my weekend long run to Monday.  But I also realized I had a lunch date with my Mother in law.  Instead of waking up early and do loops of the park, I remembered that I left a change of clothes at her house so that one day I can run there.  My legs were weird, I had to remind myself that the part of my legs that hurt because I road 25 miles the day before were not the running parts.

My run looked something like this. http://gmap-pedometer.com?r=6217401

and my lunch looked like this.  Nothing like all you can eat sushi after a long run.

Then a chilly subway ride home.  Coulda used a coat.

I don't want to be anything like this man.

I don't want what he sells.

I don't even like sharing my country with him.

This kind of patriotism makes me sick.



I saw this ad more than I wanted to during The Olympics.

The American Dream boasts that prosperity and success are achieved through hard work, and it appears the ad tries to highlight that. The ad starts off with the main character (Neal McDonough) asking why we work so hard. "For this? For stuff?" he says while he stands over his pool. As he heads toward his nice house, he continues, "Other countries, they work. They stroll home. They stop by the cafe. They take August off. Off. Why aren't you like that? Why aren't we like that? Because we're crazy-driven, hard-working believers, that's why." Read more: http://wot.motortrend.com/1402_totd_2014_cadillac_elr_ad_hit_or_miss.html#ixzz2u4FjbwOu

I took off since 2008, because I wanted a better life, not more stuff.  I could have kept working at a job that made me sick to go to.  Then maybe I could have a Cadillac.  That would be funny.

There is also that line ".... hard-working believers...".  I guess that is why I can't even think of a person I know who drives a Cadillac.

But,  I always thought the work "Cadillac" really worked in Rock and Roll.

My favorite from The Clash



2 from The Boss.





One from Johnny Cash.



I

Best bunch of random letters in a while.

Upon closer inspection it is asshoug his.

There is a upside to having the "Worst winter in anyone's memory"

Yea, there's a lake under there.













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Have I said how much I enjoy my work?

This morning I got to help organize another race.  A big chunk of my job was to put course marshalls into certain positions so that they make sure the runners go the right way.  

We met an the Start/Finish line and I walked them out to their assigned spots.  The thing is that it was 20 degrees and these high school kids showed up in big puffy down coats, but no hats or gloves.

I really thought they were going to die.  But they did not, when I looped around on my bike to tell them to come back I asked them where they went to school.  Not waiting for an answer I said "I am glad my kids go to a school where they get taught to put on gloves and hats when they are going to do 5 hours of community service outside in February."

Anyway, today's race was along the Hudson River from Chambers Street to Chelsea.

This is the air shaft for the Holland Tunnel at Canal St.

Yea, when you zoom in you can see that when the tide was high those old posts were under water.






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A Short Window of Opportunity.

More Snow.  This time the wet, heavy kind.

The three photos above were all taken on the West side of the Prospect Park.


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The 2 above were taken on the east side of the park.  See below for a streetview in a different season.

I would have taken more photos but my touchscreen did not react well to the sleet.  But it did take a random photo of the roadway.








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and about an hour after I got out of the (most bestest hot) shower one of my friends shared this.

It looks good, if you look up.

But you should really look where you are going, otherwise you will walk into a guy with a cup of coffee.

This is All these photos were take on or near Plaza Street between Lincoln and Flatbush.


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#Ican'twaittillMonday.

It's been awhile since I posted about running.  I just want to say that I have sill been running, its just that I have not felt like writing about it.

The other day one of my teammates posted that she was going to run to the start of a 4 mile race in Central Park.  That's totally my thing.  I was not even registered for the race but that was not going to stop me.

Here is the treat I got as I approached our meeting place at 7am

Well... she was much faster than me and had to get to the start on time so there was no way I was going to keep up.  The most direct route from Brooklyn to Central Park includes Time's Square.  Our plan was to avoid it because it was Super Bowl Central.  I had enough of Super Bowl Gridlock when I had to drive down the West Side on Saturday.  I complained that I could not wait till this Stupid Bowl crap left NYC.  My friend pointed out that now I know how the non running community of NYC feels on the first weekend of November when I run a marathon through their lives.

Since it was just me and I really did not care if I got to the starting line on time I gambled and ran through Time's Square.  

Seeing the amount of people getting a few days pay changed my attitude towards the Super Bowl.  There were.  There were hundreds of security guards and real cops getting paid to stand around and do nothing.  There was also hundreds of people who were being paid to clean or construct things that were standing around doing nothing.

At 9am on Super Bowl morning these women were standing in a line doing nothing.

So, I got to the last corral just as the race was starting.  A 9 mile run followed by a 4 mile race.  No make that a 1 mile sprint, followed by a 8 mile tour of Manhattan, followed by a 4 mile run/walk because I did it with a friend who was practicing the Galloway Method.