I ran away from physical therapy three times

That's one way to say it. But I really went to physical therapy and then left by going for a run. And I did that three times. I still go to physical therapy.

I atend physical therapy at the sports performance lab at NYU Langone, Rusk. It's a fairly medium sized building by New York City standards on the corner of 38th Street and 1st Avenue. Physical therapy is on the 5th floor and the windows haven't awesome view of the East River, the UN to the left and the rest of NYU Hospital to the right.It's kind of weird being so close to the UN. A couple of years ago I got a call one day before an appointment asking me if it wouldn't be too bad if I canceled my appointment. Because, the UN was in session. Kind of a big deal when multiple heads of states are four blocks away. A few days later I had an appointment and they let me keep it because it was early in the day. And then I watched them shut down first Avenue City buses came to a stop. It looked like people had a choice of siting on the bus indefinitely or get out and walk. After PT I walked up town a little but couldn't get too close to the UN. But I did see some of the bulletproof SUVs parked on 1st Avenue. Since I value my freedom I did not take any pictures.

So here is a crappy picture of 333 East 38th Street. I have a few doctors in that building. I've also seen many physical therapists there. And I've had a few of my surgeries on the ground floor..

And here's a picture of myself standing in front of the UN. I'm sure you can Google so much nicer pictures

Anyway this post is not about that.

But on my first run away from physical therapy i ran out the door and stop to take this really cool picture. You see, I really appreciate it. Because I exist in two worlds. When I walked out of that door I was a physical therapy patient. But I was also approaching a bike lane. I think it's really cool that cyclists are warned that people with disabilities and patients are about to cross the bike lane. We all need to be aware of each other.

Screaming get out of my way does not work. It doesn't work if you're on a bicycle. It doesn't work if you're in a wheelchair.

On run number one I decided to run over the 59th Street Bridge And then do as much of a loop as Roosevelt Island as I felt like.

On this run I noticed a large amount of scooters chained to the fence on the bridge. I didn't take any pictures but I later figured out that the workers doing maintenance on the bridge Had a pile of them on the Queens side and we're using them to get to their job site. Cool.

On Roosevelt Island i discovered that the northern end is Equally as cool as the Southern end

the Southern end has four freedoms park and the abandoned hospitals. You can Google plenty of pictures of that. But the northern end has some cool sculptures and this especially cool sculpture of Sabrina

here's the weirdest thing about Roosevelt Island. There's that new research incubator side just south of the Queensboro Bridge. It looks so unlike New York they were making a movie where they were making believe it was Sweden

But here's my favorite part of Roosevelt Island. When you go to the Southern end you could look back

at Manhattan. To me it's no big deal to look at the UN. I like looking back at the hospital where I just walked out of and just south of that is the main campus of NYU Langone. Where they kept me alive

Yeah, it doesn't get old to look back at the hospital where you stayed for months. Especially after running 6 mi.  I cried when I took this photo. A little bit now, too. 

It's hard to tell which one. But I think one of the smaller rectangular buildings to the right of the future UN is also 333 is 38th Street.

Anyway, a couple of weeks later I had physical therapy again. The weather was great and I came dressed to run so I ran back over the 59th Street Bridge but this time I made a right turn and headed towards Brooklyn. My plan was to make it to Greenpoint before going home. But my shoelace opened and I didn't feel like asking a stranger to help me out So I had lunch in Long Island City and went home from there. Just to the south of the Queensboro Bridge is this iconic Pepsi sign. If you're ever there you should just know that there's a great bathroom right behind it.

 

Then, last week I ran out of physical therapy and then North until I got to the pedestrian bridge that goes over to Randall's Island. This trip was rather a mess because they are still fixing damage from Sandy and rebuilding a lot of the parks along the East River.There was an entrance to the new park that I thought would be open but instead found a bunch of people hanging out at the foot of the bridge which was still closed. I asked a man of a certain age who was sitting there reading the New York Times when he thought the bridge would be open.He said they keep saying any day now. They've been saying any day now for a couple of years. For future reference you should know that the Promenade is not open between 73rd Street and 114th Street. It might be weeks months or years.

In any case this will be my last post about physical therapy for a while because I'm taking a break. Insurance covers it in chunks and we decided that I should save a chunk this year for the winter. This fall I'm running two marathons. I told Mike therapist I should save up some appointments for after I hurt myself. She used better language and said yes, we might need to treat your overuse injuries..... Looking forward to overusing my self