Two-County Twenty-Miler

Time for a trail run

On Friday night, I was dreading the 20-mile run I faced the next day. Twenty miles is certainly a long way, and part of me was a little apprehensive about doing the distance; runs like that always makes me tired and achy afterward, for good reason. However, my dread was mostly the result of covering the same ground yet again. The Hudson River pathway. Central Park. They're lovely spots, and I feel lucky to have them so close. But it's easy to get tired of something wonderful if you do it too often. I decided that the time had come to shake things up.

Eager as I was to run part of the marathon course, I scrapped the idea almost as soon as it occurred to me. The route goes along some busy thoroughfares in Queens and Brooklyn, and running 20 miles through busy intersections sounded worse than doing the park yet again. I can only dodge so many pedestrians before I fall into serious road rage, and stopping at that many red lights was bound to frustrate me so much I worried I wouldn't finish the run. So I turned to an old article I ripped out of an NYRR magazine couple of years ago. (Being a pack rat has its advantages.) The article had ideas for different runs around the city beyond the usual the usual Central Park loop, one in each borough. Unfortunately, a lot of them were very short. The recommended route in Brooklyn, for example, was a loop around Prospect Park, a mere 3 miles. Doing 6+ laps around the same park seemed to fly in the face of my desire to seek out new territory. The Bronx run, however, had potential.

The article suggested starting in a park called VanCortlandt, way up north. I ran in it several times last year for races and recalled liking it very much. The park up is mostly made up of athletic fields, but it's bordered by a miles and miles of woods with trails meandering between the trees. This seemed like an ideal area for my long run. Having narrowed down my region, a quick search on MapMyRun.com gave me a specific route that I planned to do twice to get in all the miles necessary.

I was more excited for my run on Saturday morning I have been for a long time, though my enthusiasm dampened somewhat during the hour-long ride by subway from Chelsea to the park. I didn't remember it being so far away. Nevertheless, it was nothing short of an enchanted run from the moment I got off the train. The day was clear, sunny, and cool. After slight navigational mishap I found my way to the parade ground where the first loop of my run would take place and was delighted to discover that it was playing host to a large invitational cross country meet. The runners' uniforms and the smell of the grass took me back to my high school days, when I enjoyed competing in events like this myself. That was a more innocent time, when we 14-year-olds did not worry about slathering on fake tanner... I chatted with a few girls about the course and wished them luck.

Then it was time for my own run, which turned away from the park and headed down a trail. In no time, the populated park was just a memory. I ran not on asphalt but on dirt (dirt!), dodging rocks and roots (roots!!). Trees arched above me to form a green tunnel that was blissfully peaceful. Well, mostly. I could hear some traffic noise from the nearby highway, but I tried to pretend it was a rushing river. After a few miles, the trail gave way to a small park called Tibbetts in Westchester County with a pretty lake at its center that ran into a small brook. I did a few laps around the park and spotted several black squirrels. Flocks of Canadian geese glided serenely across the lake's still surface, punctuated by an enormous white swan. There were more people here than had been on the trail, but they were few and far between, and many of them sat alone on benches or blankets reading or gazing at the water. Just when I thought things couldn't get any more idyllic, I ran across a small bridge and came face to face with a blue heron. (A blue heron!!!) After eyeing me serenely, it returned its eyes to the surface of the water where it searched, stock still, for fish. I admired it for about five minutes, feeling more peaceful and meditative than I think I've ever been in New York. 

Tibbetts Park

I felt energized throughout my run, and it was over before I knew it, a rarity for a distance day. Though the train ride is less than ideal, I consider the hassle of getting to Van Cortlandt and back totally worth it. Next time, I'll probably download a book onto the Kindle app on my phone--it fits nicely into the pocket of my water bottle--and bring it along to put the trip to good use. This week's agenda calls for a 15-miler, and I look forward to starting in the same area but heading into the network hilly trails nearby instead of going over same ground again. Training, stress relief, and a nature fix all in one - that's my kind of multitasking.