Friday, July 9, 2010

It's a WET Heat

Just got back from a family trip to NY. The first few days were magically cool and comfy --we spent most of our time outside and slept with open windows. The last two days were swampy and hot and we spent most of our time outdoors and slept with windows * open *

I was able to get two quality runs in, both with my father in law. He doesn't run anymore, but he is a champion walker and walks for exercise almost every day. He warned all the muggers that I would be in town so we pretty much had the park to ourselves.

Glen Island is now one of my favorite places to run, walk, sightsee, loiter near the restrooms.
Glen Island is connect to Westchester by a drawbridge 
and you get there by driving through historic Pellham and Pellham Manor (the rich section of Pellham). This whole area north of the Bronx is rich in history, tradition, and established neighborhoods. Though I didn't get the chance, its easy to get downtown on the train --about a 30-40 minute ride to Grand Central.
Glen Island has a nice wide paved path that circumnavigates the perimeter (call me out on that redundancy but it is still a sexy sentence). Since I will be alerting my NY family to the existance of this blog, I must now apply the principles of truth and not the usual set of exagerations and downright fabrications which make up the lion's share of my posts.
A quaint location to be sure, though I am positive I saw some shark fins down there.
The island path totals about 1.64 miles if you take a small detour near the north end. There is also a nice hill on the north end that adds a bit of heavy breathing to the route. I went around once walking with Bruno then ran around three times. It was starting to really warm up and I had to go buy my winning lotto ticket, so we called it a day and went back to New Rochelle where they live --also the home of the Dick Van Dyke show.
I got to interview the man himself.
Me: DVD (may I call you DVD?) Do you believe that I could make it into show business?
DVD: (silence, but his expression says it all).
Me: Mr. Van Dyke, want to go shark fishing in the sound?
DVD: (Again, you can see it in the eyes)
The temps and humidity were in perfect harmony but there were not very many others out there running or walking. That's a shame because it is an absolutely stunning location and has all the elements most exercise enthusiasts would want --it even has a 1/4 mile track in the center, though I stayed on the outside edges to be near the water. This was fun and there are miles of nearby streets with rolling hills, shade, and interesting neighborhoods (and Iona college) for those who want to extend their run.

* Our room had a window A/C which we cranked up to 11 and huddled around all night long, like crack heads at a Columbian sample party.

2 comments:

The Boring Runner said...

That map helped out more than you'll ever know. I am HORRIBLE with anything in the NE as far as geography. It is really their own fault for not having roads that are EVER straight.

Telling relatives of your blog is always dangerous business.

RunningLaur said...

Yeah, don't mention your blog to ANYONE - that's how I happened upon all of my followers.
I bet if the locals saw you out there running more frequently they'd all join in too. It's too fun to miss out on. I mean, who doesn't want to be outside sweating in the humidity?