When you are a slower runner, you can feel like you have less legitimacy in the sport. Similar to how we judge writers on this platform, it can feel as if pace corresponds to the strength of your commitment. If you publish infrequently, you are an inexperienced writer. Nevermind that you may be taking your time to research a particular story or that you are writing professionally somewhere else. This should go without saying, but let me spell it out: if you write, you’re a writer; if you run, you’re a runner.
Pre-race mode at the Queens 10K in Flushing Meadows Park
I came to running out of sheer vanity. I had just given birth to my first child and was attempting the “snap back” that is expected of mothers. My son was four months old when I joined my Saturday Morning Run Crew #SMRC based in Harlem. Different reasons brought us to a common training goal: the 2016 NYC Marathon.
After training and running my first marathon, I was hooked. While the pounds lost were the initial draw, they became irrelevant to why I continued running. The sport allowed me to have a structured 20 minutes to three hours a day, (depending on where I was in my training) during a time when I felt so out of control. Running kept me outdoors and inspired wonder as my feet brought me to new neighborhoods and sites. It is the easiest, most rewarding way for me to be a tourist in my own city. These days, I like to try and identify street trees on a long run and flowers.
That post-marathon glow.
Here are my favorite routes in Queens:
1. The Waterfront Run
This is the route I usually take and can customize based on my distance needs. I’ll run to Astoria Park and depending on mileage, I’ll run over the Pulaski Bridge into Greenpoint and if I need more miles, I will run over the Willamsburg Bridge into Lower Manhattan.
2. The Trail Run
I am not a trail run expert, but I do love hiking and to me, trail running is hiking but with sneakers and slightly faster. I’ll write a dedicated post for Forest Park, but it is as the name describes, a forest habitat in the middle of highways and busy streets. I normally do the orange or blue trail with one of my dogs. They like the soil under their paws and I like having company on early morning jogs.
3. The Bridge Run
A rainy 2017 NYC Marathon day cheering on runners as they approached the 59th Street Bridge.
If you want to torture yourself a little bit, run the 59th Street Bridge (Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge) back and forth. You’ll be running up a steady incline while dodging other runners, walkers, bikers, and motorized delivery bikes. At 1.3miles each way, it will test your patience and your endurance. And if you are training for the NYC Marathon, running this bridge will give you an advantage at mile 17.