Summer Friday running and flowers in the Boogie Down
Week 2, Day 5 of NYC Marathon Training: 5.04 miles run and 10 minutes on the Peloton bike
I try to do something fun for every one of my Summer Fridays (getting out of work early in the summer!) Otherwise, it’s not very special.
Last week, I went to the New-York Historical Society. This Friday, I decided to combine a marathon training run with my love of flowers for my Summer Friday, visiting one of the most unlikely places you would expect nature — the Bronx!
Fun fact: I have annual memberships to not one but two Bronx botanical gardens. The first is for the New York Botanical Garden, and I go there about once every few weeks. The thing is due to the various seasons with flowers, the garden can look completely different in just a week or two. So I like to go a lot to check out all of the seasons.
I recently signed up for an annual membership with Wave Hill Public Garden and Conservation Center, also in the Bronx. Wave Hill is much smaller than NYBG, but it does have absolutely stunning views of the Hudson River.
It occurred to me that for marathon training, it would be pretty cool to do Sunday long runs from lower Manhattan to the Bronx, and end my day at one of these locations.
But since I only had a few miles to do for Friday, I decided to run in the Bronx — part of the way going from Van Cortlandt Park to Wave Hill and the rest getting to and from NYBG.
Unfortunately, I got lost taking a shortcut to Wave Hill, and ended up going in circles. What should have only taken a mile took me a mile and a half, and I was still another mile and a half away from Wave Hill!
If I wanted to see both gardens in the same day, I would need to get there more quickly. Plus, I was worried I was going to end up even more lost. So I ended up spending a few bucks to take an Uber there!
I spent some time at Wave Hill enjoying the flowers and the Hudson River views, then left the garden, took a bus to the Grand Concourse, and then ran from the Grand Concourse to NYBG, ran around that garden, and then ran back to the 4 train.
All told, I put in 5.04 miles of running (and checking out flowers!) and enjoying the relaxation involved with visiting these botanical gardens. Both of them are my happy place, especially the New York Botanical Garden!
There’s something about seeing flowers that makes me happy. I have even visited NYBG in pouring rain, I like it so much!
After I got home, I watched a bit of Creed, one of my all-time favorite inspirational movies. (More on this movie in a future column!) Then I did a short Peloton bike ride — a Barbra Streisand-themed one — before going to bed. I had a race on Saturday morning, so I needed to get some rest.