The Old Runner

I have to admit, the Big Apple took a bite out of me. Really though, it had little to do with the city itself — it was great — but there’s no 26.2-mile stretch on the planet that appeals to me if I have to run the entire length of it. To those who know me well, that’s no surprise because for the past few months I’ve had a case of Marathoners Remorse. As I built my mileage up from 40 to 50 miles per week (too quickly of course) I started getting some small, nagging injuries. The worst one was what the physical therapist called “a weak quadriceps muscle in combination with a tight IT band,” which was resulting in my knee getting off track as I landed with my right foot. Exercises and stretching have gotten that pretty much under control but I wore a brace right up until this marathon mostly as a precaution. Then there have been problems with toes and shin and calves, and before I lose everybody to a major snoozefest I’ll just say that all of that made me decide in advance to be happy wi...

My daughter Nicole has been living in New York City for the past 14 years. She moved there to attend graduate school at NYU, and after she graduated she stayed on as an English professor. She’s now been at NYU for almost as many years as I was in the ninth grade, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog entry. Last summer while I was visiting, Nicole’s friend Diana took me for a run across the Brooklyn Bridge and down along the Hudson River, which is still my best and most memorable training run ever. You can  read about it and see photos that I took along the way by clicking here . Diana and Nicole both live in Brooklyn and we talked about all of us running the Brooklyn Half Marathon this year. Nicole got a little sidetracked when on Mother’s Day just a couple weeks ago she found out she’s pregnant (yay!), and it was decided that a half marathon might not be the best thing for her right now, which I think was a good decision. We’d never want to look back and regret making a decision to ru...