Running on Roosevelt Island

Before I talk about my second race on Independence Day let me talk a little bit about Roosevelt Island from a runner's point of view. Ever since my stint in the German military I had a knack for running. Back in Gymnasium (something like high school here) I despised anything that had to do with sports. Mostly because of the group aspect of it. The least I hated was field and track but I hated it nonetheless. Fast forward to a physical activity that our commanding officer told us to do: run or at least walk a few miles through some forest. It turned out that I and one of my roommates were the only ones who actually ran. I ran because he ran and I realized it was fun. It wasn't a great time I ran or anything like that but thanks to him I found something out about me: running can actually be fun. I assume I especially like the solitary side of it. I don't have to mingle with people. Nothing substantial came from it until many years later when I was living with my wife on Staten Island, right across Silver Lake Park on Victory Boulevard. The lake in the middle and the pathway around it was a huge invitation and temptation to just give it a try. When I lost my job and was "in between jobs" for two months back in 2001 I had nothing better to do. My wife went off to work every day and I strapped on my shoes. Some crummy sneakers I found in the closet. It was an easy 1.3 miles run but, me being me, I did not start it slow and a couple weeks in my knees were creaking, popping, and hurting and I had to stop. I realized, though, that having a place to run right across the street makes things a lot easier.

I didn't pick up running for another five years or so. My first child was around three years of age and we were living on Roosevelt Island. I remember the day when my toddler was invited to a birthday party in some other part of town (I believe it was on Staten Island) and we were on the way to the subway station when my wife said that she forgot something at home. It was something important and I suggested that I would just run back home quickly to fetch it while she and the kid would just go ahead and wait for me at the station. For some reason I literally ran home, fetched whatever we forgot, and ran back to them. I felt good. I suggested that same day that I think I should do some running. The rest, as they say, was history.

Running on Roosevelt Island is a dream. You step out of your building and you just run. There are no streets to cross, no cars to avoid, no traffic lights to stop at, no pedestrians or bicyclists to dodge, or dog poop to step in. As I mentioned before, one  time around the island is a little more than 5k and it is nearly flat (so, if you want to do some hill work you either go to nearby Central Park or, more about that later as well, go across the Queens Boro Bridge [excuse me, Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge]). It doesn't give you many excuses not to run and a lot of reasons why you should not skip today's run. It has been becoming quite popular with a lot of residents and non-residents as well. Organizations, like NYCRuns, use Roosevelt Island for more and more of their events.