Fecal matter sliding uphill

Date: May 12, 2007
Time: 21:25
Place: The Roosevelt Island Swankadero

A childhood friend's father used to use a version of this metaphor to describe the speed of people who ran slowly. I ran around Roosevelt Island today, which I've heard is 3.9 miles, in about 37-38 minutes. This isn't bad since this is the first time I've done it this year, but it is by no means fast. I don't pass many other runners but many of them pass me. They're all shorter than me too so I got to work on my stride. I feel like I'm wasting my height.

I've also heard the Roosevelt Island promenade was 3.5 miles but I don't think that's correct. That might not include the Goldwater Hospital grounds south of the Queensboro Bridge. Lots of low trees and people in wheelchairs and gurneys. It's a very tough stretch to sprint. You also feel kind of bad running around so many people in wheelchairs. It seems to be in poor taste, as if one is flaunting one's ambulatoriness.

By the way, you may note I said the Queensboro Bridge, not the 59th Street Bridge. It's the Brooklyn Bridge, not the Pearl St Bridge. It's the Manhattan Bridge, not the Canal St Bridge. It's the Williamsburg Bridge, not the Delancey Street Bridge.

It's the Queensboro Bridge, and Paul Simon damn well knew it. "Feelin' Groovy" my ass.