The calm before the storm isn’t nearly as rewarding as the picture perfect running day after.

Our offices were closed Monday due to all the trains being down. Waking up with a crisp ‘Autumn-like’ breeze coming in through my sunlight bedroom window one thing came to mind… running. I talked to Coach S. (as swimming is my normal Monday routine) and told her I felt like ‘running my face off’. After a green light from her, I took off, not knowing where I was going to end up exactly.

I had eaten some steel cut oats and had a cup of coffee prior to leaving and anticipated this fuel getting me through my run.

As I entered Central Park I became really excited. 60 degrees, breezy, not a cloud in the sky and my energy was on point, what more could a runner as for?

I made my way counter-clockwise around the Park, taking note of any storm damage. If there was any, it looked minor. There were occasional trees that had fallen and small pieces of debris on the path, but it was nothing compared to that crazy storm that ripped up all the trees last year.

I was maintaining a 7 minute pace as I approached Columbus Circle. It was here that I thought, “All of my friends are at work, I have nothing on my schedule…” and I bee-lined it out of the Park and over to the West Side Path heading South.

The sun was really blasting me now that I was out in the open and I stopped quickly once or twice to drink some water.

As I entered Battery Park, the point in which I thought I might turn around and head back, I just decided to keep going. Queue up Forrest Gump jokes anytime if you haven’t already. Down by Lady Liberty I noticed how crystal clear the sky was.

I rounded the tip of the island and headed up the East Side Path, still feeling good. I haven’t run more than 13 miles in quite some time (January in fact) so I was wondering how I would fare.

At Houston Street I moved inland and blazed up Second Avenue, heading straight toward 83rd Street which was my starting point. It was during this stretch I started to feel fatigued, overheated and overly excited for lunch.

Finishing up just over the 17 mile mark I grabbed a Gatorade and drank it in record time. I finished in 2 hours with a  7:05 pace and a 155 average Heart Rate.

1PM – 4PM: Read, write, chill, eat.

Abbe and I had planned a ‘run-to-dinner’ date for that night (something we really love to do) so I met her at her place to start at 4:30PM. Setting off across 35th Street my legs felt like lead. This was a fun challenge for me, how do I get my legs to get back in run mode. It really only took a mile or so before I was warmed up and everything was running as planned.

We chatted a bit and ended up down at Battery Park (second time for me that day) to have a really relaxing dinner. They even let us in with our running gear on!

We ran just over 5 Miles bringing my daily tally to 22 Miles.

Look how beautiful the sunset was.