Mr. Mojo Rising

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If you recall, I lost my mojo last Sunday. Well it's officially back! I decided to follow Chris Russell's lead and make up my long run by running to work on Friday. I live approximately 6 miles from George Washington Bridge. However, it's not an easy 6 miles, it's basically all uphill. I'm not talking about rolling hills or "goofy little speed bumps" it's a significant climb. To get a better sense, check out the route and view the elevation profile.

I therefore decided to take a short bus ride to Fort Lee and start my run at the NJ side of the GWB. My adventure started at 5:30 am. I'm happy I brought my rain jacket because it started to rain, not hard but enough to be a pain. I don't usually stop during my runs to take pictures but I felt compelled to. For a moment, I thought about getting on the A train at the GWB Bus Terminal due to the weather but I kept going. For safety purposes I ran down Ft. Washington Ave. until 165th and headed down to Riverside Drive. I stayed on Riverside Drive until 96th St. Daybreak arrived in NYC around 120th as I was passing Grant's Tomb. At this point, the rain had stopped and people were starting to come out to walk their dogs, get their miles in, or going to work. I knew I had many miles ahead of me so I took out my Ipod and decided to catch up on some of running podcasts. I picked up the West Side Rec Path at 96th st. From there it was straight run to lower Manhattan. I stopped to take picutres of the 72nd Boat Basin, the Intrepid, Circle Line, and Chelsea Piers. At Styvestant High School, I took a right and passed the World Financial Center. I caught my first glimpse of Lady Liberty shortly after that. She gave me the motivation I need to keep going. The rain picked up as I looped around the Staten Island Ferry Terminal on to South St. I decided to run past Maiden Lane and try and get as close to 20 miles in as possible. I continuted up the East Side, past the South St. Seaport, the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges. I turned around at the E. 10th st. Track where I've been doing speedwork with the Nike Pacers since Janaury. At this point I'm completely soaked as are my shoes. I hit the stop button of my Garmin at South St. and Maiden Lane at 18.64 miles.

I walked into work soaking wet, picked my clothes from my cubicle and headed up to the showers. After that I treated myself to big breakfast of oatmeal, a bagel with peanut butter, chocolate milk, and some fruit. I went on with my day as if nothing had happened.

As I started sharing what I did with co-workers, on Facebook, and Twitter, I got 2 totally different sets of reactions. My non-running friends called me insane, crazy,etc.. while my running friends totally got it. A bunch of people asked me if I would do it again. Without hesitation, I replied yes. I can totally see myself doing this every so often if I have a busy Sunday planned. I'll leave you this faithful readers, if you are able to run to work, try it you might like. If those of you in NYC, seeing the city on foot during the early morning hours is fucking awsome.

Enjoy some pictures:

Update: I totally forgot to share the run details. My splits were all over the place because of the weather and because I stopped to take pictures.
Rainy Run to Work