This weekend I went back to the Island to run my yearly 10k with Pops. This year the Cow Harbor race had more runners registered than ever before - 5600 people. Not too shabby. My race time, however, was pretty shabby. Very shabby, I'd say. I could blame my 11+ minutes per mile pace on the unseasonable heat. Or the fact that my second toe on my left foot bled through my sock. Or even the fact that, after gratefully running through the incredibly refreshing water being sprayed from the sidewalks from hoses held by generous Northport residents, I realized that I was wearing a plain white t-shirt and white sports bra. (Oops.) But, I won't blame my lacking time on any of these easy excuses. I will, instead, concede that I should have trained. There's always next year.
I'm not sure what has happened in New York City in the past month, but for some reason the city's public transportation system has become twice as crowded as it was previously. I first noticed it about a month ago. Perhaps it has to do with the beginning of the new school year. Students and teachers take public transportation, right? I can't really picture the big yellow school buses pulling up at a random street corner to get the kiddies off to the first day of school. (On a side note, I remember having a great time at my elementary school bus stop. Except, of course, when the dad who lived across the street from me used to stand there with his son and smoke cigars. Ugh, gross. To this day, I can't smell a cigar without thinking of that man.) Maybe more city folk are trying to "go green" and take the subway (There's nothing like those Pepsi Refresh Project commercials to encourage the lazy man to do good). Whatever the reason, September has made me feel like a sardine like no month has ever before. Being touched on all sides by strangers and their messenger bags is bad enough. But some of these people really need to learn the wonders of gum. I've smelled my fair share of bad breath on the subway; but I was totally unprepared for what this morning's ride brought me. After I stepped onto the 4 train headed uptown around 908am, I quickly became sandwiched between (i) a tall teenage to twenty-something man (I'm horrible at guessing ages) wearing baggy clothes and a backwards/sideways (you know, that place halfway between the two) hat and (ii) an extremely put-together woman in her early twenties, wearing business attire. Usually I don't notice many details about the people standing near me on the train (especially while balancing a 400+ page book, an umbrella, my ipod, and work bag), but my nostrils couldn't help but take in the (vaguely) familiar aroma of a certain illicit substance, pouring out of the mouth of one of my fellow close-standing subway riders. Now, which of these two individuals, might you ask, was riding to work/school/somewhere high on a Tuesday morning at 913am? I'll just say, remember not to judge a book by its cover. And somewhere in midtown, at an accounting firm or a law firm or some other boring white color job, there's a young woman having way more fun on a Tuesday morning than the rest of us.
With ACL just over a week away, I can hardly contain my excitement to be there and my lack of enthusiasm to be at the office. I have, not surprisingly, fallen behind on my plan to listen to all of the bands I have not yet heard and discover all kinds of new gems. Well, there's still a week. Here we go!
As a final note, I am so so pleased with the writers of glee for including a brief reference to the wildly under-appreciated show that rocked my childhood, Kids Incorporated. Too bad my parents stopped getting Disney after a few years, so I never got to see the end of the show. To those few Disney executives likely reading this, I implore you to air reruns of this fabulous show. You have the opportunity to impress our nation's children (and adults who appreciate such wonders) with quality programming. Take advantage of it. Thanks.
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