A Poem, Running is a Contact Sport, and Sneakers for Sale on eBay

Central Park is beautiful. A few weeks ago, sprinklings of yellow, blue and white flowers started popping up along the roadway. Now they're in full flower.

And to celebrate, a poem.

I call it "To The Person Who Stole My Water Bottle"

I left my bottle

nestled in the tree trunk

at the bottom of Cat Hill

where it awaited me

as I did hill repeats.

Why did you take it?

You suck.

What makes it suck was that it was my MSKCC bottle. Who the heck would want my bottle? And also, everyone knows that the bottles left there are left by people training on Cat Hill. I did two sets of three easy repeats, by the way. I could've maybe done one more set, but talked myself out of it, knowing it was just a little too early in the season to push it. And I'm glad I stopped, because I'm really sore today.

Ah, the bottle leaked anyways. And if you, oh stealer of my bottle, want to promote MSKCC, please -- by all means.

As you can see by the Cat Hill training, I've started getting a little more serious about my running, considering that I've got a half-marathon coming up in a few weeks (the More Half-Marathon.) So even though this past week was a KILLER in terms of transcriptions -- not complaining, the more, the merrier! -- I did manage to squeeze a few runs and gym workouts in.

So this past Sunday, I go for a 10-miler, along Riverside Park. It's a gorgeous day. I love this run, more so than Central Park, even though it's usually way more crowded. It's flatter, for one thing. And I love the scenery, getting to look out over the Hudson.

It was a great run. I could have kept going. I'm literally about three blocks from finishing, turning off of the Park onto 59th Street, under the overpass, when I trip over a piece of chain-link fencing sticking out into the sidewalk, and --

NOOOOOO! (say that in slow motion)

Of course I do the dumb thing and start speeding up, thinking I can run it out.

Then comes the slow-motion falling. And I'm thinking -- NOT MY MARATHON FEET! NOT MY STENO FINGERS!

Too late!

Witness the damage, and keep in mind these were taken three days later, with a cell phone camera. They don't begin to do justice to the pretty colors:

Plus my left hand hurt for two days, like I overstretched the fingers.

Who said running isn't a contact sport?

The kicker is, as I'm heading back to my house -- both legs caked with dirt and blood, and my hand bleeding, who do I run into but my doctor, who takes one look at me and says, "Eww!"

This is the same doctor who laughed in my face when I told her I needed my vaccinations for school. Kidding aside, she's great.

In other news...

I have the New Balance sneakers I tested up on eBay. I only wore them twice. And all the money from their sale is going to MSKCC! Check out the listing by clicking on that.

I need to revamp my Fred's Team homepage, but you can visit it now if you want, by clicking right here!! Can you beat Howard and be the first person to donate?

Happy Pesach, Happy Easter, and any other holiday I may have missed!!