DOMSday

I got a little adventurous this past weekend and made up a new 11 mile (10.92 miles to be exact) loop to do in Brooklyn. I mapped out the course beforehand using runningmap. (I've used mapmyrun before, but I got really annoyed with its ads that block the view of the map and the extra sensitive pointer that draws a line when you're just trying to scroll down. One of these days my toolbox will include a fancy Garmin watch.)

It was a beautiful tour of Brooklyn. The course took me through the cobblestone streets of DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). This was followed by Brooklyn Heights with a breathtaking view of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. I trotted along through Cobble Hill, crossed the Gowanus Canal (a Superfund site, not to be confused with "Super fun"),  passed through Park Slope and then ran south of Prospect Park toward Flatbush. Flatbush Ave. turned into Washington Ave, which took me home.

Eleven-ish miles isn't that long of a run compared to the 35 that I'm training for, but my legs are incredibly sore! This route turned out to be very hilly. There is one hill in DUMBO/Brooklyn Heights that is reminiscent of San Francisco (northern Californians can roll their eyes now).

I ran for a couple of miles yesterday, but it didn't loosen up my quads. Stairs are challenging, as is getting out of my office chair. The word for this is DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness. This type of pain always takes me back to the days after the first practice of every soccer season, when I was a kid. I would be so sore from trying to prove myself on the field and it always made me feel tough and proud.

Here are some things I saw on my run:

The tip of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty (which appears small in this picture)

An old fashioned retractable wooden bridge, built in 1889, over the Gowanus

This bridge is the oldest of four of its kind in the country.

A market with outdoor speakers playing Caribbean music

Lively stores on Flatbush Ave.