Monday Night Runs

Despite what the title may imply, this post is not about bowel movements, but rather the State Parks Summer Run Series here on Long Island. Every Monday night at 7 starting mid-June, a gathering of roughly 2,000 people get together at one of the state parks on Long Island and slog happily run their way through a 5K, 5m or 10K run. And then, after we've all sweated and snot-rocketed our way through a park, we sit down and have a few drinks.

I realize that after reading the above paragraph, I make it sound like we all sit around a campfire and sing Kumbaya while we make s'mores, and that is not AT ALL what we do. I mean, c'mon, there are over 2,000 people there on any given Monday. That is one MASSIVE campfire. And we all know you can't make a (legal) campfire that big! (Remember: only you can prevent forest fires!) However, it's not very far off from it either.

The best part about the Summer Run Series is that anyone can do it. No, really. They even have a wheelchair race that goes off 2 minutes before the rest of the runners. Kids, teens, adults - everyone can run or walk and hang out afterward. They even serve beer at the end! I mean, if a couple of 8 oz. cups of lukewarm, badly poured Miller Lites don't get you running faster, I don't know what would.

Last night was the Bethpage State Park 5K. For those of you into golf - a sport I don't play but wish I did (mostly because of the ubiquitous 19th hole at every course) - that's where the 2002 and 2012 US Opens were held and it's also one of my favorites in the series. The finish line is on the Polo Fields (really!), and who doesn't like dodging horse crap on their way to the finish! But you also get to run along some of the golf course cart paths and it's got a lot of rolling hills which means you can get a decent time on a pretty hard course.

I finished strong with this one chick wearing "Colorado" (ugh, I love that place!) socks. It was one of those mental/physical battles where you both know the other is right there, neck-and-neck, and even though neither one of you is winning anything at this race you are still trying to stick it to the other person. I got stuck behind "Old guy in the short shorts" as we came into the finish so she beat me across the line - but we both gave each other a high five as we crossed. It was one of those "Thanks for pushing me so hard but there was no way I was going to let you beat me even if it meant that now I can't see straight and am in danger of falling over in front of all these people" high fives - but the camaraderie was felt!

Unfortunately, we had to bolt right after we finished because I had a FD meeting to get to, which meant that I also missed my favorite part of the race - the after-party. But alas, there are still four more races to go so there will be plenty of lukewarm beer in my future!