Friday January 1, 2010, stroke of Midnight:
Two well known runners in the area and I had arrived at the Moses Area clearing of the Staten Island Greenbelt with a six-pack of beer in tow. Temps were just about freezing with a little sleet in the air, but the trails weren't that bad at all. I was dressed in typical winter running clothes but one of my friends had the foresight to hand each of us a trash bag to wear over the shoulders to keep ourselves dry for the while we had to wait. In the darkness we counted down the last seconds of the old year and toasted the new year with a can of beer. It has always been unique to celebrate the coming of the New Year like this because it is so unlike what others do when the clock strikes twelve. We were in our element, the woods, in dark, with no one else around. It's just great.
Once we downed our beers we basically left the clearing via the Greenbelt Yellow Trail over to the intersection of Rockland Ave and Manor Road to drop the empty cans in a bin and start running in earnest. The course we took is mainly the White Trail that basically splits Staten Island in half from north to south. Since the wind came from the north, we decided to go against the wind and do the north section first.
One thing I always remember about trail running is that I can mainly see 2 dimensions of the course in the limited light. The third dimension, the depth, can be really hard to detect, and this can wreak havoc with your running. Knowing how far some rocks jut out of the path is as important as where they are so that you can clear those rocks effectively. The north look can be rocky at times and we basically took it very slow to prevent turning our ankles. This was an untimed run anyway, so the object was to have fun with this run; we can go as slow as we want.
With several breaks we ambled to the northernmost section of the White Trail, Willowbrook Park, paused to soak in the sights there, then ambled back toward the start.
The northern section took us a little more than 2 hours. We continued along the White trail to start the southern section, which is less rocky but with some pretty quick rolling hills. There were also some streets we had to cross here also, being very mindful that with New Years comes a flurry of drunk drivers. We conversed along the way about our goals for 2010. JG wanted to do the Philadelphia Marathon in less than 3 hours, and FJ wanted to finish his first Ironman. Of course mine was the 100 mile ultra, so we promised to support each other and help each other accomplish our goals.
Despite the drizzle, it was quite comfortable out there and we did very well. We finished the 15 mile run in a little more than 4 hours. We got back to the clearing, drank one more can of beer to our health and headed home for a well deserved sleep.
A perfect start to the New Year. Chalk up 15 miles of running!
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