Up and out at 6:00 AM

There’s something about the morning in the dark.  It’s one thing when one has been out all night, but waking up and hitting the pavement with nary a hint of the old “rosy fingered dawn” is something else again.

This morning, all dressed up in sweats, a light shell jacket, and with my daughter similarly attired, she and I set out to run the track at Cadman Plaza Park in downtown Brooklyn–our first such excursion together.

As mother-daughter events go, it was pretty cool. While not particularly experienced, she has a long lopping gait that saw her fly out in front of me as I trudged along with my steady-as-she-goes tiny steps. Had I the stamina or the knees for that matter it would have been wonderful to run out like that, but having neither, I only looked on in wonder.

Waiting for me at the head of street, she took off again as we neared the park. Once inside, we got started on the rubberized track running along Cadman Plaza East before it looped down and around to near the Brooklyn Bridge exit onto Cadman Plaza West and then up again past the Korean War monument to the Tillary Street entrance.

True to her form, she ran ahead, but as I caught up she was definitely getting tired–and was stopping more to take a break than to wait for Mom!  Still she did a wind sprint that made me breathless just to watch, never mind EVER attempt to do myself.

After our one loop around the park, we figured we’d done enough–it was our first day at it and there was no sense “killing” ourselves or tying our muscles up in knots to the point where we couldn’t try it again for a while.

Smiling, she said, “thanks, Mom,” and as we made our way home, still in the dark, there was something both sweet and triumphant about knowing we’d already accomplished a lot well before the sun came up.

We’ll see about tomorrow.

If you are thinking about taking up running … here are a few videos that be of interest.

Basics for beginning runners …

This one has good tips if you’re going to run for longer distances …

“Roadwork” training for boxers