Disclaimer: The following post may contain use of, dare I say, adult language. Hey, I never said this was a kid-friendly site, even though there are plenty of kids on it. 🙂

S*@T, S^#%, S@*)!! God D(#*&$! F&%*!!! I used to be good at this!! S*#&!! What happened??

These are the thoughts that are running (pardon the pun) through my brain on the relatively warm Saturday morning last week as I am dragging my feet down the main loop of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, chest heaving, hands shivering, feet barely willing to close the gap between each other to take another step. Up until this moment I had been in self-denial about the actual truth of the matter – I have lost it. If had you happened to read the C’n’C “About” page you would know that for the last 4 years I have been pretty much knee-deep in running. Not in a crazy “100-mile/week, crack of dawn everyday” type of way, but in a “stay fit and active, get some alone time, run a few 1/2 marathons” kind of way. And so you might be asking yourself – where’s the running in this blog??

Here it is – S*@T, S^#%, S@*)!! God D(#*&$! F&%*!!! I used to be good at this!! S*#&!! What happened??

I used to RUN – 5 miles a day, 6 days a week. In Prospect Park no less. I am on my home turf! I used to run half-marathons. I used to best my PR’s (for those of you non-runners that’s a personal record, how fast you can run a distance or track). How could this happen to me? I can make 100 excuses for how it got to be the middle of February and I have only managed to log 3 runs (Saturday’s run included) since December. I have never been a big fan of winter running. It’s cold. It’s dark. Snow and ice do not make good running surfaces. Etc. Etc. Etc. My schedule for the last 3 months was also not a huge help in getting me out on runs either – 80 hour work weeks, Christmas, New Years, 3 weeks in India, surviving awful jet lag. Etc. Etc. Etc.

The one thing that both motivates me to leave the house and continue with the run even though it’s a struggle is the beautiful landscape I get to run in. I live in north Brooklyn where there are no parks that even come close to how beautiful Prospect Park is (sorry McCarren) so when I have the opportunity to run from the Boyfriend’s house I do it. Once I make the turn onto Eastern Parkway I know I will at least make it to the Brooklyn Museum and run a few rounds up and down the stairs in front of the building (though this time they were still a wee bit too icy to risk). And once I make it to the Brooklyn Museum how can I not make it to Grand Army Plaza and run past all of the vegetable stands at the Park Slope Green Market, maybe picking up an apple if my run will be particularly long (yeah right). And once I get onto the main loop of Prospect Park, that familiar 3.5 mile strip I have run so many times I could do it in my sleep, I know I have at least a mile in me, which makes the total mileage about 3 miles. Not bad for easing yourself back in…

There will always be excuses not to run. As runners we MAKE time run. So the excuses don’t matter. All that matters is that I get up and go on the next run and then the next. I have no idea when I will get out on my next run and to be honest the memory of this last experience may be too fresh in my mind, but I will. Until then, check out some pictures from Saturday’s run. Stay warm!