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alking might seem an unlikely topic to feature in a running blog. It's not that we never walk anywhere. In a city like New York, where cars are more of a problem than a convienience, we walk everywhere. To the grocery store, to the drug store (we have a CVS, Walgreens and Duane Read in one block near where I live), to the post office and yes, to the subway station. New Yorkers probably walk more than folks just about anywhere in the U S of A, where the average cirizen will take their car to visit a neighbor across the street.
But these walks are specific organized walks to get excercise and see or get to an interesteing place, just like our longish runs. The explanation is simple: both my self and my running partner Susan have had injuries or conditions that have limited our running, and walking is the next best way to enjoy what we have always enjoyed in our runs. And if one or both of us can't run at a given time, well then, we will walk.
And our walks are not done to simply get in some miles and improve our fitness. For that matter, neither are our runs. We walk as we have always run to enjoy the area we go through or or get to. And we will always stop to smell the roses or see the view or to talk and enjoy each others company. If you run because you "just need to put in 14 miles this weekend", that's not our kind of running. For us it's "let's run to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden this weekend." "Sure, how far is that?" "I don't know, maybe 6 or 8 miles. Who cares!"
With that introduction, I give you the first three walks we took together in 2019 —
rolewskie Jadlo (), is a Polish restaurant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, but not just a restaurant but the best Polish restaurant west of Szczecin (huh? Google it). And since my running partner Susan and I almost always run to an eating place (preferably one that serves beer), this venue has always been a favorite on our list of runs. We've run there from the north (usually crossing over the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge) or from the south (crossing over any one of the three lower Manhattan bridges).
Like most of the places we run to, we probably discovered it by accident — I honestly don't remember. And since we could never pronounce its name, we called it the "Rusty Knights" after the two statues of knights in armor that guarded the entrance. And I'm happy to announce that as of last year the knights were upgraded and they are now the "Shining Knights".
We decided to do a relatively short route in early February, but since Susan is nursing an Achilles tendon problem, she said "why not walk there?" I said "why not indeed", and so we met at the Manhattan end of the QBB (or I should say the EKQBB). It was chilly so we dressed in layers. The worst part was crossing the bridge due to winds. Normally we would take a 180° after getting off the bridge and get on Vernon Boulevard and then run through the LIC East River parks all the way to Newtown Creek and then up to the Pulaski Bridge and on to Greenpoint.
But today we decided to take a shortcut and go under the bridge at Crescent Street and then go down to 21st Street and head straight for the Pulaski Bridge. Well, we took a few extra turns here and there and got to see parts of LIC that we had not seen before. And as an extra surprise, we met Kristal M. who lives in Greenpoint, as we got off the Pulaski. We gave her a quick hello as she ran the other way. Then we made our way over to Manhattan Avenue and stayed on that all the way to KJ. But we made sure to look into Peter Pan Donuts about a block before KJ to see what hey had to sell, Guess what? Donuts!
We made it to KJ just at noon when they open. In fact the "Shining Knights" were still inside from their overnight stay, and were shortly put on duty outside (see photo above right). It was lucky we arrived when we did, since they almost always serve a "lunch tourist" group, about 20 hungry (and a little overweight) tourists at noon on weekends. Shortly after we got seated (and most importantly, after ordering our food) they came in, sat down, got served several Polish specialties prepared in advance, ate, and then left, all in about 20 minutes. And boy does the place get quiet after they leave. What's their hurry? They have to pile into their bus and head off to their dessert stop somewhere in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile we ordered our pierogies, and borsch, and beer and sat there relaxing while this gastronomic spectacle took place. When we finally finished up, the place was filling up with regular customers — we were (I think) the only English speaking customers in the place. Yes folks, this is the real deal. Not sure? Check the menu at the link at the start of this post.
We had thought about taking the East River ferry to get back home. But the chilly weather and the sparse weekend schedule of the ferry led us to
take the G train instead (yes, the G train!) which was only a block away.
We took it, changed to the 7 train at Court Square, and then arrived at Grand Central
where Susan and I parted ways. But run or walk, we'll be back, count on it.
My running friend Susan was also bushed but we both wanted to visit the New York Botanical Garden where the 2019 Orchid Show had recently opened, but we weren't up for a run there. So, like we did 5 weeks ago (see post: A Walk to Krolewskie Jadlo below) we decided to walk there.
We planned out a route, mostly on Walton Avenue in the Bronx, and we would meet at the Lorelei Statue in Joyce Kilmer Park, near Yankee Stadium at 11:00. From there it would be a bit over 4 miles and take us about an hour and a half. As we started off Susan said, "Let's try an new route and go up along Sheridan Avenue instead of Walton". So we did. But Sheridan only goes north 4 blocks and we found ourselves back on the Grand Concourse. This is one route we've avoided over the years for who knows what reason, but it looked so wide open and relaxing today (no noisy trucks or busses) so we just stayed on it practically the whole way,
The only side trip was to visit Poe Park, but half of that was under construction so we moved on. We took a right on Kingsbridge Road, and a left on Bainbridge and voila! we got onto Bedford Park Boulevard which goes directly down the hill to the NYBG. This was a very nice route indeed. And the Grand Concourse might well be a candidate for a full run, all the way from where it starts near the Madison Avenue Bridge and hey! why stop at Kingsbridge Road, we could take it all the way to the Mosholu Parkway and either swing left to Van Cortland Park or swing right to the NYBG.
But we did not go directly to the NYBG, we made a stop at the Webster Cafe, just across the tracks from the Botanical Garden and had a delicious brunch for a very modest price.
The Garden
We got in on my corporate membership, a retiree benefit from the bank I worked for, and after showing the clerk my business
card he looked things up we had a scare: the clerk said it's just good for one, but then he said he meant good for one plus
the member, so we were in and headed for the Orchid Show.
Now Susan and I together with Melissa and various other friends have visited the Orchid Show umpteen times over the years, and it's always the same and it's always different. Huh? It's the same because it's always beautiful and it's different because the themes vary and the arrangements of the flowers change and it is just exciting to see it fresh every year. I tell everyone, you have to see it to believe how beautiful it is.
But this year, we had a glimpse of something unexpected, which was as beautiful as the flowers, it was a small bird in spring plumage flitting from barnch to branch high up in the foliage. I'm pretty sure it was an early spring warbler, but with the poor lighting and with the bird flitting around it was hard to identify. I was lucky to get a photo at all. If I took a wild guess, I'd say a Pine Warbler. Click on the photo and it will alternate between the original photo, and an enlarged version with that area made lighter. If you're a bird expert, mail me what kind of warbler you think it is.
After the Orchids
If you make the trip to the Botanical Garden and make the rounds of the Orchid Show, don't leave! There's a huge landscape
of wonders in this place. Being foot sore and with tired legs, we decided to take the tour on the tour bus. Except
for some whiney toddlers in the seat behind us, we had a wonderful tour of places in the Garden that would be too
far to easily walk to. There was a tape recording of all the sights along the way and even for cognoscenti like ourselves
you'll learn a lot and see places you probably have never seen.
At last it was time to go home so we got the Metro North train just across the road from the entrance ($4.50 for seniors, 20 minutes to Grand Central) back to Manhattan and barely managed to stay awake on the ride. Will we visit again? Damn sure! You come too!
Here's an album of the whole thing: .
ou might wonder why there are several posts about walking to some place in my running blog. There are at least two reasons. First, walking is one of the best cross training exercises for running that there is. Walking uses the same muscles as running, but without the pounding. It's one of the best things you can do after a tough workout or race. It stretches the muscles and helps the blood carry away the toxins that accumulate from the race or workout. I always walked several miles after a marathon and maybe five miles the next day. It was probably a week after a marathon before I would start running again, and that, very gradually. Although I gave up running marathons about 5 years ago, it's the same for any really tough workout or race.
The second reason is that it is possible to be much more sociable if you're walking with a friend. That's something that may be hard during all but a slow run or a run where you feel free to stop and look a flowers or something else that the obsessive runner (not me) is not likely to do. I walked this route with my friend Susan, who is recovering from a tough ankle problem. So we managed to combine her fitness walk (in lieu of running) with my recovery walk after several tough races and workouts.
In this instance we were not just walking anywhere, but walking through a beautiful area and running to an attractive destination.
In this case we headed out from the Queensboro Bridge on the Manhattan side to the in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (about 6½ miles), one of our favorite destinations.
Yes, you may have figured out that if we're not running for beer, we're walking for beer !
The conditions were not too good for sight seeing — it was chilly and quite windy. So although we took the route along the East River parks in Long Island City, we had to stay back from the waters edge. We did do some exploring of the recently opened Hunters Point South Park which goes right up to where Newton Creek empties into the East River. We gave this new section an A+ for making the most of this land.
When we crossed the Pulaski Bridge to Brooklyn, the wind seemed to pick up: I could hardly take a photo of the boats in Newtown Creek.
Around this time we started to get hungry so when we got off the bridge we checked out all the eating places along Franklin Avenue but they all seemed too crowded or too expensive. I jokingly said we could always go to Juliette's, which is about 3 blocks before Radegast, and I said at least that would not be crowded — we had been there many times at it was never crowded. But we have always kept Juliette's for special occasions such as birthdays and it was a bit more pricy that most of the other spots.
But finally, as we passed from Greenpoint into Williamsburg, the alternatives dwindled away so we agreed well, let's go to Juliette's and splurge. Susan told me later that when I said it is never crowded, she cringed, convinced that saying that would jinx us. Well when we got there, jinx us it did. There was a line almost out the door and the place was packed as we had never seen before. We did manage to get a table right away but things were pretty loud and pretty close so we knew what the folks on either side were doing and what they were eating. It was hard not to hear their conversations. But the food was good and since we skipped the usual Mimosa or Bloody Mary (after all, we had beer coming up soon) the price didn't bankrupt us.
When we finally finished and got out into the fresh air and sun it was such a relief. It was off to Radegast and as I was about to say there was always plenty of room there, Susan rightfully shushed me. One jinx today was enough. We got there after a short walk and the spacious lower room was bright and had plenty of room. Of course this is a diffenrent sort of place, where crowds of mostly young folks would gather around tables standing up and drinking lots of beer. In this situation the noise of the crowd havng a good time in such a large room was not annoying. A waitress once told us that by mid afternoon it's standing room only.
But we were happy to be here and the beer was just marvelous. It was a perfect chaser to Juliette's salmon benedict.
All in all we had a good walk and a good brunch. And by some miracle the L train was running! We were home in Manhattan in a jiffy.