Fountain Fun

I've been run crushing on my coworker since I met him at the end of June. He's run Boston (twice) and Miami. My Facebook stalking of him tells me he ran a 6:50 pace, for a marathon. Um hi, yeah, can we be friends? And don't even get me started on the time I showed up for work just as he was taking off for a run, and I stared enviously at his long, lithe runner's legs as they pranced down the asphalt. He reads this by the way. I wonder if he feels awkward yet?

We'll call him Miami since that is where he teaches. After seven weeks of bringing up running every time I saw him, I finally coerced him into running with me. This is actually a lie - he came willingly, but I'd like to think that my powers of persuasion and my insistence on wearing day-glo running gear to work helped out. After a long day at the office (where I got to drive a cargo van by the way), we hopped in Petunia and drove over to Flushing Meadows Corona Park. I am obsessed with this park now.

Miami and I had a nice leisurely 8 mile run around the park, as I tried to remember where everything was located. It's much easier to see the sights when there are orange cones guiding the way, but eventually everything worked out. We saw many soccer games, ran through the zoo, and enjoyed long stretches of path along the water. It's a lot of fun to run with someone new because you get to learn all sorts of nifty things about them. They get to learn that you're probably a sociopath with a sneaker fetish. Win-win situation.

I apologize to Miami who had to put up with my insanely slow hobble, but as he said, I did just run a half marathon. To complete our extremely fun evening, we ran through the fountains under the Unisphere.