Smelling the roses!

That was my rubric for the past week of recovery training (it is a phrase that always makes me think of Ferdinand!). I meant to do this run yesterday, but I was having one of those weekend work cascades: it wasn't until about 9pm Saturday night that I finished and emailed an overdue letter of evaluation, and it was pretty clear when I woke up Sunday that I had better start addressing the huge backlog of minor tasks that had accrued over the last weeks of triathloning & overwork. It is a classic "first-world problem" situation - in fact I have carefully insulated myself from ever having to do any housework or cooking! - but really once I get busy I need something like a concierge to take care of all the tasks that male academics in days of yore used to have secretaries and wives to do for them! What sort of thing do I mean? Well: printing, completing, scanning and emailing a W-2 form to the two of the four places I wrote tenure letters for this year that pay (very modest) honoraria; writing and mailing a belated rent check; booking a ticket to Paris for a work trip in December; booking catsitting for next weekend's work trip to Dublin; returning overdue library books; filling out a work order request for the building handyman to come and replace various overhead lightbulbs that have needed replacing for weeks or months; etc. etc. Plus finishing the reading for Monday and Tuesday classes. Anyway, I was KICKED by the end of the day yesterday, it was clear that a longish run was not on the cards, but I was fortunately able to do it today instead....

My instructions from Coach: "CP loop, at least 90 min on your feet! Gawk at tourists and make note of the funny things you see in the park. I want a bulleted list of 7 things that are weird/interesting/beautiful."

Woo-hoo!

Actually it is such beautiful weather just now - and also weekday mornings in October aren't nearly so crowded as weekends, beautiful weather notwithstanding - that I was more just on the lines of noticing the extraordinary perfection of everything, everywhere. Absolutely glorious! Slightly tight/sore lower back, but otherwise felt great - it is mid-60s, crisp and clear with very little breeze. Some things I saw and liked:

the lines of toddlers in safety vests being walked through the park on a sort of safety rope
the clear blue sky with only wisps of white cloud
the green green greenery with only a hint of the presence of orange and red hereabouts
the dry brown leaves blowing over the path
the cardboard cutout of ice-cream cones on a cart at the south end of the park
the science-fictional glass panels at the back of the Met
the glimpse of gorgeous buildings from the New York of Henry James's era that you see at E. 90th St. (Cooper-Hewitt!), along with the funny/touching statue of Fred Lebow checking his watch
a very fluffy white dog and 2 portuguese water spaniels all walking very obediently together on leashes - their combined hair could have stuffed an ottoman!
regrettably, smelly slippery gingkos, one of which fell of the tree and conked me as I left the north end of the park....

1.5hr easy (jogged over to the park and did the full loop, that was then about 90 minutes so I turned off the clock and walked the last mile home)