Well, my 12 miler at the Massapequa Preserve was uneventful, except when the BIRD tried to land on my HEAD!!! I arrived at the park around 7:45am. The skies were overcast and the temperature was about 70. Things were looking good...or so I thought. Most of the bike path has painted mile markers which was nice because I forgot my watch at home (I run at a pretty consistent pace, so I can guesstimate my distance when I'm wearing my watch). The baseball and soccer fields are exactly at Mile 2. Oh, and so is the lunatic bird who tried to LAND ON MY HEAD. So I was just minding my own business. I was listening to my music and kind of heard some cawing (hmmm...?), but it almost sounded like it was part of the song. I really didn't think much of it until I felt CLAWS pulling at my ponytail on top of my HEAD! It happened very quickly. By the time I realized what was going on, the bird was gone. There were some bikers coming toward me, but they apparently missed the show. I tried to hide my look of horror and pretended like nothing happened (as if they cared). As you might recall, this is now my second close encounter with a bird. The first was a few years ago at a beach in Florida when a seagull stole a tuna fish sandwich out of my hands. I continued with my run north, the entire time wondering if this bird will be waiting for me on my way back. He wasn't.
Bird attack aside, this was a tough run. Again, I didn't really carb up yesterday. In fact, the only carb I had was one slice of toasted protein bread in the morning. That apparently wasn't enough. I felt pretty weak and tired from Mile 5 until the end. I'd like to blame it on the PTSD I suffered as a result of being mistaken for a nest, but I'm pretty sure I was just not well nourished. In the end, I finished my run in an 1:44 at an 8:40 pace.
I've been attacked by birds on Central Park, but never on the Bethpage trail. Sounds scary. Have you run the section of trail that runs north past the lot in Bethpage? Not the wooded trails, but the extended paved bike trail that goes all the way to Woodbury.
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask you about this. The farthest I ran was the parking lot with the baseball fields (About 7 miles from Sunrise Highway). The paved trail seemed like it just ended abruptly. I looked at Google maps yesterday and it looked like there was a trail or parkland going up to Cold Spring Harbor. When my runs get longer, I would like to go farther, but I am a little nervous about getting lost.
DeleteAt the point where you followed the bike trail into (and across) the lot to the ball fields you could have also gone straight. If you did that, you'd cross over the driveway to the parking lot and pick up the trail extension that goes another six miles. The extension entrance isn't well marked but if you look out for it you'll notice it.
DeleteGoogle maps doesn't show this new work but it's all paved. You wouldn't get lost, although the section on Sunnyside Boulevard (last 1.3 miles) can be confusing to follow.
I will look for it the next time around. This run is so much better than my boring neighborhood. I'm hooked.
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