I Heart NY Running

This weekend I visited Inna, one of my favorite people on earth, in New York. The best part of my visits with her, aside from the obvious quality time we get to spend together, is that I get to live New York the way Inna lives it and not as a tourist. This usually means that we stay downtown, we walk for miles, we do a lot of thrift shopping, and we eat very much delicious food. This weekend wasn't much different except that we also lived New York the way that I would live it if it were my home. And, by that, I mean that we woke up on Saturday morning, dressed in our most stylish spandex, and went for a run. We fought about this a little bit because she didn't understand why, when we only had 36 precious hours together, we had to devote so much of our time to running. We have the same values on pretty much everything except that I think fitness should be incorporated into all parts of life, including vacations and visits with friends, and she doesn't necessarily. And also, I think Katy Perry is amazing and she thinks she's abysmal. But she humored me and we ran 4 miles together, to and halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge.

I hadn't run with Inna in a long time so I had no idea what to expect from her pace-wise. To be honest, I thought we'd take it kind of easy but we ended up averaging an 8:45 minute mile. I left my garmin at home so I used my Nike GPS app for iPhone which can't always be trusted. But I felt like we ran fast so I'm choosing to believe it.

From the bridge, we walked to starbucks for a pee and a hot beverage, stopping in a thrift store on our way. It was cold in our sweaty clothes but we walked to the waterfront in Brooklyn Heights to get a view of the bridge from afar and of Manhattan's southernmost skyline. It was a beautiful day.

We spent the rest of the weekend doing what we always do: eating, drinking, strolling, shopping, and talking about everything.

I have very mixed feelings every time I leave New York. I am usually so full of happiness, especially after a visit with Inna. And I am often torn between feeling like I could really love to live in that one-of-a-kind city with so much food, character, and style and feeling like I couldn't survive without more green grass and fresh air in my life. And, most of the time, I also feel like my credit card could use a break.

But I almost never, except maybe after the 5 Boro Bike Tour experience, leave New York feeling disappointed. The best kind of friend is the one that you can fight with a little and laugh with a lot because there is nothing more real than that. If they'll run just to make you happy, drink tequilla and champagne with you post-run, and take you to the best restaurants in town (according to me, there are about 10,000 best restaurants in New York so I'm allowed to say that) then they're even better.


I hope everyone else had a great weekend! What did you do?