Anniversary run on the Bethpage trail

Bethpage trail in fall colors this morning

Today's run (Bethpage trail): 6.7 miles

This morning's plan was for our little group to meet up at various points along the Bethpage bike trail. That would allow us to all run together for at least five miles. The logistics were set last night and I got up early so that I could do the run in time to meet some hard deadlines. SIOR and I both needed to be home by 10:00 AM (my wife and I were celebrating our anniversary today) and I had less of a cushion because I needed to be driven back to my car after we finished.

This morning, as I was getting ready to leave, I saw a note from SIOR that she would not be able to join us today. One of her kids was sick and she'd been up all night with him. That shifted the logistics and I decided to meet TPP and JC at our usual location north of the park instead of going to Bethpage and joining them in progress. Since we weren't going to meet up with SIOR, I thought I would go three miles with my friends and head north while they continued south.

By that time, TPP and JC were already at the location and they graciously waited for me to arrive. I joined them as soon as I could, and we started our run together at 7:45 AM. It was perfect fall weather and the path was accumulating leaves. I ran along with JC while TPP took the lead looking like a neon colored Energizer bunny.

I was focused on getting through six or seven miles and was pacing accordingly, but my run mates were concerned more about performance. We parted ways after 15 minutes and they continued on to Sunrise Highway while I went as far south as Hempstead Turnpike.

The return route took me through my least favorite set of hills, beginning north of Plainview Rd and continuing to where the path runs parallel to the Bethpage lot. The longest hill goes for half a mile and it seemed endless today. I experienced some fatigue about 40 minutes into the run and hoped it was temporary. Happily it was, and I recovered after ten minutes. I finished my route feeling as strong as I'd started.

Emerging Runner family running

Long Beach boardwalk

Pistachio!

I was able to stay on schedule and got home in time for our planned activities. We headed to Long Beach for lunch and to spend time on both the boardwalk and the beach. It was windy and a little chilly, but the sun helped with that. On our way back we stopped at the iconic Marvel ice cream stand for an anniversary indulgence. Soft serve pistachio was worth all the calories. Besides that, according to my Garmin, I ran off 600 of them this morning.