Imagine a gorgeous blue sky day
And having lunch in a fairy grove
With your dear friend
And climbing up to the turret of Belvedere Castle
And taking in the Delacorte
And the ball fields
And the turtles swimming in the pond
What is it like to be a turtle swimming in a pond in the heart of Central Park?
You think you want
To be
A turtle swimming in the pond in the heart of Central Park
But alas, today you are a mere mortal
So you take comfort in
Sitting in a shady spot
Overlooking the trees
Writing together and
A red-breasted robin comes and perches by your foot
And your friend says you are Mary Poppins
Well if you can’t be a turtle, you may as well be a magical mortal
And you spend a happy hour
Immersed in creation

Lemonade and churros in the park
With a dear friend
Later, catching an evening show and
Dissecting the work
Over beef pho

The luxury of time to go grocery shopping
To come home and cook up
Chicken pesto meatballs
With basil from your little apartment garden
Satisfaction.

​Oh how I love running in Manhattan!
I could run along the Hudson
Or the East River (trickier with all the construction)
But today I stick to the center(ish) line
The middle way where
There is a green corridor of parks
From Harlem to midtown
Start outside my front door
Trace the perimeter of Jackie Robinson Park
Run up the hill on 145th
And mercifully down the hill to
St Nicholas Park
With its steep sets of stairs winding through the trees
One of the trees has fallen across the path
Carefully step around
Marvel at its size
And the storm that took it down
(You watched the lightening last night
Through the window from your bed
It was an extraordinary show
You think Abuela and Abuelo and the other angels are having a particularly good night of bowling)
Keep running across 125th
Morningside Park
With its pond and wide open field and
Views to the cathedral
(And more stairs)
And then to the grand dame herself
Central Park
Entering through the upper most reach
The North Woods
Then turning around
And running it all in reverse
Down the stairs into Morningside
Past the ducks
Past 125th
Along St Nicholas
Stay on the outside to avoid the stairs
Enter at the tennis court to run around the playgrounds
Past the fallen tree
A few steps ahead of you
A squirrel crash lands on the pavement with a shocking
THWACK!
Ohmygod, did that squirrel just drop dead?!
You pause to look at it
“Are you ok little one?”
The squirrel doesn’t move.
Should you do something?
The squirrel still doesn’t move
Oh god. It’s dead.
Suddenly, it raises its little head
You realize you are probably frightening it.
You take a step back
The squirrel regains its breath
Darts into the undergrowth
You breathe a sigh of relief
No squirrel death today
You keep running
Out of the park and
Past the church that looks like a castle
Up the hill to 145th
Back down the hill to Jackie Robinson
We’re in the home stretch now
Keep pushing until the app tells you you’ve made it
And then cool down by walking to 153rd where there is a water fountain
It feels damn good.

Going for a walk
Getting a Too Good to Go bag
Enjoying a rice ball
While it starts to rain

The absolutely overwhelming joy
Of seeing The Bengsons live
The gift of their music
The gift of their storytelling
The gift of their extraordinary musicianship
The way they sing about grief and death and being on the brink
The way their music reaches deep into your heart
And tears it asunder
And puts it back together with soaring vocals
Folksy guitar
And astounding use of loops
The way the set transforms before your eyes
Cedar tree! Dinosaur!
The way you walk out of the theatre
And they have transformed the way you see the world

Did you even know you needed
A man performing
Titanic in drag?!

A guided run with Coach Bennet
Along the Hudson
On a gorgeous spring day
The blue of the sky
The green of the park
What are you proud of
When you run?
The fact that I can
The fact that I do
How much fun it is
Just me and my runners
My headphones
My running playlist
The way I feel at the end
It’s been a little while since I ran longer than 5km
And here I am
6.43km feels easy
I feel like I could keep going

The thrill of seeing an extraordinary play
With extraordinary performances
The way the actors seamlessly switched between characters
The delicious inhabiting of different bodies
The walk, the talk
The positioning of the head
The movement of the hands
The use of voice
In speech and song
How a hat can transform a person
Entirely into another being
The magic of theatre

Marathon training has officially begun
A sweaty 5km around Yankee Stadium
Discovering gorgeous fairy dens and
Feeling glorious