SCENE FROM A RUN: FUHGEDDABOUTIT!

I love that sign on the border of Queens and Brooklyn on the Belt Parkway.  It says "Leaving Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboutit".  There is another sign just like it on the Belt Parkway on the ramp to the Verrazano Bridge, but it is not accessible to pedestrian, or anyone for that matter.  You just drive by that one as you head for Staten Island, unless you want to drive onto the grass and attract unwanted attention from any nearby police cruiser.  The one near Queens, on the other hand, is easily reached if you don't mind the trip on bike or on foot.  I visited it some time ago on bike and took some selfies with a camera, not with a smartphone as I didn't have one back then.  The result was not too satisfactory.  This past summer I tried to run there but it got too hot I had to stop at Canarsie Pier to get drinks and then headed back.  I didn't even run all the way back, but rather get to Avenue U to get another cold drink then climbed onto a bus to get home. I don't like to spend money or gasoline while on runs, but that day I made the exception.

Recently I also made exception for really early morning runs with my running partner.  J needs to put in some long miles for his marathon in February and like me he has family duties to attend to so we agree to run really early, like 6 AM.  We normally meet in Marine Park or Sheepshead Bay and neither place is easily accessible by public transit.  And I don't want to run there since I want to save the energy for the long run.  So I drove.  

For today's run, our goal was to log 15 miles total.  I did mention running to the Fuhgeddaboutit sign at the Queens border, but it would overdo the goal.  So we agreed to go 7.5 miles out along the Belt Parkway, which for sure would put us short of the sign, then 7.5 miles back to our cars.  Still, when we got 7.5 miles done, the sign was not that far away.  J was a good sport and agreed to go there anyway, we would just walk part of the way back.  We lost a few minutes posing with the sign, J with a scowling face supposedly as a Brooklyn 'tude, while I had him take a few shots of me throwing my arms forward, for Google Awesome to auto-convert into an animated GIF.  It was supposed to be as if I was saying "Fuhgeddaboutit" but it looks more like I was imitating swimming.  I love it nonetheless and hope you do too!