SCENES FROM A RUN: UNPLOWED SNOW UNDER THE BRIDGE

I live near what I call the Belt Parkway waterfront.  To be exact, it's that waterfront path between Caesar's Bay and Owl's Head, primarily for pedestrians and cyclists.  "Near" is a relative term.  It's probably about 2 km but for us distance-runner that's near enough.  It's a great place to jog as it is devoid of car traffic, except the occasional maintenance vehicles from the Parks Department or those belonging to NYPD.  It's not so great when it snows, as the place is not plowed, or at least not completely.  Some time ago I went there after a snowfall, with steel-toed boots, to find out how accessible it was for runners.  It was not.  Here and there there were shoveled spots but around 17th Avenue toward the Verrazano Bridge the snow was intact.  Some brave souls may have walked through the snow but it's still not much of a path, with snow up to the ankle or worse.  Since that exploratory trip, I know better not to go running by the Belt Parkway waterfront.  I just don't like slogging through snow.

Yesteday when my running partner J said we should run on the Belt Parkway waterfront, mere days after that big 12" snowstorm plus yesterday's 1" of fresh snow, I should have thought better and not agree.  J mistakenly thought that NYCRUNS just had a race there yesterday.  How bad could it be if a few hundred people just went through the same area?  They wouldn't have the race if the road was not clean, right?  NYCRUNS did have a race yesterday, but that was in Prospect Park, which has car traffic so surely it was plowed nice and clear.

I decided to run from home to Caesar's Bay, as opposed to driving.  I thought if I drove, I would use the lame excuse that it was nice and warm in the car and would end up staying in the car too long.  So I ran, along the elevated tracks of the D train to Bay Parkway then turned left for the bay.  I thought the roads would be clean to run on, but it was not that clean.  The sun didn't yet rise when I got to Caesar's Bay.  I saw J's car, I did tell him to go ahead and I would catch up to him.  We run at the same turtle speed but I fancied I would switch to turbo mode somehow and overtake him, wishful thinking.  Just a K or so in I knew this was a mistake.  It was cold, dark because the sun hadn't come out, and there was a lot of semi-hard snow on the ground.  I had a bandana mask on but it didn't stay up, very annoying.  I usually take a few photos on runs like this but it was too cold I didn't want to take off the gloves to take photos.  Such is one disadvantage with smartphone cameras.  With the typical digital camera, you know, the one that not too long ago displaced the trusty 35mm camera, you can control the camera if you gloves fit snugly.

Still, I pressed on, at times just walked it since there was little difference between trying to run and walking.  My worse fear was that I would twist an ankle but luckily nothing that bad happened.  A few times I thought of taking some overhead bridges over the Belt Parkway to run on Cropsey Avenue or some civilized street that should be plowed already.  But I promised J I would meet him on the waterfront so I soldiered on.  By the second footbridge after the Verrazano, the path was perfectly straight all the way to Owl's Head Pier.  I decided that if J was not heading back by then, I would just go back the 4th Avenue exit of the Belt and snuggle up with a nice hot cup of coffee.  Probably even a full breakfast and walk my way back.  J did show up, I met him halfway and we went back together, unplowed snow and all.  It actually warmed up a bit, enough for me to remove gloves to take the second photo, of icicles on the guard rail.

Now that it was over, with no damage from the cold and the slipper snow, it was a good run.  By myself I would not have done it.  Still, as long as I remember it, I won't do it again.

The bike path is completely covered with snow.  Cyclists sometimes get testy when us runners invade their lanes, but in this condition no bike would make it.  The Verrazano Bridge is in the background.

I love to see water freezes as it tries to fall to the ground.  I imagine some wave splashed onto these rails but didn't move fast enough and got frozen.  That's my crazy running partner on the left in the distance.  Way back in the center of the background is the Parachute Jump in Coney Island.

CAESAR'S BAY RECOVERS

Today, for my almost-daily walk for Charity Miles, I went to Best Buy in Caesar's Bay to drop off a broken DVD player for recycling.  Best Buy staff are well-trained for receiving recycling materials.  Walking in the door, you need to tell the door person that you want to recycle the equipment and get a Recycle sticker, otherwise he may think you bring the thing in for return and there would be a different sticker.  You would then bring the old junk over to the service desk, which can be long sometimes but you can just leave your junk on some counter or the floor and alert a staff member.  That's it!  The old equipment will be properly recycled, somehow.  Got to trust someone somewhere, you know, you won't get anything done if you are skeptical about everyone and everything.  The trick is to walk straight out and not wander around, to avoid buying things you may end up regretting later.

Last time I visited Caesar's Bay (http://www.qaptainqwerty.com/2012/11/caesars-bay-and-waterfront-after.html) , Kohl's, Babies 'R Us, and Toys 'R Us were not open for business yet.  Today, I saw that Toys 'R Us had taken over the store near Best Buy to sell bikes, video games, etc.  The place was once a Strauss auto supply store, then became a seasonal store, like Halloween costumes in September or thereabout.  The main building for Toys 'R Us was still not open, but right in front of it, in the parking lot, they have built a large tent to be a temporary store.  A security guard told me that the tent was supposed to be open at 3 PM or 4 PM, definitely tomorrow.  It's the holiday season, the business needs to make a few quick bucks!  I know, it's all wrong the way people think of shopping when it comes to most holidays, but if the local business is alive, hopefully the locals can have employment, too.

Interestingly, on my way out of the parking lot to get home, I bumped into the Spanish interpreter I met on Election Day.  Actually, she recognized me and greeted me first, addressing me as a Mr. Lee, her usual way of talking, perhaps because she worked in a school before.  She lives not far from the Toy 'R Us on Flatbush Avenue near Kings Plaza but came to Caesar's Bay, with her mother, only to discover that Toys 'R Us here was closed.  The Flatbush store is right on the waterfront of Mill Basin so I wouldn't be surprised if it was damaged in the hurricane.  She made my day on Election Day by asking me, shortly after we first chatted, if I know who Chow Yun-Fat is.  Sure I know who he is, as I can be his stun double.  If you are seeing this, drop a note to say hello, Ms. Arias.

At the side of Best Buy, temporary brick-and-mortar store sells bikes, video games, etc. 

The main building is still not functional, but now there's a big tent in front of the store that will definitely be open for business on Wednesday, November 21.

CAESAR'S BAY AND WATERFRONT AFTER HURRICANE SANDY'S VISIT

The Belt Parkway Waterfront is one of my favorite places to run.  I would run from home to Caesar's Bay then toward the Verrazano Bridge, along the water with no interference from vehicular traffic.  The terrain is mostly flat so most of the time I would traverse the foot-bridge near Bay 16th Street, for a little hill-training.  Near where the path splits into pedestrians and cyclists', I would go up the steps to Bay 8th Street, again for hill-training.  Most of the time I would go past the first set of bench, after the split, for a total of about 10 km round-trip.  For long runs I would go as far as Owl's Head Pier.  Years ago, I used to run to Owl's Head then take the bus back but in recent years I can go out and back on foot only.

Today was the first time I ran along the Belt Parkway Waterfront since Hurricane Sandy's visit.  Days ago, driving on the Belt I could see that some sections of the metal fence were no longer there.  Today I got a close-up of the damage, which was extensive.  I suppose the wave, water, and wind at some point broke the fence sections and left the fence all mangled.  After the hurricane, park personnel would arrive with the proper tools to separate the damaged pieces.  Who knows, maybe the hurricane actually snapped the sections off the ground.  It was a powerful storm, a superstorm.  No wonder the Verrazano Festival, set to run along the very same path and scheduled for November 11, did not happen.  Not only the fence missing a few sections, the surface of the road was broken in many places, too.  "Collapsed" is the better word to describe some of the road sections.  The foot-bridge is closed off and I had to duck under it to get to the other side.  Maybe the bridge was not inspected yet so it's safer to fence it off.

Below are just some of the photos I took.  Follow the link to see the whole set of photos.

https://plus.google.com/photos/109153989599275468311/albums/5810441195747911857?authkey=CM7q7o6um-K6mQE