KAMAL CHAOS

From time to time, when I go for a run I try to spell out a word or two.  Or even a small picture.  It is called Route Art.  Other runners do it too, some do epic work that take days and require marathon distance; others, not so.  I specialize in words and my latest effort was supposed to be Kamal, for a fan of my cartoon drawings.  Some years ago he and I worked for the same corporation.  I usually use the Strava app on my smartphone but have to switch to Runkeeper because of the First-World Problem detailed below*.  It's not quite the same using Runkeeper to "write" the word.  I use this trick to cut through a city block, by making use of the Pause and Resume function.  With Strava, when I press Pause the app simply stays so, the Resume button is right whenever I needed it.  With Runkeeper, once the activity is paused, the app seems to go haywire.  There is no Resume button to press!  I would have to "kill" the app by scrolling through the list of active apps and swipe up on Runkeeper.  A very scary feeling!  Like when a certain app in Windows freezes and you have to go to Task Manager to kill the process.  With Windows, that means losing whatever work you were doing.  Luckily, that's not the case with Runkeeper, as I can resume the run once the app is re-launched.  But it shouldn't be that way.

Perhaps because of the awkward way Runkeeper works, or NOT work with my artsy way of running, I miscalculated and ran a block long for the letter K in Kamal.  From the corner of Bath and Bay 35th, I should have run to Benson and Bay 32nd, not Bay 31st.  I also realized shortly afterward that I also forgot to write the bottom of the letter a, the one right after K.  I usually go back and correct one mistake, but two mistakes is too much for me.  I'll just try the run another day.

*When it comes to workout tracking app, Strava is the king of the hill.  It is so popular with runners and cyclists that the phrase Strava or it didn't happen came into being.  In other words, if you cannot show your activity as recorded in Strava, then people may not believe that you actually did it.  There is another app/web site called Relive that makes a little movie out of Strava activities.  It's especially satisfying to watch when the run spells out a word or draws a picture.  Unfortunately, there is some disagreement between Strava and Relive over the use of user data and Strava stopped allowing Relive from pulling data from Strava's users.  Other apps, such as Runkeeper, still work with Relive but it's just not the same.  I told you it's a First-World Problem.

PPTC GROUP RUN - LOVE RUN 2019

Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote, "How do I love thee? Let me count the miles." And count the miles I did, with nine other runners.

Check out the Relive video

https://www.relive.cc/view/2134496363

From the practice run I had a few weeks ago, I learned that the "i" looks better, less slanted at the bottom, if I start the run on the side of the Grand Army Plaza arch. We would basically run along Eastern Parkway, so the closer I was, vertically, to the bottom of the parkway the better.

While doing the left side of the heart, Strava almost messed me up. I just paused it while at the intersection of Park Place, Grand Avenue, and Washington Avenue, ran around the corner of Prospect Place and Grand Avenue, as I was about to Resume, I noticed that the Pause point was actually at Sterling Place and Washington Avenue. Strava does act weird sometimes, in this case it was a block behind where I actually was. Being the perfectionist run-artist that I am, I ran back the intersection of Park, Grand, and Washington, press Resume, waited a few seconds, then Paused again. Ran around the corner of Prospect and Grand, verified that all was good, then pressed Resume. And that's how we had the first relatively rounder corner of the heart. There were many more Pause and Resume, each time I paused the run to show my running mates the progress.

Also from the practice run, I realized that I should take advantage of the width of Eastern Parkway to make a rounder bottom of the heart. It came out pretty good. The group had to be careful crossing the wide Parkway, NOT at the zebra crossing, but we did wait for red lights, so it worked out. Very worthwhile, as we all know round-bottomed hearts make the rocking world go round.

DIY I {heart} U

While I would love to have you join me at the Love Run on Saturday the 9th of February, 8:30 A.M., by Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza, should the timing not good for you, here's a turn-by-turn direction on how to get it done.  One slight change I will implement is the start will be on the northern side of Union Street, where the tail of the first arrow is.  (The run starts from the green hexagon and ends at the red hexagon.)  The baseline of the letters and symbol is Eastern Parkway so we might as well start as close to it as possible, vertically.

The letter P means you pause your watch or app at those locations, then resume recording where the letter R appears.  Most of the time, the app or watch would be fooled into drawing a straight line between the two points, so we get a less blocky heart.  One time I tried to spell MISSY but Strava at the last minute changed the Y into a T, so it really happened before.  Hopefully it won't happen to you.

There ya go, have fun spelling "I {heart} U" on your own.  Some people may be able to learn guitar by watching YouTube videos, but others may need Dan Smith to teach them, so no guarantee my little turn-by-turn instruction will get you there but give it a shot and share with me the outcome.

RUN ART GETTING MORE GRAPHIC

I'm pretty good at spelling out letters and words during my runs, as seen in "Crystal" and "Heather" below, some recent samples.

Naturally, my friends asked if I ever drew actual pictures, not just letters and numbers.  While I did a few, the majority of my run arts have been limited to just letters and numbers.  With my special block-cutting technique, technically anything can be drawn, given enough time and proper planning.  And so I did, recently, advance to the next phase of my run art, with "Jimmy" and "Adam". 

With the "Jimmy" piece, there is this roundabout traffic circle in Glen Oaks, Queens that I have yet covered on my CityStrides map. I have this friend Jimmy who is well-known for his strong appetite. The roundabout made a perfect food item, whether a bagel or a donut.  The fun got better as I tried to include a bite mark in the food item.  Of course, I had to use my virtual trespassing technique to make the bite mark.

Adam is another friend in the run community.  A great runner himself, he loves to cheer fellow runners with his cowbells.  Not just the small cowbells somewhat cube-ish type, but the real, rectangular ones.  Every year, Prospect Park Track Club has a dinner party at which members receive awards as voted by the club.    In past years, the awards came in the form of a plaque or similar form.  In 2016, someone came up with the excellent idea of awarding cowbells!  So useful!  Adam won in two categories and now often carry them to the cheer zone, thus in my run art there's a cowbell after his name.  To achieve the angular shape of the cowbell, I again resorted to cutting through city blocks.

PROSPECT PARK SESQUICENTENNIAL

Prospect Park in Brooklyn opened to the public in 1867.  It is turning 150 years old this year.  The Prospect Park Alliance is hosting many events starting Saturday April 1.  On April 2, my running club, the Prospect Park Track Club, will host a run in cooperation with the Alliance.  I designed a route that spells out "150".  Faster runners will lead the group from the front while slowpokes like me will lead from the back.  The run starts at 9 A.M. and will be slightly less than 3 miles.

PPTC runs normally start from Grand Army Plaza but this run is different and will meet at 10th Street and Seventh Avenue, which is the top of the "1" in "150".  Actually, it will be slightly away from that corner, toward the park.  Usually when runners spell words and numbers they make very blocky and straight characters.  I go through great length to make sure the characters are curvy, that corners are rounded and not at ninety degrees.  It is easy to mistakenly spell "ISO" instead of "150" so I want to avoid that.  More details will be provided on how that's done.

Register at https://goo.gl/UknXdS

For more information about anniversary events hosted by the Prospect Park Alliance, visit

https://www.prospectpark.org/news-events/events/2017/4/2#opening-weekend-2017

CITYSTRIDES - WHAT MORE CAN A MAP-LOVER ASK FOR?

I love maps.  I sometimes spell words during my runs.  I started to spell the many Brooklyn neighborhoods but life got in the way.  At some point, I thought about how nice it would be to have all my runs/walks on one map.  Turns out there is such a tool and it's called CityStrides.  You connect your CityStrides account to Strava, MapMyRun, and Runkeeper then all your routes are in one map!  So wonderful!  Of course, in my case many of my carefully drawn routes are no longer recognizable because the many lines overlap but it's still a nice way to visualize one's activities.  I love the tool so much I actually update this blog after a multi-month hiatus!!!

UNSET IN SUNSET PARK

Continuing my philosophy of "slow progress is better than no progress" today I resumed "writing" Sunset Park.  I thought I only had enough time for two lowercase letters, so "un" it was, i.e. Sunset still needs the uppercase S.  Below is the doctored image with "un" and "set" combined.  There was a second green marker to denote the start of today's walk, but I don't like those things so I left it hidden in the lower layer.  Only a trace of green shows in the combined image.  The area was desolate and it was getting dark, the rain was coming down again, so it was good that I didn't attempt to complete Sunset.  Any day now, any day now.  We seem to go to Costco once a month so if I don't finish this in January, by February it will be done!

HAPPY NEW YEAR - BROOKLYN RUN-MAPPING RETURNS

Happy New Year!  I didn't declare it but deep down I know I want to resume blogging.  There should be only so much Facebooking one can do.  Be more of a content producer, not just a mere Liker and Bait-Clicker.  Without much further ado, here's a topic close to my heart, running and spelling out the neighborhoods of Brooklyn!  I prefer to call it Run-Mapping!

I should have known better but as I was done with the areas close to where I live, things get more challenging.  I have this weird rule about running - no driving to the place to run.  In other words, I should not drive x miles out to some place just to run around.  I guess it has to do with my strong dislike of driving.  If I am to complete this run-mapping of Brooklyn nabes, sooner or later I'll have to drive to where I want to run.  Until such time, I'll make the most of my travel.

Late in December I ran to Marine Park just to spell "Park".  Marine Park is about 5 km from me so spelling the whole "Marine Park" was not possible time-wise.  Lately on these runs I have one or two phone apps to track my "writing".  At one time I even thought if not for this run-map project, I probably can retire my Garmin GPS watch.  The apps work the same way with regards to pause and resume, so I can use them to virtually cut through city blocks to make letters like K and R with their pesky diagonal lines.  When they actually work as they are supposed to, that is.  On the "Park" run, they didn't.  Both Strava and MapMyFitness totally miss the P and then went crazy the rest of the run.  Luckily, I did have the trusty Garmin, even though the lack of a rectangular city grid threw me off my course.  As shown below, "Pa" is a big disappointment, even to a non-perfectionist like me.  The "a" is too far away from its neighbors and "r" looks too much like an "n".  I should have done my usual virtual trespassing in making the diagonal lines in "k".  I use the picture in the map anyway but deep down I know I will re-run that route to make a better word.

Even though I am a member of the Prospect Park Track Club, I don't go to Prospect Park that much.  Living far south almost in Coney Island, it's a bit of a trip for me.  But I do go there from time to time and I should take advantage of those trips to finally add Park Slope and neighbors to my map.

On New Year's Day, I volunteered as a backup time-keeper for the Club's Harry Handicap race, held in Prospect Park.  After the race, I had some food and was in no shape to run so I did the next best thing to spell out "Slope" - I walked.  It was not as interesting as running but for these far-flung places I just have to make the best of my time.  Again, MapMyFitness screwed up but Garmin Forerunner again saved the day.  I gladly used the picture in the big map although there are many more street blocks I need to capture to make the map truly continuous.

Given the annoying changes Garmin make to its web site, I should hurry up and run more neighborhoods sooner before some changes render my techniques useless.  Wish me luck! 

A BEACH IN BROOKLYN

Having a job is nice but being at work 9 hours a day plus 2+ hours driving back and forth and you then don't have time for fun things, like running and tracing out words that represent the locale.  Even with some new pairs of running shoes to test out I didn't add any new neighborhoods to my GPS Brooklyn map.  I finally got around to putting on a new pair of Kismet Core Pop from Newton Running and made the "Manhttn" map below, for the neighborhood of "Manhattan Beach".  I know, a few vowels are missing but I really did not have much width and height to work with.  Hampton Avenue only runs so far east.  While I can go as far as the gate of Brooklyn Community College, I wouldn't have the necessary two-avenue height to make the t's stand out.  Using artistic license and dropping the a's is the way to go.  Sorry, Manhattan.

For work, I drive by the area everyday, via the Belt Parkway, so one of these days I'll just stop by and spell the shorter version of Beach, namely "Bch".  Yeah, I know the neighborhood border on the west is West End Avenue.  In planning the route, I realized that if I stick to that, the second t would not have room to display its horizontal stroke.  So invade Brighton Beach, at Corbin Place, I did.

BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS

After a two-hour car drive in yucky NYC traffic to go from the Coney Island area to the High Bridge Celebration, I felt pretty lousy.  The festival was good but since I just visited the area a few weeks back for the High Bridge 5K Trail Race, it was not as big a novelty as it could be.  The long car drive didn't help.  I salvaged the day by completing my push to put Brighton Beach, Brooklyn on my map.

It was quite a challenge to add the Beach to the seaside town.  There was not much vertical room to work so I had to use the beach area.  In the beginning, I walked with my running shoes but after a while I decided to blend in by walking barefoot.  As a bonus, I was able to walk right into the lapping waves, aaahhh.  Note that not only I didn't have much vertical space to maneuver in, because of construction, the Boardwalk ends at Coney Island Avenue, where the h is.  I spelled backward from the h and used MapMyRun's on-screen path to make sure I have enough space between the letters. Everything went well until B, which turned out to have too small a belly.  Oh well, it's a busty B, or maybe it's just upside down.

Speaking of Brighton Beach memories, here is what used to be "my" first home in the U.S.  This is the corner of Brighton 1 Street and Neptune Avenue.  Neptune runs left to right whereas Brighton 1 is where the five cars point to.  The road used to be one-way the other way.  My first night in the U.S. was spent in a house that would be where where the white car (fourth in the line) is.  Oh well, the price of commercialism.  Maybe someday when I become rich and famous I can buy the new building to knock it back down and rebuild the old home from a photo my #1 Blog Fan has.

WELCOME TO BRIGHTON BEACH, WELL, ALMOST

The past two days were hot and humid.  I didn't get up early enough to beat the heat, i.e. run at 5 AM or so.  Today I made up by running "Brighton", as in Brighton Beach.  I didn't like the fact that the area is small, with few large rectangular blocks to work with.  I thought of skipping it but then Eugene Morris Jerome may be upset.  My first night in the U.S. some 30+ years ago, I did sleep in a house in the area.  It belonged to an uncle but he has moved away since then.  The new owner knocked down the house, along with a few adjacent ones, and a big building is being constructed on the lot.

I knew that the area has these mouthful Brighton 1 Street and 2 Street etc but did not know about all the alleys that in other parts of town would just remain nameless.  There were Brighton 5 Walk, Brighton 5 Court, Brighton 1 Path, etc.  Most of these so-called streets are narrow and are mere empty space between two houses.  It is nice to have them nonetheless although I would not use them late at night.

T-intersection of Brighton 1 Path, which continues to the right of the tree, and Brighton 1 Walk, which runs from the foreground of the photo to the background.

Brighton 5 Court, which simply connects Brighton 5 Street to Brighton 6 Street.  It is relatively wide compared to other  named alleys in the area.  I recall one really narrow alley with overgrown weed and three or four guys sitting in the middle of the road.  Mugger paradise!

WELCOME TO SHEEPSHEAD BAY!

My Brooklyn map-building continues to crawl forward, slowly.  The latest three runs put Sheepshead Bay on the map, so to speak.

To round out the coastal towns, next I will have to do Brighton Beach, which is immediately to the east of Coney Island, and Manhattan Beach, right below Sheepshead.   Both are tiny towns compared to Sheepshead Bay, with insufficient room to spell out the whole words.  I'll have to compromise somehow.