So Friday was a bad day, the weather and a some problems at work combined to my bailing on the East Hampton's Marathon. In it's place, I decided, I would have my own marathon through Brooklyn. With this evil plan in mind, I arose at 5:30 yesterday morning, strapped on my shoes and headed out. 

The weather was actually pretty nice around a quarter after six when I made it to the streets. Miles 1-3 were down Flatbush Avenue towards Prospect Park, the into the park and south towards Ocean Parkway. Miles 3-8 are on the parkway itself and it was here that the sun came up, quite nice and quiet. There was absolutely no one on the streets. Coney Island arrived with mile 9 and I slowed the pace up on the boardwalk so that I could enjoy the view of the ocean at dawn and the march of old Russian women, like Cold War apparitions clad in translucent plastic hair wrappings, smiling and waving to their friends. 

I turn down the long pier with the fishermen and I see a small Chinese man struggling with this thing he just caught... It's called a Sea Robin and I have never seen a fish like it, definitely some unique adaptations. It's about 4-5 inches long with HUGE side flippers, about the size of my entire hand as well as these specialized spines along the sides of it head that is uses to crawl around. I first though it was sitting on top of a crab, they looked so much like actual legs! Well anyway, this is so interesting I stop running and just stand there watching as the man starts rummaging through his bag. I'm not much of a fisher, but I could tell that the fish had swallowed the hook, and that sucks because it's near impossible to get out, 9/10 you just have to cut the line. The elderly man finally removes a pair equally ancient needle nosed pliers from his backpack and proceeds to expertly handle the fish with his free hand. (You can't quite tell from the picture but this thing's got all kinds of extendible spikes on it's back and sides) Using the pliers I expect the man to either just cut the line and toss the fish back or delicate extract the hook. (To me, this was clearly not an 'eating fish' although admittedly, Asians and Stephen can have differing views on what can be fooded) Instead, the man just goes to town on the under side of the fish use the pliers to just grab, twist and tear off chucks of the fish!!! NO! I didn't see this coming! What was the thought process? "Oh man, this living thing has my five cent hook! I gotta get that back!" Anyway, I actually couldn't watch, it was pretty messed up, just something about the pliers, ugh, a little too Hostel for me. 

So I head back out, after a loop all the way to the of the boardwalk and back I've returned to Ocean Parkway at mile 12. My original plan was to reloop the park head up to the brooklyn promenade cross the brooklyn bridge - - yeah, not going to happen. Instead I meandered the side streets for a while and turned up back in prospect around mile 22. Perfect. A loop around the park made mile 25 and low and behold! The Farmer's Market! I had actually planned on this, I walk over to the nearest cider purveyor and pick up 2 pints of delicious goodness from the ice-bath and hand the lady my five-spot. When the retirement-aged woman turns back around to hand me the change I return to her the now empty pint bottles... 

"Wha?" She says, a shock of whispy  blonde hair flutters free from her hair-tie as if to punctuate how little she grasped the situation. "What just happened?" 

I smile demurely and in a little humorous miracle actually let rip an  enormous   burrrrrrrrrppppp. Now my siblings can tell you, I never burp, ever, it's just not my 'gift' in life. So she smiles with a "My! I think that's the best compliment anyone has ever given me!" I wave and shuffle home, my leg muscles now full of what appears to be boiling water, used syringes, lead weights and the angry ghost of one messed up looking fish. 

Final verdict was 26.5 miles in a little over 3:40, not bad at all. I actually felt physically great when I walked home, I just had no willpower left over. I enjoyed a 20 minute ice bath with a scathing cup of coffee ( after-all, I am a man of mysterious contradictions)... (what?) and after some time rubbing down my legs with the stick and the roller, I felt good as new.

Oh, and polo practice today!!! More on this later but I finally found a polo club that would have me!  See ya!

Coming Up - NYRR Half Marathon - Grete's Great Gallop, 13.1 Miles, Central Park

*Special Note: I'd just like to point out, I found the link to the picture of the Robin Fish by googling "Messed Up Looking Fish by Coney Island", apparently I'm not the only one totally interested by that thing...