Lying on bed, one knee propped up against t’other, MacAir on thigh, 10:25 of a Sunday morning. Don’t feel sick (occasional cough) or terribly wrecked after yesterday in Prospect Park (Falling Leaves HM and 5k) but when I get up I stagger a little and think I could sleep a week. I slept most of Friday, then got up around 9 or 10 pm, dawdled a bit before catching the subway at 2am. The F train is on a wonky schedule, skipping stations, and so it skipped Prospect Park – 15th Street. Next stop, Church St. I got off. Had no idea where I was but figured I could walk to the park within 20 minutes, and if not, call an Uber. After waking a mile or so through rather pleasant neighborhoods—a big BP statin and convenience store, like something you’d see maybe on an Interstate out in the sticks—some overhead walkways which reminded me of when I’d go to Bishop Ford H.S. to get bib for the Iona 5k in PP—I found my way to the SW corner of PP, and after that it was just a matter of another 10 or 15 minutes. I was supposed to show for the Finish squad at 3, and actually showed around 3:07. So not too bad. We almost immediately walked up Center Drive and unloaded a truck or two. Boxes of medals. A couple of tents and tables. As with the last 5k/HM deal in PP in August, I was assigned duty of sweeping or raking up the leaves and mulch and other debris from the road. This was the finish for the 5k, followed 150m up the hill by the HM finish. Again I got snoggled into filling the medal racks, after putting up the French barriers for an hour or two (we used about a hundred at the Finish) and then the webbing or gauze or whatever they call it. The mesh. Black on one side with nruns logos and white on the other. You unfurl and lock-tie these 50-foot-long, 3-ft-wide decorations to the barriers, on top and bottom; and then of course have to take them down again at the end, and spend about an hour with a half-dozen other people loading the barriers back onto a couple of trucks. This was only the Finish; down at the double Start area there may have been nearly as many. uStood with Jasmine at the top of the hill, laying 20 HM medals on each hook of the rack. We had 1000 registrants each for the 5K and HM, and had medals for almost exactly those numbers. Very little surplus. An hour or so into the HM I was sent out onto West Drive for crowd control, which I suppose means making sure people are strolling into the finishers’ lane. PP has 3.3 miles in its loop, so end of 3 loops is 10 miles, and anyone who’s run 10 miles knows he’s got another loop to go. Nevertheless there were people in the outer lane (for loops 1,2,3) who were confused and asked if they should get into the Finishers lane. I can see the confusion here; you’ve done three, now you’ll do the final loop; but the Finishers lane only takes you about 1/8th of a mile, to the HM finish mat. Ahead of me, by an H sign pointing to the lane for runners in loops 1,2,3 stood Geoff Vincent, ready with his mocking remarks at these runners who all had GPS watches but didn’t know how far they had run. (My Garmin 235 is losing battery power, conked out after 6 hours and maybe 6-7 miles of mostly walking and standing around.) Geoff used to to live in Brooklyn and ran in PP a lot, he mentioned the Cherry Tree 10-miler. I stood out in West Drive until after noon, then we did the “load out,” putting the tables and tents and barriers back on the trucks. This took us nearly till 2pm. I was so fatigued I had to stop and rest on one of the benches on PP West, before making my way up finally to Bartel Pritchard Square. Fortunately not too long a wait for the F, which was quite crowded though I got a seat. The digital station indicator in the car kept giving the wrong information. The stop was Carroll St when really it was Bergen St; then all the following stations, all the way into Manhattan, were Bergen St. I drank 1 1/2 Celsiuses from the tent. Marco Trevino jokingly told me not to drink the second (he was getting rid of surplus during final load-out around 1:45) because I’d already had one that day. The first time I drank a Celsius it did indeed make me a bit ill. These two had little effect. Except I did have a full bladder by the time I got to the subway. Getting home, the toilet was my first stop. A 35-second pee.
Next weekend, a double-header, though neither nearly as strenuous. A 10k and 5k on Gov Is. That’s maybe 6 hrs each shift, for perhaps 24 hours this month. Almost something like a real paycheck. We’re supposed to wear costumes or something. I’ll wear on of Moki’s flat caps and a black eye-mask and maybe a ratty scarf, and say I’m a burglar.
Sitting here on Sunday morning, watching bits of Downton Abbey, first two episodes (quite good), making coffee, ordering a replacement battery for the Garmin 235. I don’t know if there are instructions anywhere. There doesn’t seem to be a replacement service either.
I was supposed to have gone to the gym every day for the past two weeks, or months; but that illness Oct 1-15 and beyond through that into a cocked hat. Still a bit of coughing, though not a steady hack. On Thursday I have to see Dr Schiffman at Bellevue. I will be cheery and dishonest, and wince when I see what I weigh. Perhaps today through Thursday I wil make it to TMPL. Whatever I do weigh, I suppose I can slough off ten pounds. How to get to the new Bellevue office? Around Lexington and 32nd. Walk to Park, down Park seems the best bet. I’m almost certain MSK has not supplied my records to the lawyers and thus to the WTC VCF medical people.
No booze in the last few days. No desire.
It appears Mr Trump has the inside track to regain the Presidency, but I am far from certain about that. Betting odds are something like 60-40 or better. Those are bets, not votes. He might get swindled again, despite the slight precautions they’ve put up.
Have not paid rent in nearly 2 months. Tomorrow.
