i did it!

The Great Saunter around the perimeter of Manhattan was Saturday. It was a 50K, or 32 miles of relentless walking. I took beautiful photos, but alas iPhoto ate them. So I only have a few that were taken by me by the official photographer that I swiped from the Facebook page. (A girl has to do what she has to do! )

The one left was taken on the east side, near 70th street, where there was a comfort station and clementines. I don't know which was needed more. Notice I rolled up my pants.

The second one was taken right before the lunch stop. They took a third one near the George Washington Bridge, but I look miserable. Odd, that is the first photo she took.

But alas, I get ahead of myself. It was a long walk. It's a long story. I guess I'll start at the beginning.

The adventure actually started Thursday afternoon when I looked up the bus schedules. During the week they start about 4:30 am and run every 15 minutes till 9. Saturdays, not so much. Saturdays they run every hour and don't start till 5:30. They are not express and stop a half dozen times. It would get me to the Port Authority 15 minutes after the start of the race.  the other company was worse—was worse. They didn't start running until about 9.

What to do?

I decided I'd go on the 5:30 and take the subway to the 3 mile mark, and join in. When I consulted the map I discovered a late-start line. So I walked from the Port Authority to it. My total walk was about 30.5 miles instead of 32. Oh well. I did it.

The walkers started near Battery Park and headed up the Hudson River portion of the Manhattan Greenway, past the High Line. We walked up the west side thru many parks towards the George Washington Bridge. Passing the USS Intrepid and the Circle Line tours.  At some point between Circle Line and the GW I put my jacket in my backpack and lost my map. (This is important info later.) At the GW there was the smallest light house I've ever seen—the Jeffrey Hook lighthouse. About a mile before the bridge was the first rest stop and the photographer. You could choose either an apple or water. Not both. I chose the apple. Since I have caps on my front teeth, I always cut apples. I bit it with my side teeth to break the skin and was able to eat it.

Until this point it was flat. Bring on the hills. Steep hills that had warning signs for bikers going down. That adventure took us off the Greenway.  At some point there I finally connected with a man from India. He was here on a business trip last year and did the walk. Scheduled his trip this year to do it again. Nice. But crazy. We had to do a little town walking and I lost the Indian man. I am now without a map or a person.  I waited till some people came and I followed them. That took us into Inwood Hill Park. (Aptly named. )

We followed a path under the Henry Hudson Bridge and then the path forked. I had to wait till someone came so I knew which fork to take. It took us to our lunch stop.

All along the route, in the many parks were comfort stations and water fountains. We had not had an official stop since the apples at the GW. Everyone was sitting around eating lunch and changing their socks. There was a huge line at the comfort station. But I didn't see a soul handing out water.

I am at the top tip of Manhattan with no map. We have to get around it to the bike path next tot he Harlem River. And that's not until the Tri-Boro Bridge. I tried following people but they walked so fast. I even saw power-walkers! I even followed them into the grocery store to buy water. Almost lost them there.

I was standing at a corner trying to see where the people went and encountered an older couple. They are members of Shorewalkers and knew the route without a map. They allowed me to walk with them till we got back to the Greenway. It was a rest stop handing out water. Then they took off and were gone in a flash. Clearly they slowed down for me.

By the time we reached double digit street numbers I was done. I called Bonnie and said when we leave the Greenway to go around the UN I'm taking a cab back. But I needed the rest room, and the line was long, and I rested. And talked to people. And got out of my head for a while. At 60th street they handed out clementines. By the time we reached the UN I thought, what the heck only 45 more blocks to go. Wrong.

I found another bunch of people to follow and we headed down First Avenue.  20 - 15- 5 - 2 - I called Bonnie again and told her we were looking for the finish line. It worked out to be about another 2 miles away. Clearly there was a ton of island left. I stopped at a falafal truck for more water.

We walked thru Chinatown and Wall Street and finally found the pub. And I got my completion certificate. There were no buttons left. It was 6:45. The next bus was at 7:15.

I walked a few blocks and took a cab back to the Port Authority. The best $17 I ever spent. We arrived at 7:10. I knew I wouldn't make the bus, so I went for a burger. I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast except for some trail mix, the apple, and a clementine. Note to self. Put trail mix in a zipper bag. Baggies spill all over your backpack.

I took my burger back to the Port Authority and sat in line and ate it. I slept a bit on the bus, and went straight to bed when I got home. After all there was laundry walking to do in the morning.

This is my FitBit graph for walking on Saturday. I've never had a pretty much solid block before. You can see when I stopped to change my socks, and when I waited in line for the bathroom. I think that dip at 2 was right before I picked up the old couple and was standing on the corner, lost.

I hit 5 milestones in one day.