New Year's Day run to Jamaica

Myrtle Avenue to Forest Park in Queens has become one of my favorite running routes. It cuts through a number of distinctive, lively neighborhoods—Clinton Hill and Bushwick in Brooklyn, Ridgewood and Glendale in Queens—and ends in a deeply wooded park. I took many photos along this stretch last winter, which you can see here.

On this run, I came out the other side of Forest Park and pushed on to the Long Island Railroad Station in Jamaica, Queens. By the time I got past the parts I've already photographed, the light was fading fast, so I don't have too many pictures. The run was about 10 miles; I took the LIRR home. Six bucks! But less than 15 minutes, too.

"Mom! Mom! Can we Have a dollar? The knife truck is here! The knife truck!" It even has a bell.

From Jamaica

Marcy projects playground

From Jamaica

Cascade Laundry

From Jamaica

The bustling Knickerbocker Ave. shopping district. All open on New Year's Day.

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A shopping cart food vendor. I'm seeing them all over the Brooklyn lately.

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Playing for money on a cold, slow day in Queens.

From Jamaica

A mini-chain in Queens that looks like Starbucks if you squint. Next stop, burgers at McDowell's.

From Jamaica

From Jamaica

Jamaica Station reminds me of a Berlin S-Bahnhof

From Jamaica

I ran in the Snowpocalypse

Only 1.5 miles. But in boots, every mile counts for two. Right?

This run required different shoes.

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Saving your space, Chicago style.

This guy shoveled half the street just to get his car out.

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Waverly Street, untouched by plows.

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Looking down Willoughby Ave.

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This truck seems to have been abandoned in the middle of Willoughby.

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These guys turned away help. A crossing guard scolded them: "Next time somebody who needs work offers to shovel, you give them the job!"

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Trudging down Skillman

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Don't Walk

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Walk

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A Christmas Eve run to Dyker Heights, Brooklyn

When I was a kid in Aurora, IL, my grandparents lived on Lehnertz Avenue in a neighborhood called Pigeon Hill. Every year at Christmas, since 1951, the neighborhood puts on a Christmas display. One one side of the street, every house has cut outs of shepherds and sheep, on the other (my grandparents') side, "books" telling the nativity story. It all leads up to a crèche of dubious constitutionality in the public park at the end of the street. Buy a house on Lehnertz and you inherit the books or the shepherds in the garage or the basement; they've been using the same displays since the early 60s.

Here in New York, the local Christmas lights neighborhood is Dyker Heights. It's not really a community effort. Instead, it's a handful of families trying to out-Clark-Griswold each other.

Church-and-state quibbles aside, I prefer Lehnertz Ave.

This run was about 12 miles, and crossed through Kensington, Boro Park, and (I think) Bay Ridge.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Hogswatch.

In front of a hot pot restaurant on Fort Hamilton Parkway

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In Dyker Heights. No holiday display—but my what a classy menagerie!

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I find this a little scary...

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In front of a church in Kensington

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Staten Island Half Marathon

I ran it in respectable (for me) 2:05. I took only a few pictures because, well, it was a race and I thought I might have a shot at my first sub-two. Also the sun was low and bright, which made it hard to get good shots. But it's a terrific course—it winds along the Staten Island waterfront, so it has a lot of visual variety, which makes for a much easier run. Plus... free boat ride!

This was my first-ever run in the borough of Republicans and Wu-Tang. I look forward to coming back for a more leisurely look around and better pictures.

Runners board the ferry

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Getting ready for the race

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Tugboats

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Near the start. Much of the course is industrial waterfront like this.

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At mile 1 in St. George

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Staten Island Rail tracks

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Heading back, with a view of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge

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After the finish, rewarded with a great view of the city

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The minor league SI Yankees park

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Walking back to the ferry, cheering on some tough runners

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Ferry terminal

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Last look back

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Sorry, but can't resist this... SI's biggest pop cultural moment?