Due to a stress fracture from last summer/fall, and then too much work for exercise (or so I reasoned), I hadn’t been for a run for at least four months until today. I was worried that this one would be not fun and even considered the possibility of my running hobby being a thing of the past. But I set out on one of my favorite loops and wow, it was great.

I like this one because I get to touch base at a couple of my favorite spots in this area of Brooklyn: State Street, the Promenade, Camden Plaza, and the courtyard thing in Pyrotecnic University (the latter is not exactly a favorite, but I do enjoy running through it, especially for the statue of a seeing-eye dog that I always think is real at first). From Fort Greene, head west to State Street, crossing over where Laffayette hits Flatbush; make way to the Promenade via Remsen street; run the full stretch and then exit on the north end and run down the hill into Dumbo; head east, up towards the BQE (this is easily the worst part of the run), then loop around Camden Plaza and then over to Jay street; the Polytechnic courtyard spits you out at Myrtle; then, after the snow melts, you can loop around Fort Greene Park.

The best kinds of runs are the ones where you feel like you can keep going for a few miles after you’re finished. That will sound impossible if you aren’t a running person, but until I experienced it I never believed it would be possible for me either. When I first started running I struggled. I’d start loops around Prospect Park and give up 3/4 of the way through, first of all not realizing I was so close to the end of it, but second of all I was trying to run way too fast—that’s my main advice to new runners, run as damn slow as you need to. Then one day I made it all the way around—that was exhilarating—and I wasn’t exhausted. I started adding an extra half loop, or a second full loop, or branching out into other parts of Brooklyn. It turned out that just hitting that first milestone made distance seem totally manageable.

But I’m gearing up for Robie Creek this April (anyone want to go to Boise, Idaho, for a half marathon that takes you up and down a mountain? It’s such a fun one). If anyone needs a running partner, hit me up! lsvolg [at] gmail.