From Friends of Crawford Park

I took a quick trip to the town of Rye Brook in upstate New York recently and I had the opportunity to go for a run in Crawford Park. I was in the company of much faster, more seasoned runner (as usual), but I enjoyed the short, and hilly course. Turns out we didn’t cover as much as the park as I thought at the time. Crawford park is a 35 acre park donated to the City of Rye back in 1971. It was the estate of the Crawford family prior to that. The Crawfords were avid gardeners and it showed throughout the course. We ran by their mansion a few times and wondered out loud what it was, well it was the showpiece back in the day and host to many fabulous events and celebrations. Today, it can be rented out to host your own fabulous event. 

You can find more information about Crawford Park here 

It’s really nice to see something so pretty and well kept during my travels. I was worried about running in the suburban streets before seeing Crawford park. 

So it was a double treat. First I got to run with a more seasoned runner,  and second, it was in a nice setting. The last time we ran together, I was still recovering from surgery so I was even slower and more self conscious. And, we were forced to run around O’hare airport. There was one part along that route where we inhaled nothing but airplane fuel. So I was happy to run with him again in a much better setting. On our way to the park we spotted a deer, I was tempted to stop and take a picture, but I didn’t want to kill the little momentum I had so far. 

I was warned that the path was hilly, and I’ve been avoiding hills so far in my training. There’s no real reason why, other than I know how challenging they are and I don’t feel up to the challenge just yet.  So off we go along the trail, first hill, not so bad, I’m kind of keeping up and I’m still sort of holding a conversation. Second hill, silence, still trying to keep up. Third hill, ugh, no talking, heavy breathing, weakening muscles, trying not to stop. And repeat, I think 2 or 3 more times, with me leading from behind (ha!) and my heavy breathing increasing with each lap. Seriously, I sounded like a stalker breathing into a phone. There were some walking breaks, yeah for walking breaks! All in all, a nice run in a nice park with good company. 

When I run with more experienced runners, I often feel like I am holding them back. I think that comes from my experience playing tennis, where it is important to play with someone at your level, otherwise it makes for a frustrating game. In a way, I am holding them back, but I also know the feeling of helping a slower runner breakthrough their barriers and the good feeling of offering encouragement to them along the way. So this run did help me break through, because me last training run, was much faster and I included a few more hills.

Until next time.