Beer, Brunch and Bridges - Mix and Match for a Run

by Papa  Beer  Bear

For  three consecutive weekend in May, I found myself on my own, running-wise.  So I tried various combinations of beer, brunch and bridges to see what would make a good run.  Here's how it went.

May 10th: Beer & Bridges Run

 I  was on my own, running-wise, this weekend since all of my running friends were out of town or otherwise busy. Furthermore, Saturday was chilly with sprinkles all day, so I put off running. It was, moreover, my wife's birthday so a run didn't materialize. Finally I got my self motivated to get out and moving on Sunday, but did not make it out the door till noon, not too smart a time-of-day to pick on a sunny, hot and humid day.

I had wanted to run to Williamsburg via the Queensboro Bridge — about 7 or 8 miles — but the L train was out of service, so that would become a longer 2 Bridge run, where I'd have to make it back to Mahattan via the Williamsburg Bridge on foot. That, and being too lazy to take a bus up to the Queensboro Bridge led to the idea of an out-and-back run over the Williamsburg Bridge, and instead of an end-of-run brunch, I would take a middle-of-run beer break.

Thus was born the "Beer & Bridges Run". Why not "Bridge-Beer-Bridge Run"? Well, the beer is more important than the bridge, so it goes first. Well then, why not "Beer & Bridge Run", after all, there was only ones bridge? Yeah, but I ran over it twice. Anyway, "Beer and Bridges Run" sounds good to me, so that's what it is, so there!

As for the run, it was a route I'd taken a zillion times and the map tells you everything you wanted to know (probably more). But I took it very easy and stayed in the shade wherever I could find it. When I got to the Radegast Biergarten (our very, very most favorite Williamsburg establishment), I just sat perspiring at the bar with a half liter of Hoffbräu Maibock. The card-checker / bouncer was not on duty yet, but the bar tender said facetiously, that I could probably have snuck in. And that's even if I do look 10 years younger than my age.

After a 20 minute break, I reluctantly started back, but actually felt pretty good. And as I figured out later from my mapping app, it was 7.2 miles — just perfect! I shortly arrived at my doorstep and thought, "Gee, that was not too bad at all — I should do this type of run more often!"

May 16th: Brunch & Bridges Run

Saturday it was supposed to rain. This was too bad because Terry and I hoped to go up to Wave Hill. But you go to Wave Hill to see the beautiful flowers, so we'd have to wait for a sunny day. We talked about some alternatives and going to Williamsburg via the Queensboro Bridge was one, but with the L train not running on weekends we'd have to either run back over the Williamsburg Bridge, or go find another subway line. Saturday dawned and it wasn't raining and the forecast just said overcast. Then about 8:45 it started raining. So I talked to Terry and we agreed to meet at 10 and see what the weather was doing and figure something out.

Terry had some errands to do but I still had Williamsburg in mind, so we ran together down the East River Park and at the south end we split up — I headed back towards the bridge and Terry went off to check out a newly opened restaurant downtown. For my part, I decided to do a reprise of last week's Beer & Bridges Run but make it a Brunch & Bridges Run. I'd see how that worked. The route was similar to last week's (compare the maps), except it was about a mile and a half longer (about 8.8 miles) due to the extra running in the East River Park with Terry.

Well, the run was fine and the brunch was great — I once again chose Radegast. I got there a few minutes after 11 and was the first customer of the day. But the run back was not so good. A 20 minute refueling such as I had the previous weekend was one thing. But a 1 hour repast including strawberry pancakes and a half liter of Weihenstephaner Dunkel was something else entirely. Getting going again was hard and keeping a reasonable pace was harder still. The bridge seemed much steeper and I was just slow and bloated the whole way. Not only was the run bad, but the great brunch was overshadowed. With plenty of good food, you need some time to relax, do some digesting and appreciate the good life.

Long story short: I think I need to retire the run-brunch-run concept.

May 23th: Bridges & Brunch Run

This the last one of these, I promise. Saturday rolled around again and at 8:00 AM my well thought out plan to run with Ed to Northern Manhattan (or beyond) fell apart when Ed got sick and was also working on a problem at his work (a big multinational bank). So, for the 3rd weekend in a row, I was on my own to figure out where go to do my weekend  long , um, medium run. And, of course there was the brunch/beer issue. 

But with the unsuccess of last week's outing still on my mind, I decided to go back to the tried and true brunch-with-beer-after-the-run plan, like I've been doing for umpteen years. But I still wanted the bridges and I still wanted to have brunch in ever-reliable Brooklyn at a favorite place. But even a great spot like Radegast can get boring if you go too often, so I decided that this time it would be Krolewskie Jadlo, my favorite spot in Greenpoint and a close second to Radegast in all of Brooklyn.

But what about the Bridges (plural)? I could take any one of 4 bridges to get to Brooklyn from Manhattan (BB, MB, WB and QBB) but the Queensboro Bridge (QBB) was the obvious choice, both from a distance standpoint and because I would have to cross the Pulaski Bridge to get from Queens to Brooklyn. Problem solved — two bridges and then brunch and then figure out how to get home. Thus the Brunch & Bridges Run becomes the Bridges & Brunch Run. To quote Hannibal Smith from the A team: "Don't you love it when a plan comes together!" Thus the obligatory map:

I left the house about 10 AM and took the bus up to 59th Street. It was pretty chilly (I think in the upper 50°s) but the sky was nothing but beautiful blue. Not having to meet anyone was a relief, since I could just take the time it took and not worry about being late (or early). I checked my watch when I got on the bridge walkway — I was off and running at 10:02. The bridge was tough since it's actually a pretty big hill and I was totally not warmed up.

Once on the Queens side I headed down to Vernon Boulevard. Today I would take the scenic route through Long Island City along the series of waterfront parks between the East River and the high-rise condos. It was a great day for Manhattan views. At the south end of the parks I took 54th Avenue over to the Pulaski Bridge and before you knew it I was in Brooklyn.

Although my destination was in Greenpoint, not much more than a mile away, I took the long way and ran along Franklin Street in Greenpoint and then Kent Avenue in Williamsburg all the way to Grand Street. Then it was up to Bedford Avenue and all the way back to Greenpoint. BTW, this route did not pass by Radegast Biergarten, a good thing, since I might have been tempted to just stop there. This part of Williamsburg was filled with the usual Saturday morning crowds patronizing the multitude of eating and drinking spots.

After a short pit stop at the bathrooms in McCarren Park, I was at Krolewskie Jadlo at about 12:15, just over an hour and a half from the start. The place was filled by a 25 person lunch tour group who came in, sat down, ate their pierogies and left for their next lunch spot (they would hit 4 places). For me it was much more leisurely — I sat down, ordered my beer (a half liter of Zywiec) and slowly savored one of the brunch specials, Chef's pierogies with chanterelle mushroom sauce, one of my favorite dishes.

I got home via two subway trains and a bus. It was actually quicker than I had anticipated, about a half hour. And what a perfect day, a perfect run and a perfect brunch (with a perfect beer) it was!  This concept is a keeper!

This is based on material from Papa Bear's blog:
Beyond Central Park Running Blog