Let me tell you about my new sportpack.
I have—many, many times—considered plotting a run between work and home (rather than trekking all the way home to do yet another loop of Prospect Park). Last night, inspired by the continued lameness of my running buddy (physical lameness, mind you), which prevents me from running in the park at night, and my trial loop last week of the outside of the park (on the assumption that it would be safer to run on trafficked streets, which, as it turns out, is an apt description of only three sides of the park), I DID IT.
I ran myself home.
And it was THE BEST.
I made my way to City Hall on the train, then trotted across the Brooklyn Bridge, through downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill and Gowanus and up the hill to Park Slope—along streets that I might otherwise comfortably walk in the dark (unlike the streets along the backside of Prospect Park)—a route RunningMap.com estimates at a little over 4 miles.
None of this would have been possible without the aid of my new tiny sport backpack, which I purchased at great discount from the brand new REI in SoHo, and which Andy (aforementioned running buddy) IGNORANTLY MOCKED ME FOR. (Ahem.) I purchased said pack (pictured above; isn’t it handsome?) thinking that I would be perfect to tote my stuff to yogies or to the climbing gym, and that it would also serve me well in my day hikes with Emily come May. It is wee! It is lightweight! It has an inner pocket large enough to accommodate my chalk bag (and keep that nasty chalk bag away from the other children)!
What’s more, it works for running!
When I set off last night, I secured my keys, wallet, phone and book (yes: book; hardcover, if you must know) into the pack’s interior pockets, then secured the pack to myself. I imagined I might find the pack really annoying (bouncy, bouncy) and might wish that I owned one of those highly technical and cool hiking packs that closely resemble the fanny packs we all mocked in the ‘80s but are, obviously, much cooler (especially if you are sporting facial stubble and an Outward Bound t-shirt). But my wee pack was great!
Clearly it is the best purchase ever, and Andy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
