It was nice to get out and ride around in the city a bit. I actually prefer it to the greenways sometimes because it’s more engaging and there’s more to look at. Sadly, I paused my workout while taking photos and forgot to restart it when I was down by Pier 36, but that just gives me an excuse to redo the route next weekend.
I definitely need to find more time in the week to exercise. I feel a lot better after spending the day outdoors. I’m also thinking about getting another gym membership. The issue would be finding a way to fit it into my schedule. Something like Harbor Fitness might work. There’s a location close to where I work.
My wife and I ate strictly vegetarian for about 14 months and then we fell off the wagon and went back to our old meat-eating ways quite a few years ago. I’m not sure if I want to do that again, eating strictly vegetarian I mean, but lately I’ve been wanting to drastically reduce the amount of meat in my diet, not because I’m overly concerned about cow farts or saving the world, though that is a pretty important issue, but because I want to improve my own health. Self preservation is a strong motivator.
When we were eating vegetarian I was losing weight and I felt healthier. The issue wasn’t just meat, of course. We were also exercising regularly, counting calories, not drinking soda, and going light on desserts. I want to do that again, so I’ve started exercising more and I’m hoping to really cut down on meat over the long-term and carbs in the short term to get myself back on track.
Tabouli, babaganoush, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, salad, and fried potatoes.Shakshuka with mozzarella cheese
It’s not as hard to do when there are so many great vegetarian restaurant options nearby. I guess that might be one of the perks of living in a major city, but eating good while eating out won’t be an issue. Today, we went to one of our favorite spots, Hummus Place, for a late lunch/early dinner. We developed a taste for Middle Eastern food when I was in college studying Middle Eastern history. I’m glad I got over my disinclination to try new foods when I was younger, because life would be a lot blander if I still thought seasoning food meant just adding salt and pepper.
I’ve been trying to do a lot more exercise this year. Most of that has been cycling because it’s easy on the knees and that’s important when you’re trying to lose weight.
I’m going to put more emphasis on running this month. I have a 10-mile run coming up at the end of next month. I’ve never done one before. I probably should have put more time into training for it, but life gets in the way. It’s nice to go out jogging again.
My wife and I used to jog together all the time when we lived in Singapore. It’d be great if we could find a way to get back into the habit. We need to move, though. Where we live now makes it really inconvenient to just go out the door and run. We have to drive down to Central Park to make it work and that adds commute time to just working out.
Because my wife kicks ass, she went out to Central Park on Sunday and ran a half-marathon and then came home and told me about it like it was no big deal.
This is the awesome medal she got:
She’s working on building herself up to doing a full marathon. I’m sure she’ll have a medal for that soon as well.
View of the Hudson River from Riverbank State Park
I sort of let myself fall off the exercise wagon while struggling with other commitments, so now that Summer session classes are over, I’m taking August to try to get myself together. That involves a lot of sorting, organizing, shopping, bill paying, appointment scheduling, and, of course, getting myself back into shape. I’m not going to be a hero and try to go from barely being active for two and a half months to dropping 5ks like they’re nothing, so I’m starting out with long walks first. This is definitely a great neighborhood for it, both in terms of scenery and because the area is hilly, rather than flat, making walks more physically challenging.
We walked down Riverside Drive from about 168th Street, where Columbia University Medical Center is and eventually wound up in Riverbank State Park, which is the nicest park I’ve seen in New York City, other than Central Park. The facilities are probably better than those at Central Park, though, since they’re newer. We saw an Olympic-sized running oval, a skating rink, and somewhere in that park there’s also a pool. We’re looking forward to going back and spending some time there. I bet that oval makes for good running, that’s easy on the knees.
A view of New Jersey from Riverside Drive
George Washington Bridge
A set of train tracks that run along the river.
Riverside Drive
Creepy looking stairs off Riverside Drive. Not sure where they go.
Interesting building on Riverside Drive.
No idea what these are. They’re just inside the park at the 145th Street entrance.
George Washington Bridge as seen from Riverbank Park
Looking back toward Manhattan from Riverbank Park
Looking back toward Manhattan from Riverbank Park
Looking back toward Manhattan from Riverbank Park
View of New Jersey from Riverside Drive
Classes start again at the end of the month, so hopefully I can make the most out of my time!
This is just something odd I saw while at the shopping center near my new place. I was leaning against a rail while my wife was using the ATM, and I noticed this sign behind me. I thought it was amusing so I snapped some photos.
Apparently, the children are supposed to hang out on the adjoining playground while the old people get their workout:
These workout areas and playgrounds are common in Singapore, but this is the first time I’d seen one that claimed to be specifically for old people.
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