Today's Run

29 weeks. Looking large, but feeling good!

Ran for 48 minutes with my employee/friend Charrow. It was cold but beautiful outside.

Definitely running Saturday AM with Team Joe from Waverly at 10 AM if anyone wants to join. Who's out there reading this anyway? If you have never run with Team Joe, come on by! We are the least intimidating, friendliest team in the world.

Free coffee after the run!

Running for Two

This woman with child has a one-track mind. Runnning, not chocolate.

Yes, I am very lucky to be able to have gotten to 7 months and to still be able to run. I am taking it day by day, and this could end at any moment. I know that the most important thing I do is to have a healthy baby, not to be Paula Radcliffe, my personal running hero.

Every Saturday when I show up for the Team Joe run, invariably people ask me, "you're not still running, are you?" Well, heck yeah, I am! The more I read about exercize and pregnancy, more I find out that it's great for the baby as well as for me, will supposedly make giving birth easier, and most importantly, hopefully shows people that pregnant is not a sickness or a weakness.

I do still want your subway seat though...and maybe an extra cookie.

Rave Run!

This Sunday, January 8th, 9AM, we will run rave through the streets of NYC, from Joe to Joe (to Joe to Joe to Joe to Joe), so 6 in total, in case you got lost after counting to 3.

Starting at Chelsea Joe, we'll run to Waverly, up to 13th street, all the way up to Grand Central, up and across the park to Upper West Side, and then back across the the new store on Lexington and 74/75 for bagels, coffee and mimosas! It's 9 miles in total, but you could always stop at GCT with me and meet up at Joe Lex, or just run straight up to Lex.

All are welcome. I will, myself, be running at least till the GCT store.

Speaking of, I am still running. Now am almost 6 1/2 months pregnant. It can be done. I may get some funny looks, but I will go as long as I can. The baby (TBA) seems to enjoy the circus-arts in my belly.

Any of you out there knocked up and jogging or have in the past??

Cheers. I hope to see a few of you Sunday!

David Graham Photography Show at Chelsea

These are a few of David's vibrant photos. The colors are radiant and the subjest matters very interesting. I love the juxtapositions among his work. Come to Chelsea Joe and see them in person. They are for sale, framed or unframed through the artist. As always, Joe does not take a commission; we are just honored to have great local art.

www.davidgrahamlocations.com

Knocked up...and still running..well, jog-waddling..

In case you missed the Facebook announcement last week, I, president of Team Joe (what a laugh! Nobody voted me in!) am now going to be brining up the rear in the team Joe jogs..for a while.

Although I don't feel or look all that pregnant yet, I sure feel it when I try to lift both feet off the ground at the same time. My pace has plummeted from a 9 munite mile to about an 11+ minute mile and I am still huffing a little bit. Does this bother me at all? Nah...just so long as I am still running.

Tried biking today at the gym: Level 3 instead of the usual Level 9 was tough!

If anyone has any insight, empathy or bad advice, please comment!

Team Joe Dekalb Market Sundays

We just opened a new "store", more like a pop-up for a few years, in Downtown Brooklyn. The concept is a Market, called Dekalb Market. During the week, it provides some services that are lacking, like coffee, lunch places and fun shops. It has lots of shaded picnic tables, a DJ, an organic farm, a beer garden, and on weekends, also plenty of Flea Market stalls.

The "stores" are within repurposed shipping containers, outfitted by each business owner to reflect his/her style.

Joe's container sits sext to the entrance by the subway entrance off Willoughby. We'll be open for coffee business 7 days a week. Monday-Friday at 8AM and weekends at 9AM, serving the same delicious treats at the other 6 shops.

The important thing to note about Dekalb is that because of the proximity of the market to my apartment in Brooklyn Heights, we will be moving our Sunday runs from the Columbus Avenue store to Brooklyn! Yay!

Still 9:30 AM, 10 AM in the Fall. Drinks are still free, but please tip.

The route is a straight shot down Flatbush to Prospect Park, around and back..6.5 miles. It's uphill there, but thankfully what goes up must come down on the way back.

I hope to see some new faces there this and every Sunday!

Running New Routes

I know I sound like a member of a cult with all the repetition about how much I love living in Brooklyn, but I love living in Brooklyn!! Everyone should live here.

That being said, it took me a while to get into a rhythm with finding new running routes. Running an living in the city, it was always the same routes. For 10 years I lived on the UWS and ran Central Park every day. Then I lived in mid-town and also ran Central Park, but from Columbus Circle, which actually made it seem a little different.

Then I was living in Chelsea and SoHo pre-marriage. I started running on the west side highway. Seeing the Hudson River and the statue of liberty took my breath away and rarely got dull, though the winter winds were fierce.

When I moved to Brooklyn, I didn't think the running would be so great. There was no park nearby, just the BQE and Red Hook. We were 2 miles from Prospect Park.

The first Summer in Brooklyn, I would run to Fairway/Ikea in Red Hook and back. That was 4 miles of really interesting, industrial road. If you have never been out to Fairway, it sits on the very end of the road on the edge of the water. Old train cars sleep forever behind the old warehouse that is now Fairway. It's really cool.

Slowly, my husband and I began trying out other routes. We ran to the brooklyn Bridge, over and back, also about 4 miles with the most spectacular views. Other times we would run to and around Prospect Park and back, almost 8 miles. Now on Saturdays we often run over the Brooklyn Bridge to Waverly place for the Team Joe runs that we tack on for a 9 1/2 miler.

I just now came across this other blog that's just abour running in Brooklyn. I guess I am not alone in my romance with the greatest of Boroughs!

http://brooklynruns.blogspot.com/

Hey -if anyone ever wants a tour of Brooklyn in their Asics/Sauconys/Brooks, I can take you on a great one!