Item #44 - Run the Brooklyn & Manhattan Bridges

In #43, I went to NYC to go to a Mets game and finish out the 30 stadium tour. The game was at 1:00, and there was a Michigan game at 8:00 that night (why explore all that NYC has to offer when you can stay inside and give yourself multiple heart attacks watching a college football game!), so I had a few hours to kill in between. So earlier in the week, before heading down, I decided to keep up my running and at least spend 45 minutes touring NYC by doing a 5 mile run. I was staying with my buddy Aaron in Brooklyn, so I could do the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge on the same run. Convenient . . . until this news item came out:

U.S. security forces in high alert after the latest intelligence information said the militant group Al Qaeda planning to detonate a car bomb on the bridge or tunnel in the city of New York and Washington DC at the 10th anniversary 9 / 11 attacks, this weekend.

Just great. But rather than pick a different non-bridge-crossing route, or not run altogether, I said fuck it, and proceeded as planned. Because if I didn't run, I'd be letting the terrorists win, right? And after having been in NYC September 7-9 of 2001, I had always wanted a NY disaster story of my own (see Item #25). So maybe this was my chance. I could be running on the Brooklyn Bridge, have a bomb go off in the middle, breaking the bridge in 2, and then I would have to pick up the nearest child and sprint back to land as a hero, as the rest of the bridge continued to crumbled behind me. Or more likely, something would explode and I would curl up in a ball and start crying, as the children around me pointed and laughed, because I freaked out over an M80. Yeah, that's the more likely one.

The obvious spoiler to the story is that nothing happened. However, I did get a little freaked out on the bus ride down to the city. Right before crossing into Manhattan, less than 100 yards from the bridge (coming from the Bronx), our driver, who was either Arabic of Afghani,  pulled over to the side of the road. He didn't say anything. He just got up, went to the back of the bus and closed the door. My first thought? Well, we're dead.  We're near a bridge.  He's wiring up his bomb. This thing's gunna blow. But after a couple, I stopped being an irrational profiler, because our driver finished his poop break and got back to driving. A bathroom break with just a few miles to go wouldn't normally make sense, but thanks to the added security from the aforementioned threats, it took us another 45 minutes to get halfway down Manhattan to our stop. Our driver knew that. Your idiot author did not. So much for being a bad-ass.

Eventually I made it into Brooklyn and then to the Mets game. And afterwards, I took the following route, which proved to be pretty interesting for a threat-level-midnight kind of weekend.

A - The view from the Manhattan Bridge looking downtown and to the Brooklyn Bridge. Perfect time of day that lead to a postcard-esque view of the city. And "postcard" is an apt word as I certainly looked like a tourist trying to get on the Manhattan Bridge. There was only one pedestrian lane open, and there was a sign that said "bikes only." So I kind of puttered around looking for another path across, not wanting to be yelled at by the scary New Yorkers. Eventually I asked some lady on her bike, and she was perfectly nice in telling me that the bike path was the only way to get across, as I'm sure she then inaudibly muttered "pussy ass tourist."

From mile 1-2 I ran through Chinatown and its countless street vendors. Chinatown grocery vendors + big city smog/sewer/piss smell does not equal a pleasant running air. Somehow I made it through though without purchasing a live chicken.

B - 10 year anniversary of September 11? Of course I had to run by Ground Zero. The new tower was obviously not done, and the memorial wouldn't be open until the next day, but that didn't stop the area from being flooded by people, included a dude ranting and raving about the US and Muslims while in full traditional garb. I'm all for free speech and freedom of religion, but dude, have you met some of the people from this country? Sometimes common sense needs to prevail. That guy was basically asking someone to recreate the Die Hard Harlem scene for him.

C - Coming back across the Brooklyn Bridge. For a site that may have been target #1 based on the report mentioned above, this place was even more hopping than Ground Zero. You want to put a threat on our bridges? New York says "Fuck you, we're doubling on foot traffic on it." America . . . fuck yeah.

D - Shots from the end of the run, just outside my friend's apartment, looking at the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. From just outside my apartment, I can see a Starbucks and a nail salon . . . I'm slightly jealous.

So I didn't get blown to bits (despite 1 instance of irrationally fearing it), but nor did I get to save my own life by showing off my wheels, running from a collapsing bridge. Eh, we'll call it a win-win.