RUNNING JOURNAL

As I neared turning f%^$y, I decided to take up running and have covered over 1800 miles in the past three years. It has become a daily obsession, occasionally a daily dread, monotonous and not without pain, a reminder of the frailty of my body. This is a shoot-from-the-hip notebook of sorts from some of my favorite running paths in the world.

September 1, 2016. Astoria, NY.

August 5, 2016. Les Alpilles et Le Lac des Peiroou, France.
Access to this lake would normally be cut off until late September, but a local told me if I set off before 8am, I could make it before the gardiennes who block the road arrive. After a half-hour's worth of calf-splitting incline, I arrived at the lake in total solitude which was an exhilarating, yet unsettling experience.

No matter how badly I wanted to dip my feet into the lake's jade waters and climb the chalky white Alpilles, I was struck by an intense fear and paranoia considering two female runners had been killed that week doing the very thing I was. My heart goes out to the families of runner Katrina Vitrano who was killed in my home town of Queens and Vanessa Marcotte in Provincetown for no reason other than a desire to take a run in a wild expanse of nature close to home.

I long for a way to eradicate violence towards women and am utterly powerless to propose a way forward.

August 5, 2016. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, the canal that has fed the region for centuries.

August 5, 2016. Did not realize it was possible to take a self portrait without knowing it, but alas. Here we go in early light, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

August 5, 2016. Les Alpilles, France.

August 5, 2016. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence

August 1, 2016. Canal St. Martin, Paris.

August 2016. Photos I have been taking of the inside of my phone case without realizing in certain circumstances, the volume button is also photo taking button.