Sunrise over Poughkeepsie

I ended 2010 with a beautiful and memorable run Friday morning on the Walkway Over the Hudson. Forgive me for writing about the Walkway again. But understand that, given my strict early-morning jogging regimen in Hyde Park, runs over the Walkway for me are rare indeed.

So there I was with Fast Tony again, on a morning where we had the luxury of starting at the relatively late hour of 7 a.m., as opposed to our usual 5:45 a.m. appointed meeting time. We met at Starbucks by Home Depot in order to get a little extra mileage before getting to the bridge, in the event it was locked shut – as it was when we tried a similar run on Christmas Eve.

On this morning, we were fortunate that local attorney Fred Schaeffer – the brains and impetus behind the beautiful Walkway – was kind enough to open up the gates to his treasured bridge himself. The span was basically empty and it was not even windy. Amazingly, all the snow from last week’s storm was cleared off. Tony surmised that the strong winds may have simply swept it off the span.

Fred was out there with his car, taking pictures that I’m sure he posted on the Walkway’s Facebook page. He never seems to tire of being on the bridge that he loves. Seemingly every time I am up on the bridge, I see Fred taking pictures and greeting bridge users.

On the return trip back to Poughkeepsie, Tony and I were treated to the most beautiful sunrise you’ll ever see. The sun slowly poked its way over the distant Taconic hills to the east, with the first morning light shimmering over the skyline – such as it is – of Poughkeepsie. More than 200 feet underneath us, a huge barge moseyed its way through the ice chunks on the Hudson River, heading north.

Fast Tony actually slowed his pace to savor the moment. Mr. Schaeffer snapped photos of the scene that is repeated each day, but is no less a beautiful miracle despite its daily occurrence.

What a great way to exit the old year and enter the new year.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year. Here’s hoping that 2011 will be a positive 12 months for one and all. According to my Blogger statistics, I had more than 300 posts on this fancy blog in 2010. God willing, I hope to continue with regular posts on this blog, for all followers of Marist Running, and all others that might be interested.

With practices and meets starting up again, you can expect more regular posts to begin this week.

Again, Happy 2011, everyone.