Talk to the Goat
Damn. You make running actually sound good. I wish I could still do it.
Reading that made me tired. I'm gonna take a nap to rest up from your run.
Jay, this is a good love letter to Toronto. I think you should submit it to your newspapers!
whew, I'm exhausted. the sidewalks you love will eventually kill your knees
This made me want to take a run. And I HATE running.
I am with the others - what a lovely poem for your city and for running, which is really not as great as you make it sound from where I sit!!!
Hey - and is that a great new shot of you in the sidebar? Very cute.
Oh God, I soooo feeel you. I'm a runner too, god only knows why. I live in Scotland now, cold, windy, rainy, but a run...that seems to pass me by strange looking cows and odd peeps and buildings I thought only exsisted in storybooks.
Great post, loved it!
I think I wanna move to Toronto... and run. Or maybe I'll just walk 
I don't do the running thing (and right now, even if i wanted to, I'm not allowed. I love to walk though, and I experience something similar to what you've described, though at slower pace. I love how you write about your home, how much you love it! There's also something about taking up a new hobby when you end a relationship that is so liberating.
During the brief time that I didn't live in this country, I used to run every morning on the same path. I would see the same people including a woman with one eye, sitting outside of a department store. It was truly fascinating to watch the city come alive right in front of me. I would run up one street and it would still be quiet but on the way back home there were people and hustle and bustle.
This doesn't encourage me to run anywhere but it does encourage me to remember. So thank you.
Stop it. Now! You're making me want to go run... Nice view into your world Jay.
I destroyed my knees running but damn that's a beautiful bit of prose. I'm not a city boy by any stretch but you make it sound glorious. Very well done. Quite satisfactory. *s*
You know I got serious about running when she ran away too.
I too wear those little ankle socks, when I ride my bike. Don't really want to look like Mr. Bean.
I thought mothers warned their daughters against giving away so much love to so many strangers.
I LOVE to run! Unlike you, brave Jay, I run on a treadmill - 'cos I'm waaaaay too clumsy to do it on the street or even in the park. But I totally get running blind! I close my eyes on the treadmill all the time.
Your Toronto sounds so much like my NYC it's amazing. 
Reading this almost made me want to go outside and run ... ALMOST!
Thanks for sharing your incredible zest for life!
We all need to take notice of our surroundings, no matter what pace we travel at. Too many people have built a wall around themselves with their cell phones and iPods. 
Thank you Ms. Allen. What a nice long sequence in b/w with some gentle music, ending with the door clap.
You're absolutely fabulous.
And I'd love to see you run by everyday. Because I'd know how much you love and what you love. And that would be lovely indeed.
I have a confession to make. When you were running, I was guy who stuffing his face with Cheetos, and drinking Pepsi as you were running by. I hope you didn't hear me grumble about you being a health nut, or me saying "nice ass".
I've never been into running, I'll stick to walking and biking. Oh, and boobs.
I'll have to think about the things you see when I'm on the treadmill...
I'm envious! I wanna be a runner too! I've started a program a few times ... but get bored. I wanna get in "the zone"!
i can't even imagine anyone being able to run on the sidewalks of to, cuz whenever i've been out and about, there is barely room for walking, let alone anyone trying to run. the sidewalks make me nervous, way to many people in far too much of a rush, you're lucky you've found a spot you can run in.
Sounds much more exciting than my "runs" on the elliptical "bike" at the YMCA.
Now I feel even worse about exercising diligently for 6 weeks more than a year ago and then stopping cold turkey. I feel especially bad about it when I get winded going up one flight of stairs (and I'm not even overweight, so I must really be out of shape).
I hate to run. I love to walk my dogs. You make me want to visit Toronto.
keep on running jay ...
i miss city sidewalk.
What you hear and see is life, and what a great thing it is!
I hate running with a passion. Maybe it's because I live in the subarbs and the most exciting thing I see is a dog taking a crap.
Oh yes, the fanny packs... I tried recently to carry something similar, thinking it would be a good idea to have my cell phone with me in case of emergencies. It was an exterior pocket with two "very intense" magnets to keep it in place. This lasted half a block before careening off of me into oncoming traffic.
Exercise often keeps me sane
Damn, I need to visit there soon. If I see you whiz by, I'll say Hey!
You have an incredible facility for the telling detail, which would be the envy of most novelists.
I am so completely jealous. I have tried so hard to love running, and then when that didn't work, tried to like it, and then when THAT didn't work, tried to just not hate it.
Alas, the very thought of it brings death and desperation to my mind. But I know, I KNOW that so many others feel like you do about it.
So run and run, m'dear. And I will sit over here wishing that I would wake up one day and suddenly get that endorphin rush when I tie on my jogging shoes.
We bought and eliptical about a month ago or so now and we use it daily and I have gotten to where I can close my eyes and imagine a green field with rolling hills and just me out there running at a slow pace and just looking around at the scenary. but you paint a beautiful picture of your home so this makes it even more special.
I ran for about 10 years and hated every second of it. I'm just not a runner. Rollerblading, however, I absolutely love.
Oh gawd, a poutine! What i'd KILL for a poutine!!
Sidewalks in London are devoid of any engineering logic or sustainable cement, which make them a mine fields for sprained ankles. Especially when avoiding the batrizillions of pedestrians. It's fantastic!
I feel kinda the same about Boston, but I like seeing it from the Trolley, the cab or simply on foot WALKING, cause I hate running and I always though...How can running in the city be good for you, especially in the summer...I mean you are breathing harder and inhaling all the car exhaust in deeper!!
I love your writing(-:
I wish I could edit that last comment because I left the T off the end of Thought, and I didn't use a question mark when I should have...dumb!!
I once was in the "zpne" but then Timmy sent me to the cornfield...
We've been walking when we can and I have entertained the idea of kicking it up a notch to running but I haven't quite got there yet. Good for you!
... and I love this post.
Lovely piece, Jay.
I used to be a runner, but unrelated broken backs and herniated discs ended it.
Now I walk or ride my bike all over the city because the sights are still addictive.
I love this post. Running is hard for me, too, but last summer I found that I could actually tolerate it and actually kind of enjoy it, yea even look FORWARD to it. What is WRONG with me??
Oh you're making me miss living in the city. But I could never have run in it... I tripped on sidewalk cracks waling in my flats.
Lovely ode to TO.
This is exactly why I live and run in the city - excellent post!
Hehe, Candace. I love how alike we are.
I suck at running. I really do. I had to learn to tolerate it at first, but I'm glad I stuck it out. Of course, I still enjoy a good, rambling, leisurely walk as well. How else to gaze uponthe lovely melons of the fruit stands, or count the suspenders straining across the bellies of the old men feeding the birds, or cringe as I witness yet another near-accident? Good times, good times.
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