… and all through the City.
The Whisperer walked …
… ‘till the weather got sh*tty.
A couple of years ago, my daughter persuaded me to sign up for the Honolulu Virtual Marathon, which is held each year from the first week of December through the first week of January.
Neither of us had any intention of running 26.2 miles in a single day in mid-winter: too cold and possibly wet and/or icy.
I had no intention of running any distance whatsoever: age, beer belly, knees, etc.
But I do like to walk, and the Honolulu Virtual Marathon allowed me to do that.
It would have been nice to walk the entire distance in one shot, but we were unable to schedule a particular day to attempt it, although we did manage a 17-mile training walk before signing up.
The rules do allow the distance to be spread over several days, so we both had to make do with a handful of “shorter” walks; I ended up completing it in just over three days, because the whole point for me was to get some serious walking in (and not just possibly to get a t-shirt and medal).
We were too busy to repeat the achievement last year, but we have both signed up again this year.
So, this past week, I have been chalking up “training” walks of 3-8 miles a day, weather permitting, and managed to total 28 miles in the four days from December 17th to the 20th, the bulk of that in three walks with a 2-miler to JWF and home to push it over the marathon mark.
You would think that I could just rest on my laurels at this point and submit those four walks (Google Maps timelines and/or Google Fit statistics) as evidence of completion of the 2024 marathon.
But we do really want to try for a one-day-long walk this year, and in preparation, I have a walking route planned; you may be able to guess where this is going …
- The route starts at home on the UES of Manhattan.
- We meet up at the Metropolitan Museum and then cut across Central Park through the northwest corner, aiming for Grants Tomb on Riverside at 120th
- From there we walk all the way down to Bowling Green, through Riverside Park and the Hudson River walking/cycling path, with a quick detour at the West Village to pick up some strolling pastries from Myers of Keswick.
- Up Broadway to City Hall and across the Brooklyn Bridge to Gowanus and Wild East Brewing, our first beer/bathroom stop; you probably saw that coming.
- Over Fort Greene to Brooklyn Navy Yard and then east on Flushing Avenue to Bushwick and KCBC, beer/bathroom stop #2 assuming that we arrive when it is actually open.
- Northwards through Greenpoint and over the Pulaski Bridge to Long Island City, Queens, and our finishing point (hopefully) at Fifth Hammer Brewing.
Almost exactly 26.2 miles according to Google Maps, so I expect that it will be a little more on the ground.
Can we do it?
Yes, I think we both have the stamina to do it in one go; I have walked several of those legs already, including the stretch from LIC (Fifth Hammer) to Navy Yard (Transmitter) via Bushwick (KCBC), and the first part from home to City Hall via General Grant was the same 17-mile walk that we did two years ago.
And there is the promise of casks at Wild East and Fifth Hammer to keep our heads up.
We just need a reasonable day weatherwise and an early start, as I expect that the walk will use up the 8-9 hours of daylight available this time of year.
And if we want to make the scheduled bathroom stops, we should probably aim to do the walk on a weekend day.
As for those 8-mile training walks that I completed this week, one of them managed to place me in Midtown Manhattan at a time when The Shakespeare was open for business, so of course I had to poke my head in for a couple of pints of Old Glenham and a scotch egg; beer-wise, it has been a bit of an Old Glenham week, naught wrong with that.
We also chalked up the tree at Rockefeller Center and the crowds of tourists wandering aimlessly along and between Fifth and Sixth Avenues; we made sure that the other two distance walks were along the margins.
We will be sticking to those same margins for the marathon walk.
Watch this space next week for an update folks.
In the meantime, however you celebrate (or not) the holiday (or holidays), do it with grace and gratitude, and be good to each other.
Scorecard w/e 12/24/24
In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:
- Old Glenham CC Special Bitter @ The Shakespeare
- Old Glenham Winders ESB @ The Shakespeare
- Old Glenham CC Special Bitter @ Jones Wood Foundry
- Old Glenham Tommy Bar Winter Ale @ Jones Wood Foundry
- Old Glenham Spinners Stout @ Jones Wood Foundry
- Dutchess Ghost Pale Ale @ Jones Wood Foundry
Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)
1/17/25: RIF-RAF Rhode Island’s Finest Real Ale Festival (session 1) @ The Guild Pawtucket RI
1/18/25: RIF-RAF Rhode Island’s Finest Real Ale Festival (session 2) @ The Guild Pawtucket RI
4/2/25 – 4/5/25: 26th Annual NERAX will be held in Boston MA. Save the dates!
Upcoming Random NYC Casks
- All quiet on the randoms so far this week.
NYC Cask Venues
Known Operational/Active Beer Engines
- Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
- Fifth Hammer
- Wild East
- The Shakespeare (x3)
- Cask Bar & Kitchen
- Drop-off Service
Occasional Pins (worth a follow on Instagram)
- Strong Rope
- KCBC
- Tørst
- Blind Tiger Ale House
- Threes Brewing
- Brouwerij Lane (First Friday Firkins)
- The Owl Farm
