I’ve had a very lovely Spring weekend — running both Saturday and Sunday in my two favorite parks in the two neighborhoods I’ve considered home since moving to NYC: Fort Tryon in Washington Heights, and an hour away (on a good day) by subway, Prospect Park in Park Slope.

I spent my first two years in New York living on 181st Street in Washington Heights while attending grad school on 168th Street. I enjoyed living in Northern Manhattan and felt a strong attachment to the area, even if most of the tourist maps of Manhattan cut off at 125th Street (don’t get me started) and despite being at the mercy of the A-train (“take the A-train” is not always good advice). I loved living in a part of Manhattan that even a lot of native New Yorkers don’t visit very often.

After grad school I decided to shake things up and move to an entirely different borough, the “Better Borough”, the “Home to Everyone From Everywhere!” — yes, Brooklyn. Almost two years have gone by since then, and I am perfectly content in my Park Slope apartment on an avenue that hasn’t been completely gentrified yet (though it’s pretty close), lined with so many restaurants that I still haven’t eaten at them all. While I don’t imagine that I’ll ever be able to afford my own brownstone, it sure is nice to run along the quiet tree-lined streets on the way back to my grafittied front door.

So after the steep hills of Fort Tryon and the meadows of Prospect Park this weekend, I’ve not only gotten some training in for the relay, but I’ve enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous weather with a few of my favorite people in all of New York.