Joggling with the Devil

Here we have yet another lonely, ghostly abandoned building sitting alongside the Croton Aqueduct Trail, in Yonkers, New York. It is one of my favorite running trails, so it’s difficult for me to keep it a secret.

(I am not responsible for the Satanic graffiti in any of these photos, I was just a visitor.)

This building has been abandoned for so long, the surrounding forest has nearly swallowed it up. I do not know the history of this place or what it was for. While I have blogged about the old Croton Aqueduct trail before, at 26.2 miles, it deserves more than one post due to all the unique sites that punctuate its great length. From the many stately historical mansions overlooking the Hudson river, to spooky abandoned buildings, this trail has a lot to offer. My longest runs ever have been on this trail. Its a great place to have an adventure close to the city.

These ruins are in the northern part of Yonkers, just down the hill from Untermeyer Park(on route 9), which resembles the gardens of a Roman villa(lots of people take wedding photos there). This requires a separate post.

Is anyone else playing the 1978 Van Halen song “Runnin’ with the Devil”, but switching “runnin'” with “joggling” in their mind?

Just so you know, I didn’t make a deal with the Devil so I could joggle. And I didn’t meet any Satanists at this location.

Ruins of house overlooking Long Island Sound at Rye Marshlands

This is all that remains of a house that once stood here many decades ago, in Rye, New York. You can see the Long Island Sound in the background. Even less is known of this place than the ruins of the Parson’s Mansion up the road. There are no ghosts around to tell its story, at least I’ve never met any at this preserve.

These ruins are located in the Marshlands Conservancy in Rye. It’s a not a large nature preserve like the Rockefeller Preserve, but it is a great place to go bird-watching, or joggling, except in the more swampy areas. In the summer the mosquitoes may overwhelm you.

If you very lucky, you may spot a whale by the shore. You will almost certainly see deer if you spend more than a few minutes in this small island of wilderness. Unfortunately, lots of deer means lots of deer ticks that spread Lyme Disease, so take precautions so you don’t get bitten. The area around the heavily forested preserve has a lot of stately mansions, some of which are architectural marvels. The feel of the area is a little reminiscent of Newport, Rhode Island, but the mansions aren’t as grand or historic, and the area isn’t nearly as touristy. It is mostly locals who go hiking in this nature spot. New England is a stone’s throw away, just a few miles north, so this area has a “New England” kind of feel to it.

The sea breeze during the warmer months is simply delicious. They sometimes have guided tours, and it is only 26 miles(41.8 km) north from the big city.

Green space beneficial for health

It’s always sweet when something we intuitively know gets verified by science. So it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that science has found that living near green space is associated with better health, even after controlling for socio-economic factors. So if you have a significant amount of parkland or woods nearby, consider yourself lucky, even if bears or wolves live in them.

According to J Epidemiol Community Health. 2002 Dec;56(12):913-8.- Urban residential environments and senior citizens’ longevity in megacity areas: the importance of walkable green spaces.

CONCLUSIONS:

Living in areas with walkable green spaces positively influenced the longevity of urban senior citizens independent of their age, sex, marital status, baseline functional status, and socioeconomic status. Greenery filled public areas that are nearby and easy to walk in should be further emphasised in urban planning for the development and re-development of densely populated areas in a megacity. Close collaboration should be undertaken among the health, construction, civil engineering, planning, and other concerned sectors in the context of the healthy urban policy, so as to promote the health of senior citizens.

One of my favorite parks. It is also a supermarket to me, since I love to gather edible plants from here when they are in season

There are few things as refreshing as going to the park to relieve stress, to observe wildlife, to exercise, to meditate, to get bitten by bugs(not very refreshing unless you’re a masochist) or just to explore. As I always say, the larger the park, the better! Besides beautifying neighborhoods, trees also remove CO2 from the air. This is one of the reasons parkland is so essential for human health.

When it comes to exercise, nothing beats a park. If you don’t like indoor gyms(like me), just bring some resistance bands with you to the local park and you can do a total body workout there, besides of course juggling, running, or joggling around it.

”Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.” -Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

This subject is related to my earlier post – The effects of air pollution on exercise

Whatever you do, try to promote green space wherever you live. Get involved in park activities or community gardens, plant trees, or even start a garden(indoor or outdoors) to help clean the air. Do it for your own health and for the health of your community.