I didn't get out to run at all over the weekend because of the low visibility. My not being able to see more than a few hundred yards ahead didn't bother me all that much, but drivers' ability to see me was kind of important to me.
The City of New York apparently doesn't have any sidewalk plows,
instead relying on the local residents to shovel the sidewalks in front of their residences. It apparently works, at least to a certain extent, since only a few of the houses I passed on my way to work this morning didn't have clean sidewalks. On the other hand, yesterday I was forced to walk (and would have had to run) in the middle of the street, since the sidewalks were at least knee deep in snow, and in the places where they were close to the edge of the street, waist deep. Waist deep snow is a little tough to run in.
Where this system really falls down is in the places where there is no property owner to shovel the sidewalk. Crossing the expressway bridge on my way to the train this morning, I had to once again walk down the street, since noone volunteered to shovel off the sidewalks crossing the bridge. In addition, the parking lot on the other side of the bridge had noone to shovel the sidewalk. To make matters worse, some plowing had been done, in the parking lot and the lot across the street. The snow from the plowing had been piled up, in snowbanks about 4 or 4-1/2 feet high, on the sidewalk in two places between the parking lot and the train station. Those snowbanks will be there long after the rest of the snow has melted, unless someone takes the initiative and gets rid of the snow or spreads it out.
No running today, since I had to get out of the house early in case the trains were delayed by the snow. Officially, there were no delays on the SIRR either yesterday or today, but I know better. I got to the station at about 10 am yesterday morning. I was on my way in to work because I wanted to get some things done before today. The trains to the Ferry were supposed to come along every half-hour, at 10:17, 10:47, 11:17, 11:47, etc. I waited until about 11:40, and never saw a St. George-bound train. I saw a diesel go by, bound for Tottenville, with a snowplow, and that was followed at 10:17 by a passenger train. At 10:47, I saw another Tottenville train go by, and that was the last train I saw. At 11:40, I decided to go home and hang out.
I found out today that a number of subway lines were shut down by the blizzard. Of course, not all subway lines are underground (despite the meaning of the word subway). As it turns out, the E Line is the only one which is underground for its entire length. The A and C were either shut down or had reduced service today.
Tonight, I'll see how the roads and sidewalks look and decide what to do regarding running tomorrow.
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