An Opportunity Taken...A Year Later?

An Opportunity Taken…A Year Later? Oct 05, 2015

Should I have prioritized making it happen sooner? My answer is yes, though I’m excited to share that I’ve finally taken the opportunity.

So what interesting adventure am I talking about? This opportunity came about a year ago when I was signing up for our membership at the New York Botanical Garden. The agent at the front gate mentioned that by paying an additional $25 with our membership we would be granted access to the botanical gardens starting at 6am to walk, run, sit, read and peruse the outside gardens. This sounded totally delightful to me to be able to take advantage of 250 acres and come and enjoy its magnificence and peacefulness before regular opening hours at 10am.

So, yes, just under a year later I finally found a day that would work, both with good weather and my schedule. I packed the night before so that I wouldn’t have any excuse not to get up and out the door. I had my running clothes all set to go. I had a yogurt and granola breakfast ready to be packed in my cooler along with lots of water and a protein bar (my favorite Quest berry), and of course my photography equipment. I arrived close to 6:30am to run…okay jog…through the many trails of the NYBG. I was surprised at all the variety there was too see: the beautiful forest, the Bronx river, out-of-the-way charming buildings and the many pathways. It was far from my best run/jog, but I enjoyed every twist, turn and nuance along the way. Afterward I appreciated sitting on one of the many thoughtfully placed benches and savored my breakfast before photographing in the Azalea garden.

So, if you have a botanical garden or arboretum close to you, I encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already, and see if they might have an early access pass. I just signed up again for another year at the NYBG and I hope it won’t take me another year to get back for early access, as it was a fabulous adventure.

My trail through NYBG via my Runkeeper App.