...in Central Park, on Sunday, for 5 miles.

Harlem's State Senator and Eliot Spitzer's hand-picked candidate for Lt. Governor, David Paterson, will be running the Achilles Track Club and New York Road Runners' Hope and Possibility 5 mile run in Central Park this Sunday. I will be tagging along as his running partner.

This is no small task. Not only did Sen. Paterson, who was born legally blind, first win election at age 31, become the leader of the Democratic conference in the State Senate in 2002, and earlier this summer on one day take on every special interest in our highly-corrupt state legislature*, but he has also remained in excellent physical shape. The idea of being completely trounced by a man more than 20 years my senior has had me in the gym every day this week.

My goal is simply to keep up with him.

*I will write more about this later. In 2004, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law rated the New York State legislature the worst in the nation. You can read the report here; it's about half way down the page. Sen. David Paterson has worked extremely hard to change the way New York State's shameful state government. It's no wonder Eliot Spitzer wants him to be his Lt. Governor.