The Hofstra Bus Loop: Finding Beauty in Brutality

I have a confession to make. Not an apology. And I don't need to speak with a priest or pastor, or any ordained, official religious leader for that matter.

I went on a run Monday. Eight miles in fact. That wasn't the confession. OK, here it comes: I did two bus loops. (2) Consecutively. Seriously.

Since many of you are likely not familiar with the infamous and notoriously ran Hofstra Cross Country Bus Loop, allow me to explain. Though no one quite knows when the Hofstra Bus Loop was founded, it has probably been around, to some degree, forever. It's roughly a 4-mile rectangle-esque loop that encircles the northern part of campus, and extends into Uniondale and Garden City.

The bus loop starts right where it ends, at the stop sign on the corner of Northern Boulevard in front of the Physical Fitness Center. No one runs before that stop sign, and no one runs after it either. Take a right on Northern Boulevard, around the backstop of the Hofstra Softball Stadium, and out the Health Dome gate, facing the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Once off campus, you can take a left or right onto Earle Ovington Boulevard. I prefer to take a left, merging onto the Charles Lindbergh Boulevard. Running north behind the Recreation Center and Colonial Square is almost always met with a headwind, but to the right is the Mitchel Athletic Complex, the very track where Jerome Young, Antonio Pettirgrew, Tyree Washington, and Michael Johnson teamed up in the 1998 Goodwill Games to run the fastest 4x400 meter relay in the world, ever. That 2:54.20 still stands as the world record almost 10 years later.

The Lindbergh becomes the Quentin Roosevelt Boulevard, which meets up with Commercial Avenue. Here is where the bus loop makes its money and earns its nomenclature. Located on Commercial Avenue is the MTA Long Island Bus Headquarters, also known as the Senator Norman J. Levy Transit Facility. It's here that one of the biggest public transportation services in the nation is headquartered. Across the dusty, gravel street sits CIW, some type of tool/machine/body shop that looks more like a bar because of its awning.

From Commercial, take a left onto Oak Street, passing Boswell's Deli, one of the best-priced stores of its kind on Long Island. Heading south down Oak Street gives you a glimpse of the UPS shipping and receiving factory, with trucks coming in and out at all hours, much like the MTA buses. Keep in mind, you're running on Roosevelt Field, the very hallowed ground where the first non-stop flight was made from Long Island to Paris. A shell of its former self, sure, but still, a place of revered history for American aviation.

Don't be deceived by what appears to be the inactivity of the intersection of Oak Street and Westbury Boulevard. Trust me, there's traffic ahead and it's not stopping for you. You continue south, as the debris of cracked 40 bottles still wrapped in paper bags, empty Newport boxes, and condom wrappers line the grass and sidewalk.

Of course, on Oak Street is more than one of several alternate entrances onto the campus of Hofstra, such as the Nassau-Suffolk gate, which is across the street from a noisy kennel, something students have described as the only bad thing about living in an otherwise perfect on-campus building. For a reason I will never know, there will likely be tractor-trailers lining the part of Oak Street after the Nassau-Suffolk entrance. To your nose's dismay, these trash-hauling trucks stink. Badly.

Passing the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County on the right, you'll approach another temptation to stop your run in the form of another entrance onto campus. This is the Netherlands entrance, but the true and full bus loop must be done in its entirety, so take Oak Street to the Hempstead Turnpike. Take a left at the corner where one of five sets of male and female lion statues sit proudly protecting the school and its heritage. This is the start of the newly installed two-lane bike path that spans all the way to Eisenhower Park, roughly a mile or two down the Hempstead Turnpike from campus. Going under one of Hofstra's three unispans, you can witness students going to and from class. Again, you'll encounter another option to end your run at the main entrance, but turn up your nose, passing Chrebet's, a bar and lounge owned by Hofstra and Jets great Wayne Chrebet. Directly across from the bar sits the New York Jets headquarters and training facility, located on Hofstra's campus. The Jets will be leaving after this season's training camp to Florham Park, New Jersey, but until then, the University houses a proud NFL franchise. Next to Chrebet's is James M. Shuart Stadium, home of Hofstra football and lacrosse.

Approaching another of the University's unispans, take a left off the turnpike, back onto Earle Ovington Boulevard. This of course leads you to the Health Dome gate, and back onto campus. The run, though, isn't over. Go around the backstop of the softball stadium again, and to the stop sign at Colonial Drive and Northern Boulevard. That is where the bus loop ends, just like every other run done by the Pride Cross Country team.

Now, why is this a confession? Come to think of it, I don't know anymore. But allow me to take a stab at it. The Hofstra Bus Loop is, despite what I just depicted, nothing scenic. You'll cough on the debris and dusty gravel. You'll almost get hit by a car several times, and get yelled and cursed at. You'll pass an industrial park setting with office buildings that will remind you of places where Peter, Michael Bolton, and Samir work in the movie Office Space. "Peter... what's happening?" TPS reports anyone? The entire run, you'll wish it was over.

At the University of Colorado in Boulder, they'll tell you about Magnolia Road. At Penn State, you can climb Mount Nittany. Fordham University and Manhattan, and Iona Colleges blaze trails at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. Hofstra has the Bus Loop.

HUXC runs the bus loop like the Hofstra softball team wins CAA titles. I missed my first bus loop because I wasn't done my physical yet on my first day on campus with the team. While it was delaying the inevitable, thank God I held on to my innocence for that much longer. Had I known about the monotony and torture of the bus loop before I committed to Hofstra, I may not have come here. OK, that's a lie, but it's a brutal run if you like beautiful scenery, hills, trails, and avoiding traffic.

And yet, I did two Monday. A doubleheader of torture. For some reason, it was an easy decision. I wanted to get my eight instead of four, so I did two Hofstra Bus Loops. And as the sun set on Hofstra University, it was one of the most fulfilling runs I've ever completed.