Take the 'Tom Cruise' Mile Through East Marion and Orient

I have to admit, I've been a bit lazy with the running lately (i.e., I've been a "bit" busy helping to launch an awesome for North Fork Patch and such). Therefore, I skipped a few weeks of this column.

And the pictures here of my run from the eastern end of the Orient-East Marion Causeway to the along Route 25 are from Easter Sunday, I will admit as well. But it was such an interesting day and another windy, exhilarating run on the North Fork, that I feel like it's still worth it to publish.

I hope Tom Cruise agrees. I think he would, even though I had the unfortunate experience of filming him jogging westward toward the causeway in the fall of '09, when the cast and crew of set up shop on the North Fork to film. The movie went pretty much "straight to video" as we said in the '80s, but hey, it was fun to have stars such as Elijah Wood and Katie Holmes, Tom's wife, working in our backyard.

It was a Wednesday, and if you work or have ever worked at the you know that Wednesday afternoon is Friday afternoon because the newspaper comes out on Thursday (ah... the days of paper deadlines). I was feeling great and cruising up to see my friend Randee Daddona, a great photographer who lives in Southold, when I got the call from my editor.

"Tom Cruise was spotted jogging in Orient, heading toward the causeway!" he said.

"Cool!" I responded. "What do you want me to do?"

Long pause.

"Go get him!" he said.

"OK!" I responded, really not knowing what the heck I was going to do or say or anything. I worked for the local weekly and had never been in a pseudo-paparazzi situation. And of course I was in awe of Tom Cruise, simply from being a child of the '80s and sitting on the concrete floor in front of the front row of my local movie theater to see "Top Gun" in 1986 because it was so packed (I remember my neck hurt after that one).

But I ran with it.

Park the car at which you will see from the pictures how pretty this pebbly place is, even when the fog is rolling in. I had frantically called Randee to help me out with this and take some stills, and she dropped everything like she does. She hadn't done anything like this either, even with her experience working with celebs in New York City years ago.

We were both really nervous. What do we, as local journalists, do? We're not part of the group of jerks with huge cameras constantly stalking the famous people who happened to be working on the North Fork. We planted our nonthreatening nice female selves by a utility pole across the street from the beach. We saw him running toward us, really booking it, with his bodyguard, who was riding a bicycle. They were both dressed completely in black — um, very inconspicuous.

I swallowed my heart and turned my little camera on, pointed it at him. I semi-shouted out who we were and where we were from — the local paper, hoping that would make us seem cooler.

"Mr. Cruise, how do you like the North Fork?" I asked as he ran right by me, not looking at either of us, not saying a word.

I kept filming and Randee kept taking pictures. I guess ... we "got" him.

We got in our cars and parked ourselves on the street just west of the causeway to say hello to Mr. Cruise again as he ran by. Totally stonewalled by one of the biggest movie stars in the world again. Which I can totally understand with word getting out and our friends from the paparazzi joining us on the side of the street in East Marion, but then on the same token — I don't. We said who we were and we were standing on the side of the same public street that he and a million other people have enjoyed running on.

When I took pictures on Easter Sunday, everyone I passed and said hi to said hi back to me. Maybe I'm asking too much, but it would have been nice for Mr. Cruise to at least have waved, or said "Yes, I love the North Fork. You people are awesome. Now leave me alone."

So the video still lives on YouTube and the route I'm documenting is still one of the most beautiful places on earth to run, walk, bike, or just to see. It's just over four miles from the eastern end of the causeway to theand back. I took a jaunt along the Long Island Sound on Truman's Beach — a great calf-burning route — so I'd say that added another mile or so.

The next time you feel the need ... the need for speed, get your Tom Cruise on and enjoy some of the best views on the North Fork.