New York City As Seen On A Long Run

I’ve written somewhat tangentially about running the Maine Marathon last week. In the lead up to that race, a few weeks ago I ran an 18 mile training run. Since my summer training had been so bad and I had a hard time getting long runs done in the abnormally humid weather, I needed to downgrade my runs and incorporate regular walking breaks.

I set myself up to run 12 minutes then walk 2 minutes, and then repeat, and during each of the walk breaks I took a photo of my location. My running app has a great feature that allow me to set intervals for run/walk.

Sidenote – My running app is RunMeter, which I’ve been using since February 2011 and am sure it is the Best. Running. App. Ever. With the proliferation of other running apps over the years (Strava, Nike, MapMyRun and others – including Zombies Run!) I just keep my fingers crossed that the team will continue to maintain Run Meter.

This long run took me from the uppermost reaches of New York City (the start of the run was at 256th St and is just 6 blocks from being outside of New York City!) all the way down to Central Park.

When people come to visit New York City, Central Park is definitely one of the places on the list of things to see, but most of the rest of my run was to a New York City that tourists don’t get to see.

Here are some of the spots seen on my long run.

Opened in 1939, the running track in Van Cortlandt Park has served countless runners over the years. The center of the track has both soccer and football use and that space was clearly being used on this day, as it is on most days. The club I run with, Van Cortlandt Track Club, offers weekly track workouts here each Tuesday from March through December, and I do join the workout from time to time.

The cross country route at Van Cortlandt Park is iconic and famous, and if you were a cross country athlete in New York City or in the northeast United States, you’ve probably attended a meet there!

This photo is of the parade grounds, also known as the flats. The cross country course starts and ends on the flats, and about 2 miles of it take place in the hilly woods (known as the back woods), some of which you can see off to the left.

As the above photos show, my running route clearly first loops through Van Cortlandt Park. The next part is running down Broadway, just runs along the west side of the park. It is the same Broadway that runs through the theater district and times square!

Broadway is actually 17 miles in length from 262nd St at the top of the Bronx to South Ferry at the bottom of Manhattan. Up here though, Broadway runs under the elevated 1 train, and on 237th St, pictured here, is our local BJ’s Wholesale Club. We’ve been members at BJ’s for over 20 years, so we were happy when this club opened about 2 years ago – very convenient.

For this next photo, I’d already crossed into Manhattan. At 218th St is Twin Donut, a great local and independent donut shop in New York, although there are not that many left anymore. I’ve been known to stop in to feed my sweet tooth!

Located nearby is Columbia University’s Baker Athletic Complex, which is home to the Columbia University Lions. The football field is named for Robert H Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots.

New York City has a lot of water front, and the Harlem River is one of the major rivers running through the area. The Harlem River forms the northern and northeastern border for Manhattan, and connects the Hudson River to the East River. The greenway goes right along the river for about 2 miles, from Dyckman St, which is around 200th St, down to about 163rd St before it heads inland a bit to end at 155th St.

High Bridge is another iconic New York City sight, and is a bit off the beaten path. In fact, it was closed up until about 3 years ago when it was fully renovated and reopened to the public. Caroline and I did an Excursion Friday visit there in the spring, which I sadly still have not written about.

The bridge is pedestrian only, and is high about the Harlem River, so you get sweeping views all around. The bridge was built in 1848 and the purpose was to carry water into New York City. The lower part of the bridge contained the Croton Aqueduct pipe, which carried water 41 miles by gravity into Manhattan. The covering was a pedestrian walkway.

St Nicholas is the street I run down when I get off the greenway at 155th, down to approximately 110th where I enter Central Park. What is notable about this photo is the bike lane.

So many bike lanes have been added to the New York City streets in the last 10 years, which makes running in the streets much safer. Yes there are often double parked cars or other obstacles in the bike lanes, but generally speaking, the bike lanes are a big help to both runners and bikers, and I greatly appreciate them!

Central Park is a fantastic place for running and thousands do it every day. The loop around the perimeter of the park is 6 miles and there are also 5 and 4 mile loops, as well as shorter ones. The park is also moderately hilly, so always gives a good workout. This photo is from the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, from the west side looking to the east side, and visible are the buildings on 5th Ave, in the area of museum mile.

The photo at the very top of the post is also from the reservoir, that one showing a runner in action. The photo is towards the south, with the buildings of 57th St in the distance.

The last photo I’ll share is a typical one for this time of year in Central Park, a wedding party with their photographer. These guys got lucky that the weather was beautiful that day!

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Anyway, there are so many interesting things to see in New York City, and I love that my long runs allow me to pass by some of them.