Exploring Your City

An added benefit of training for a race is that the long runs on the weekend make it so you end up exploring the city you live in a way you otherwise might not have.  Yes, I often find myself doing the same run in Central Park every Sunday, but sometimes, like today, I decide to go exploring.  Because any run, even runs as interesting/pretty as Central park, get boring.  So some variety is called for.

Today I ran from my boyfriends place at 169th and Broadway to my place around Columbus Circle.  I needed to do a 7 mile run and it ended up basically be the perfect distance.  So at 7 am (which in east coast time, is the equivalent of 4am on the west coast as I swear no one is up) I found myself lacing up my running shoes and setting off.  New York City feels like a completely different place at that time in the morning.  There are few cars and fewer people around.  Finally, you get a chance to escape from the frantic pace that the city usually exudes and I revel in that hour of relative silence.  So if you can get yourself out of your nice warm bed I would recommend running early as you'll really get the chance to appreciate the view.

I'd never run along Riverside park but I have to say, it was beautiful.  The Hudson river was on my right side the entire time and by the end of the run it felt like we had truly bonded.  It didn't judge when I was huffing and puffing by the end of my run.  And the only people who were really out were the dog owners, who were distracted by the heavy breathing of their dogs and so had little time to pay attention to my labored breathing.  And there were TONS of dogs around.  If you aren't a dog lover, you might want to find a different path to run as you can't really escape from them.

All in all, it was a great way to start off the day.  I saw parts of the city I had never seen before and I felt like I was all alone in discovering them as the city was as silent as I have ever heard it.  Much more silent than at 4 am when people are still out drinking.  When you live in a place like NYC, it can get overwhelming at times as you are really in a concrete jungle.  Mornings like this though, show you that if you look for them, there are places in the city to escape to.  You just have to be willing to go outside of your comfort zone and look for them.

Can't wait to see where my half-marathon training takes me next.

The bell started tolling at 8 am from this  building, providing the perfect soundtrack to a crazily deserted NYC