One Weekend -- Two Great Runs

Those of you on the East Coast know we had one more taste of winter on Friday when NYC and the rest of the Northeast were hit with several inches of snow. This necessitated a quick re-think of the route I'd planned for Saturday's long run since I knew part of the route would covered in slush. The easy thing to have done would have been to have headed to Central Park or the West Side Highway, either of which would have been cleared, but after weeks of being confined to the same stretches of pavement because because of the weather, I wanted something different.

Saturday's route

Before heading out the door Saturday to meet the two teammates I had talked into a 7a.m. long run, I checked my favorite winter resource: PlowNYC. This site shows how recently each street in the city has been plowed. Since I knew we'd be doing most of our run on city streets, I wanted to make sure they'd been serviced in the last several hours.


Thankfully, it didn't end up being that bad out and we got in a great 18 mile run. We started at the Manhattan Side of the Queensboro Bridge, ran across it and then north to Astoria Park, before heading south through Woodside, Maspeth, and Blissville. Then it was over the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge into Brooklyn, where we ran through Greenpoint and Williamsburg before taking the Williamsburg Bridge back to Manhattan.


By the end of the run my legs felt pretty shot, but it was great to get out and see some different areas of the city. I also managed to get my weekly Trader Joe's shopping trip out of the way early which was great since it saved me from having to battle the epic Saturday afternoon lines. I spent the rest of the day doing chores around the house and running errands in the neighborhood so I was happy that I'd covered some different territory during the long run.


On Sunday I joined my wife on her long run. She's training for Ironman Lake Placid in July so her long runs aren't in the double digits yet which meant I could still tag along with her the day after my 18 miler. We ran west along 59th Street and took the West Side Highway down to Chambers Street, right at the top of Battery Park City, before heading inland.


I loved the second part of our run, taking various city streets up through TriBeCa and the Village, scoping out new or unfamiliar restaurants and bars to try now that it's actually warm enough to go outside. We ended the run at a gym on 14th Street so we could shower and change rather than head all the way home since we had errands to run around Union Square. These are the best kinds of runs, the ones where you get to kill two birds with one stone. Hopefully spring will stick around so we can do more of these runs in the coming weeks!

You're Halfway There: Queens and the NYCM

The New York City Marathon may run through all five boroughs, but it doesn't give them equal facetime. In fact, the majority of the race is run in just two boroughs, Brooklyn, with roughly 11 miles, and Manhattan, with roughly 8.5. Staten Island gets next to nothing--runners leave Richmond County as soon as the race begins--and the Bronx gets barely over a mile of love. While the Queens section may be short, it comes at an important point in the race.

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Just before the halfway point, runners begin crossing the Pulaski Bridge which links Greenpoint in Brooklyn to Long Island City, Queens.  Named after Kazimierz Pułaski, a Polish commander who fought in the American revolution, the bridge spans Newton Creek, one of New York City's two Superfund sites. Though the bridge is an uphill, it's not terrible and runners can distract themselves with the sweeping views of the Midtown Manhattan skyline to the left. There are few spectators, however--they're not allowed on the bridge.

Once across the bridge runners make two quick rights, one onto 48th Ave, and then another onto Vernon Boulevard, the heart of the Hunters Point neighborhood of Long Island City. The area, which takes its name from British sea captain George Hunter, is dominated by low-rise brick and clapboard buildings, many over a century old.

This portion is largely flat and as runners make their way south towards the looming Queensboro Bridge, the bars, restaurants, and bodegas that line the street give way to industrial buildings. At Mile 14 it's time for another turn, this one right onto 44th Drive just after passing the tiny Gordan Triangle Park, named in honor of an LIC local who was killed in World War I.

One Court Square, better known as the Citibank Building, dominates the horizen and pulls runners along. The 50 story tower, completed in 1990, is the tallest building in New York State outside of Manhattan and it serves as an excellent visual marker. As runners move towards it, the street's character changes from industrial to commercial and soon the course passes under the elevated tracks of the IRT Flushing Line.

By the time runners reach the towering Citibank Building, it's time for another turn, this one onto the two-named 25th St/Crescent Street. It's now a short three block trek to Queens Plaza South  where runners are greeted by a mass of humanity, many of whom have taken the subway to the Queensboro Plaza Station to cheer. It's a good time for runners to soak in the enthusiasm because the next portion of the course may seem rather desolate.

Runners now make a left onto the Queensboro Bridge, arguably the toughest portion of the course. Starting just before Mile 15 runners begin a more than half-a-mile climb, reaching the crest of the bridge just before it passes over Roosevelt Island. Now it's on to Manhattan.

News About NYCM and Some Easy Runs

Those of you in New York may have seen last month that New York Road Runners was looking for social media correspondents for the New York City Marathon. Well, I applied and was accepted! What does that mean? It means that next week I'll be covering marathon related stuff in--drumroll please--Queens.

Huh?

Why am I covering Queens you may ask. It's simple. The marathon runs through all five boroughs and Queens needed some love too. Although I live and work in Manhattan, my apartment is just a few blocks from the Queensboro Bridge and I do almost half of my runs in Long Island City so it made sense.

What does this mean for you, my dear reader(s) (maybe there's more than one of you)? It means that next week, leading up to the marathon, I'll have a bit of a Queens focus. If you want to get the most out of the experience, follow me on twitter (@soharunner) on on instagram (dparks2111).

In the meantime, running is going well post-Chicago. I took several days off last week and have been doing short runs roughly every other day. I'm hoping to get in one longish run this weekend and then call it good. I'll definitely be taking it easy next weekend when I run New York, the goal will just be to have fun. Hopefully, as a social media reporter I'll have even more incentive to enjoy myself and the marathon.

Bad Idea: a Hot, Hot, Hot Long Run

This weekend was hot! Okay, that's not much of a revelation to anyone (yours truly included) but it didn't make it any easier to cope with the high temps. After a dismal 4-mile race on Saturday (nearly 2 minutes off my PR) I tried to log some extra miles with teammates in the hopes that I could get my long run out of the way. Unfortunately, that plan proved to be a bit too ambitious and I called it quits after 5 extra miles. That meant Sunday was long run day.

The Shelter Pavilion

I need one day a week to sleep in and thanks to my race Saturday wasn't that day. That meant that instead of getting a jump on my Sunday run I let myself lay in bed until 9am. By the time I was ready to head out the door it was almost 10am. In the winter starting a run a little later can be a good thing, but in the summer it's asking for trouble. Almost immediately I could feel the heat sapping me of energy.

I had a great course planned, along the East River, then over to Randall's Island to take the Triboro Bridge to Queens. In Queens I ran along the water heading south to the Pulaski Bridge. This first half of my run was very much familiar territory--I've done that route at least a dozen times before--but it was a struggle. I kept drinking water but I also felt parched.

As I made my way into Brooklyn my spirits picked up a little. There I'd plotted a new course that took me by the Newton Creek waste water treatment plant (cooler looking than it sounds) and McGolrick Park--a beautiful spot with several monuments and the landmarked classical Shelter Pavilion.* That was definitely the highlight of the run. After that, it felt more like a death march to the finish.

For the final miles I followed part of the New York City marathon course in reverse (which reminds me--I will have a bit of news for you readers later this week) before making a slight detour to finish at one of my favorite places: Bergen Bagels. The everything bagel I got made the subway ride home tolerable but I was wiped out. The moral of the story? Start your long runs early! An afternoon nap and an earlier start would have been a lot better than running in that heat!
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* The park also had a surprisingly large farmers market that runs through November. I'm definitely going to try and come check it out sometime when I'm not running and can actually carry some gooseberries home.

The Joys of Small Races: Rockapulco Runs

Sorry for the radio silence folks! I had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend out of the city but came back to a ton of work. Since I'm still playing catch-up, the blog posts will be pretty light for the next few days.

I've blogged about small races before, but this weekend I had the opportunity to experience a great one, the Rockapulco Running Series Memorial Day 5-Miler. As the name implies, this is part of the Rockapulco Series, a nice set of runs out at Rockaway Beach. These races are small affairs run on the boardwalk with minimal perks, though most are chip timed. I didn't actually run on Saturday (still trying to take it easy) but I would still recommend these races to anyone.

So what makes them so great? I have never seen stronger community support than at this race. Every runner knew every other runner by name! I was there to cheer on a friend (who ended up coming in first for the women, by the way) and while I was milling around I was really impressed by how friendly folks were. The swag wasn't bad either. For her $20, my friend got a really nice t-shirt (I wish I had taken a picture) and even won a cheesecake and a sweatshirt for her first place finish!

This summer they also have a FREE Thursday run series with three distances, a 400m, a mile, and a 5k. I'd love to do these but I forgot to mention the one downside to these Rockaway races: they're a long way from Manhattan. Saturday my fried drove so it only took about 30 minutes to get to the race, but if you're taking the subway, allow yourself lots of time to get there.

Lastly, I have to post something from their website. See if it sounds like they're referring to any mega-running group you might know:

We think you should enjoy running and walking and not have to wait hours to run OR pay a lot OR go on lotteries to enter OR be forced to volunteer to enter the event :)

Did I mention the Rockapulco folks also put on a marathon?

A Windy Triboro Run

If the harder the wind blows, the more it sucks, then today it sucked pretty hard. This morning when I woke up I could hear  the windows rattling. Because there was a race today, the Dashing Whippets folks didn't have a gropu run scheduled--that meant any run would be a solo effort. I spent a good couple hours wasting time on the interwebs trying to find the courage (or stupidity) to get out there. Finally, I managed to get my but out the door.

Since the winds were out of the west, I figured I would head east as much as possible. That meant I could either run in the Bronx or Queens (run east in Manhattan and you get wet pretty quickly). I don't like to play favorites, so I chose both. I headed north into the Bronx over the Madison Avenue Bridge and made my way to the Bronx span of the Triboro.

Those who have been reading my blog for any length of time (or those who know me in real life) know that I have a thing for bridges. Well, I think the Queens' span of the Triboro (the East River suspension bridge span) is pretty hard to beat: it offers an amazing view of Upper Manhattan all the way to Midtown; it offers a great view of the Hellgate Bridge (one of my favorite bridges to look at); and the bridge's Modernist style is just plain beautiful.

One of my favorite anamolies is the outdated sign at the Queens' end of the bridge. It shows Wards' Island and Randall's Island still partially separated by Little Hell Gate (today the two are fully connected by landfill and most people just think the whole thing is Randall's Island).

Now firmly planted on Long Island soil, I headed to Astoria Park. In spite of the weather there were plenty of other runners in the park. Looking at the giant pool--the oldest and largest in the city--made we wish for summer!

The Hell Gate Bridge

After running under the Hell Gate Bridge, I headed east along 20th Ave heading towards LaGuardia. This takes you past a giant ConEd plant as well as the Steinway & Sons Factory where they still make pianos (one of these days I'll take the tour). I took a little detour so I could pass the entrance to Rikers--not a place I ever want to end up, but I've watched too much Law & Order not to be curious.

This is where my photos stop. My hands were getting cold and taking my iPhone out was adding too much time to the run. Long story short, I toook a circuitous route past Citi Field, through Flushing, College Point, Whitestone and other parts of Queens I've never even heard of (Malba, anyone?).

After stopping for a bagel I caught the LIRR at Murray Hill and headed back into the city. Here's a quick plug for something I just discovered: City Ticket. On weekends you can ride MetroNorth or the LIRR for $3.75 anywhere within the city! If that's not a good excuse for some urban exploring, I don't know what is.

Today's rambling runs was a lot of fun but boy did it take a lot out of me! I think I'm ready for a nap.

See my route after the jump.

Getting lost, or the joys of trying a new route.

During the week, it's all I can do to get myself out of bed in time to squeeze in a run in my neighborhood before work. On the weekends, however, there's usually more time for runs that go further afield. Often, I'll do what I did Saturday and run to some far off point and take the train home. Once in a while, however, I'll take the subway to some new place and run there. Yesterday was one of those days.

I do a fair amount of runs in Astoria and Long Island City, but I've only ventured deeper into Queens on a handful of occasions. For a while now, the siren song of Forest Park has been calling me, so with the skies clear and the temps hovering around 40, I decided to go for it.

I got off the E at Kew Gardens - Union Turnpike and had little trouble making my way to the Forest Park. Forest Park is a nice middle ground between the well-manicured but urban feeling Central and Prospect Parks, and the wilder stretches of Van Cortlandt Park's wooded trails. It also has some pretty decent hills (which I guess you should expect when one of the surrounding neighborhoods has "hills" in its name!).

Because I didn't plan out the run too carefully before hand--the idea was to "explore"--I ended up getting turned around a couple of times. Oh well, at least I got to see more. I ended my run at the area's main commercial strip and picked up a Sicilian slice at Portofino. Nick's Pizza, which is just a couple blocks away, is supposed to serve one of the best pies in the city, but they don't sell slices so I'll just have to visit them next time.

Wind and sun, or an impromptu long run.

I had a 15 mile long run scheduled for this weekend. With the weather sunny and (relatively) warm, I decided yesterday was the perfect day for it. Often times I map my long runs out before hand but yesterday I opted to improvise.

I set out heading south along the East River Esplanade. There were plenty of folks out taking advantage of the weather (and the reopened path). I went over the Queensboro Bridge and circled back to Vernon Ave along the waterfront. I always enjoy running through Hunter's Point but I'm always tempted to stop for a bite to eat and a cup of coffee--one of my favorite coffee shops in the city is here (Sweetleaf).

I headed over the Pulaski Bridge (which still has the 13.1 and 13 mile marks from the marathon painted on it) into Greenpoint. I like running along the more industrial West St instead of along Franklin or Manhattan which are both busier commercial strips.

I continued on Kent along the Williamsburg waterfront eventually making it to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. If you've never been to the Navy Yard before, it's home to one of the eeriest and most fascinating set of buildings, Admiral's Row. Unfortunately, the city is going to begin demolition of these buildings tomorrow so you may be out of time.

After stopping to gaze at the soon to-be razed buildings, I continued into Vinegar Hill and made my way to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Then I continued on to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade (technically it's an esplanade!). At this point I knew I had done at least 15 miles, probably more, but I didn't feel like stopping. I made my way to the Manhattan Bridge (always much less crowded than the Brooklyn Bridge) and crossed over on the northern path.

Once back in Manhattan I made my way down the Allen Street bike path to the East River Park. The city has been working on improving this park too and it's still a work in progress. I made my way to Battery Park and then turned north on Greenwich. I now had a destination--Whole Foods TriBeCa. My run took me past the work in progress at the World Trade Center site--it's truly inspiring to see up close! Finally I made it to Whole Foods, 20 miles done!

Here's the map:





After the run I met my roommate at Curly's Lunch on 14th Street. This vegan and vegetarian restaurant is a great post-run spot! I gorged on their vegetarian Philly "cheesesteak" and fries. All that greesy goodness made the run worthwhile (though it probably undid some of the run's beneficial effects.