To commemorate the 9/11 victims and supporters, Matt Gerowitz, who is a fellow running mate organized this free event running the circumference of NYC, approximating a total of 50K or 31 miles. The event was a fun run and I enjoyed it with many of my running friends.
The run was complicating yet simple, just run around NYC. We started off at Battery Park by the station. There were about 40 of us getting prepared to run. Leslie and I met up with Kino and Nobu and headed down to Battery Park. Nobu, who I haven't seen in years, decided to run this since Kino forced him to do it the night before. He's never ran more than a marathon and haven't trained at all. Leslie also never even ran a marathon and was attempting her first marathon.
We met up with many other fellow friends downtown. Benny, Nancy, Annete, Thunder, Matt, etc. So many close running friends were there to do this inaugural event. The weather turned out really nice too. Not too hot, not too cold. We headed east first to the South Ferry Seaport. Along the way, people were wondering what we were doing and when they found out, they started cheering for us. When we hit the Seaport, we then headed North, all the way to 49th Street. On the way, Jackie and friends joined in and there were about 8 of us running up the East Side River. Once we got to 49th, we cut across west to 1st Ave and continued straight up until 80th Street. We cut east again and headed North running above the FDR Drive right by the river. We met up with Thunder there as well. I didn't know about this path and their were many people running or strolling along the way. We continued this path until the 90's and headed back into the city. From here on until the 180's I vaguely remember where we ran. We sort of got lost, but headed North. We trekked along the river, cut across back into the city and headed to 151st street where we went back to the Harlem River Drive, along the river, all the way to Dyckman St. We then went on 10th Ave up, cut across to Broadway and stopped at Twin Donuts, which marks the halfway point. By this time we had already run/jogged 15 miles. It probably took about three and a half hours. Everyone refilled their bottles, grabbed some food and headed to Inwood Park where we made the turn around, this time, heading south back to Battery Park.
Inwood Park has a nice little running course that is filled with trees. You wouldn't believe there was still a place like this in NY. We crossed over to the West Side and headed South. This is where things got interesting. While heading South down the river, we were supposed to make a left at Dyckman St, and run along the Hudson River Greenway. Somehow, we missed the entrance and trekked along the road next to the railroad. This railroad is for the public transit that goes to Westchester so there are frequent trains passing by. Luckily, it was a Sunday, and we didn't see any while we were there. The little path that we were running on suddenly ended and we were right on the railway. Now this definitely isn't the right way and we could've gotten arrested (technically) for trespassing. I think we ran pretty quickly during this time. It was also somewhat exciting. We reached a point where there was a overpass (the Huson River Greenway) and we managed to go up a hill, through a broken fence, and onto the path. It was definitely an interesting part of the race I'll never forget. From here on end, it was an easy path back to the finish. The view was nice too. I always drive down the Henry Hudson (or Westside Highway) and see the runners along the path. I always wanted to run this and now I finally did. Aside from the cars, it was a nice day and there were many people running. We were pretty slow, walking and talking along the way.
It's definitely interesting to see the various cultural aspects of New York. I started realizing what a great place the city is. The high life to the poor community, the nice restaurants to the bodegas, and the different type of people. You really start to appreciate who you are and where you came from. Being raised in NJ, I was always in the suburbs. Raised within a community of medium to high income families. Where I am now, its not where my family would want me to be, but I didn't have a choice and I did work hard to be where I stand currently. Running around the city definitely put life into perspective.
As we headed down the West Side, I ran into my company's presidents assistant near 66st and got to view some weird statues along the way. I like boats and it was nice seeing all the different boats being docked. We were practically walking at this point as some of our members were hurting. Nobu and Leslie were feeling the pain in their legs. I was doing fine since it wasn't my first. We did a run/walk straight down to 42nd street and from there, I ran ahead until 14th Street. There were many people already since we've been running for 6 and a half hours by now. I waited at 14th St for the rest of the crew but Leslie was the only one that came. Nobu, Kino, Nancy was walking so we went ahead. As we headed toward ground zero, there were more and more people. Roads were blocked at this point and we weren't sure where the finish line was. We took a detour and headed into the battery park piers thinking that was the finish. I called Kino to confirm where the finish was and he mentioned it was around the pier somewhere. We waited for Kino and the rest but there were question marks surrounding us, until finally we found out that the finish was where we started, duh.
The last leg, which was only a few blocks, we just walked but Nobu and I noticed that we would be able to finish exactly at 8 hours if we ran. We sprinted the last part and noticed that Benny, Matt, Annette, and a couple more people were waiting for us, surprisingly. Everyone finished and Matt gave all of us a 7:59:00 finish. So this race was just for fun and nothing on time. I was just happy to get it over with and also get bragging rights on actually running around the city.
We all walked over to some alley full of bars and restaurants and ate their. Overall, it was an enjoyable course. Thanks to Matt for organizing this and I'm definitely going to do it again!
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