Before we dive into this month’s run, I want to offer two fun half marathons that I was lucky to do this June and July – perhaps you can put them
on your calendars for next year.
Narragansett Bay is a gorgeous view while running – or any time
First, the Fairfield Half Marathon in Connecticut.
Here is the course – plenty of hills, but the view and the ending on the beach make it worthwhile!!
The route takes you through beautiful neighborhoods, historic homes, and some gorgeous luxury property water views.
Variety and lots of people cheering you on!
The race could stand to
start earlier,
avoiding some
heat, but at least there’s watermelon at the end.
Second, the Jamestown Half Marathon in Rhode Island.
This course was also a little hillier than we expected, given that we thought it essentially would be
a circuit of Jamestown.
You know what they say about when you assume?
Yup, we were wrong.
Lots of hills.
This is part of the UHC Triple Crown, which includes the Providence Marathon and the Newport Half.
We hope to do the others soon!
The race begins at 6:30 am, which is just about as early as organizers could possibly get things together!
A bus from Newport took all 1600+ of us to the start, where we watched the sun rise in preparation for the race.
Views of Newport and the Narragansett Bay and the feeling of being on country roads were but tastes of what we enjoyed.
On the course, we made friends with another New York runner, who hailed from Long Island.
He told us that he trains in Central Park to prepare for this course.
That is, rolling hills the entire time.
If the weather had been
less perfect, we might have complained.
But the weather was amazing, and we had a ball!
To the grumpy lady on the bike who yelled at us during the run: Boo.
Sorry the 1600 of us disturbed your Saturday morning!
If you haven’t done a smaller race outside of NYC, I strongly recommend you do one!
The people are friendly, the road is open, and scenery is different…
For anyone out there training, of course, this is the
time of year when the rubber hits that road.
The heat has arrived, the mugginess
persists no matter when you train, and you may want to find courses that incorporate plenty of shade!
I was reviewing an old post of a run up to Riverdale, which is here, and thought you might like to know about our fun run up to Westchester.
If you want to get up to Van Cortlandt Park without running the 10+ miles, then you easily can take the 1 train to its end.
Just make sure it is running before you make your plans…
This is a map of our course, along what’s called the South County Trail.
Were you
inspired, this goes at least 20 miles or more well into Westchester.
So don’t let us stop you from a wild adventure!
You’ll notice
that our course map starts in a random place about 5 miles North of Van Cortlandt.
We actually began the run from the South side of Van Cortlandt, but this is the furthest out we go.
If you study the elevation, you will notice that running North from VC is just slightly uphill the entire 5 miles.
It’s a challenging course, but shaded all the way, and once you get from the Bronx into Westchester, it is also paved.
To the West of the course is the Van Cortlandt Golf Course, then the Saw Mill Parkway.
To the East is park, playground, neighborhood, and homes.
Very few runners early in the morning, but it does attract running groups and bird watchers, too.
Welcome to VC!
Also,
very few roads cross the course, which means you can
zone out completely and enjoy the scenery, music, and trees without worrying about cars.
The same
course will guide you back to Manhattan, down Broadway and the “flat way” from 241st Street South.
Once you’re in Manhattan, you can choose your favorite way back.
Unfortunately, there’s not an easy way down the East Side, since they have not completed the running path along the East River from around 160th to 125th.
So plan accordingly.
At any rate, we hope you enjoy this little “add on” to our Bronx adventures, and we wish you a wonderful summer of running, hopefully made in the shade!!
-S