In these blog posts I often write about my favorite runs around the city.
On March 19th, I ran the New York City Half Marathon, which I had not done since 2007.
This year’s run was a totally reconsidered course, starting in Brooklyn and finishing in Central Park.
Running over the Manhattan Bridge into Manhattan with a great view of One Manhattan Square to the North
I’ll add in a few shots of what the views were during the course, but most importantly was the organization that I raised money for, Back on My Feet.
I was able to raise over $1500 in a short amount of time.
Thank you to so many of you who contributed to the fundraising!
Of the many philanthropies that I support, most of them aim to help people help themselves.
And Back on My Feet empowers men and women through running.
Specifically, they combat homelessness through running.
How do they do it?
In twelve cities, and in a handful of homeless shelters in New York City, the program gets individuals out running three days a week at 5:30am.
Those who commit to the running program ultimately receive job training, opportunities to move to permanent housing, and into full-time employment as well.
If any of you has ever run a marathon, it is an incredible accomplishment.
A goal achieved through months of training, dedication, and perseverance.
The impact of running is no less powerful on these individuals.
I am struck by the life-changing work that is being done, one step at a time.
In November 2017, 22 men and women in homeless shelters completed the New York City Marathon.
How amazing is that?!?
I want to thank all of the staff at Back on My Feet for the work they do day in and day out.
I had the chance to meet some of those that have had their lives changed for the better through this work.
I hope you’ll join me in continue to support them!
Here are some amazing stats:
In the meantime, I do want to tell you about this fun course:
from Prospect Park we ran along Flatbush avenue toward the Williamsburg savings bank
The race began alongside Prospect Park on Flatbush Avenue.
The course took us towards Downtown Brooklyn alongside the Williamsburg Savings Bank, aka One Hanson Place.
Lots of construction happening everywhere!
And plenty of protests about the shadows they’ll cast.
Instead of veering through Fort Greene along the New York City Marathon route, we instead had the novel excitement of running over the Manhattan Bridge, on the top span, into Manhattan.
Getting a terrific view of Extell’s One Manhattan Square, an 800-unit condominium just to the North of the bridge was a rare treat.
See the above photo to get a sense of the scale. It’s massive and stands out for miles…
coming over this bridge and doubling back running along East Broadway on the top left of this photo
Once in Manhattan we ran right through Chinatown, along East Broadway, doubling back towards the river.
Getting to run in the Streets instead of on the sidewalks, through Downtown, is unusual.
There are 2-3 Saturdays in the summer when the streets are closed from Brooklyn Bridge to 72nd and Park, called Summer Streets.
It’s also a ball to run there, the major difference being that they do let traffic bisect the running course on those Saturdays. Here, uninterrupted running is possible, and so you can focus on looking at buildings like the Forward Building on East Broadway.
Our view heading East on East Broadway
Breaking North onto Montgomery Street, we got to run through the Lower East Side, and into the East Village.
Once we hit Houston Street we took a right and ran to the FDR!
We were then running for about 3 miles on the Northbound FDR.
Usually, the run along the FDR gets a bit grubby underneath it, and while there have been a ton of improvements, once you hit 23rd street, there’s a tiny path along the power station.
So running on the top of the FDR affords these neat views of Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village, the East River, all the way up to 42nd Street and the UN.
Running all over the city on the sidewalks loses its sex appeal pretty quickly, due to dodging traffic, and simply traffic lights.
So, getting to run to Times Square from the FDR was so fun!
No cars, no noise, just people watching us and cheering (ok, not much cheering)…
From there, a jaunt right through Times Square north into Central Park awaited.
It really was incredible to think about the logistics.
Other than getting downtown along Park Avenue, there was no means of crossing the race.
Traffic from 59th to 42nd was nearly fully blocked!
In all, an impactful, if chilly, day out with 20,000 of my closest running buddies.
I hope that you’ll support Back on My Feet through my future fundraisers- and that you’ll consider getting out there for a run in the future!
Happy Spring! -S