This entry seems to be an evergreen blog post idea at this point, but wow.
A lot has happened in the past few months.
My running partner and I had not been over the 59th Street bridge to Long Island City in some time, not since the NYC Marathon in November- when we were running in the other direction.
Certainly, running in this mild winter has afforded us lots of opportunities to get further away from confines of Central Park.
Also, when we’re not in the middle of a 4-hour run, we have more energy to focus on everything around.
In this, case, quite a lot.
That’s me crossing the road, in green/yellow
If you haven’t run over the 59th Street Bridge, it’s quite easy to do.
Run to the Southwest Corner of 60th Street and 1st Avenue in Manhattan, on the North side of the bridge to find the pedestrian entrance.
Then make sure take a peek at the Guastavino Tiles underneath the bridge while you wait for friends to arrive…
Running over the bridge, which is about 1.25 miles or so, takes you to plenty of delis in case you need a gatorade.
However, the bigger story is the vast amount of construction.
Let’s discuss the insane list of what’s being built in LIC.
Here’s a great article that goes into some detail.
Queens’ New Skyline: A Rundown of the 30 Developments Coming to Long Island City
Once you get to Queens, you need to make your way towards Greenpoint, which requires that you play Frogger (I’m only kidding) to get across Bridge Traffic.
All you need to do is wind your way to Jackson Avenue and head South by Southwest to Court Square.
You’ll get to see most of the amazing projects underway.
From there, staying on Jackson, you’ll be able to run to the Pulaski Bridge, the Gateway to Brooklyn.
This bridge takes you over the Long Island Expressway, and the Newtown Creek, giving you a nice set of views of Manhattan and the East River.
On this particular weekend morning we were there, we got a rare treat of about 50 degrees.
Not bad for February.
I would recommend that once you are in Greenpoint, that you take a right on any number of streets, Green, Huron, India, Java- and make your way back to the water.
Most of the amazing construction in Greenpoint is happening along West Street. Here’s an article about one particular building- which has topped out.
As we made our way West on Huron Street, we noticed a car coming up behind us, at which point we moved into single-file formation on the left side of the road- we do run on the road, not the sidewalk.
However, the car didn’t pass us, but slowed down to a crawl and then stopped.
At 7am, this wasn’t particularly odd behavior.
We thought the car was looking for an address and then found it.
The little paranoid voice in my head spoke up when the car crept up behind us again.
Then it told me we were going to be victims of a drive-by shooting.
Since I’m here and have lived to tell the tale, I will tell you that the driver instead rolled down the window (and right there I’ve shown my age- no window rolling anymore, Scott), and proceeded to wake the entire neighborhood with Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” blaring out of his car, queued up just for us.
True story.
He wished us well, let us laugh for a few seconds, and then drove off, presumably to inspire other runners or to get home.
With that, all I’ll say is that it’s easy enough to bike or ride down and around, to make your way back to subway transportation as you make your way to Williamsburg.
Of particular interest is the William Vale Hotel, one of the most interesting designs that only gets cooler as you approach it.
Stunning and quite lovely in the morning!
The William Vale Hotel
I would urge you to get out while the weather is great!
Go and take a look at all the LIC and Williamsburg have to offer, on foot!