Perimeter of Manhattan, NYC
21 November 2015
7:48:16
I’m happy to report that I’ve finally run around Manhattan. The Madhattan Run is an informal ultra that raises money for various charities. It’s also the perfect opportunity to run around the island for people like me who want to do that and have never attempted it.
We started at Harrison Street and the West Side Highway, moving around Manhattan in a counter-clockwise direction. The entire group was made up of about 30 runners and I quickly fell to the back because I’m slow. But I was not too far behind a group of three runners and I caught up to them just south of the United Nations. I introduced myself and learned their names were Mike, Val, and Asim. I decided to stick with them, which ended up being one of the better decisions I’ve made in my entire running career. Like me, Asim was new to the Madhattan Run, but Mike and Val had already run it twice. They were invaluable guides through the “Harlem Zig Zag” and Inwood Park, where the route instructions simply said “use your instinct.” I literally have no instinct that many miles into an event.
The weather was beautiful and having good company made for a very pleasant day of running. I saw a lot of new bridges and discovered some lovely running paths along the Harlem River and points north of the George Washington Bridge. I was particularly happy to see the far reaches of the Hudson River path, since that’s a favorite of mine. Running around Manhattan has been on my bucket list run and the timing couldn’t have been better: it fell just a few days after my 8th runniversary! I will probably run this again next year.
