My son lives near New York City, and I love to go and visit him and his wife. They are a short plane ride away and live in an area that I love to run in.

The Mighty Niagara Half Marathon was only 3 weeks away so I really wanted to get my long run in. Early morning was the best time to do it since there was a heat wave going on when Dave and I went.

The run was a 16 miler. Even though last weeks post was about adjusting our runs to fit the weather/our bodies/our enjoyment, I wanted to get this run in.

When training for the Buffalo Marathon, we did the Grand Island Half Marathon that I treated as one of my long runs a few weeks before the marathon. We went into it with no goals, just to have fun.

I’ve run other half marathons that were really tough to get through (and almost decided to quit racing after a particularly bad one in Japan).

Run Longer to Run Stronger

Typically, most training plans will take you almost to the mileage of the race and stop just short. So 11 or 12 miles will be your longest run before completing the half.

This is great for the first timer…I think it is cool to run the longest you’ve ever run at the actual race.

But, it can also make it the hardest run you have ever had as well. When you get to the end, you are so done and so sore and what? There’s an after party? I just wanted a bed!

For the last half though, I had already run 3 over 20 milers. So running 13 was really…dare I say…FUN! It also was much easier to get through. If I could run 23, I KNEW without a doubt I could run 13.

So for the Mighty Niagara Half, I wanted to find a plan that had me run MORE miles than I needed. First of all, I wanted to keep up the running fitness I developed in my marathon training.

Secondly, I want to feel like the 13….while not “no big deal”…is less painful than in races past. That’s how I persuaded my husband to join me in running over 13, anyway, lol!

Manhattan to the Bronx

We ran on Labor Day, so the train schedule from Crestwood to Grand Central only left once an hour until around 9:30 am. So we took the 6:17 in and walked from Grand Central to Times Square.

Before we started we were able to be at the window while Good Morning America was on…something I’ve never been there early enough to do! Didn’t make it on TV, but it was fun to hang out and watch the anchors do their thing.

Times Square was relatively quiet (for Times Square), so we didn’t have to dodge and weave our way down the street too much to Central Park.

We ran in the park a bit, but found that we weren’t (obviously) the only ones out for a run and ended up back on 5th Avenue. The tree-lined sidewalk was nicely shaded and quieter. We ran past the museums and I recognized the Met since I had just watched Oceans 8 the night before.

(Good movie, by the way, once it got going.)

We ended our tour of Manhattan by running through Harlem and across the Madison Ave Bridge.

Once in the Bronx, the sun was out full force and we had to stop to refill our water bottles quite a bit. We encountered some really friendly people, yelling encouragement to us. A guy at a corner store where we bought water even offered Dave a tissue for his sweaty face, lol.

It is so interesting to experience a city while on the run. I really think you get a much better sense of place then if you are in a train or a car. You also get to know how to get to places, and how things “fit”…it was so cool to see how the area interconnects with other areas.

Our run ended about 3 miles from my son’s apartment (and we were SO DONE). We had him pick us up at the Mount Vernon train station. Which was a service to the people who would have had to be on the train with us!

Route Planning

I’ve already started planning for the next time we are in the city, and what route we will take. Dave doesn’t want to talk about it yet, lol, but I’m itching to see what cool things we will see next time.

We followed the GPS since we were in unfamiliar territory, so we were mostly on regular streets. Next time we will plan the route in advance and will run through the Bronx Zoo/Botanical Gardens area for a really pretty run.

Ever since I learned how to use the measure tool for Google Maps I have had great fun planning routes. I did a post on it here, and a YouTube video is coming soon.

If you run in or near NYC, I would love to know your favorite places and distances. I’m always on the lookout for new routes and maybe I’ll see you on the run!