Looking for New York: Central Park

Ahoy,

As I'm approaching the home stretch of my time in NYC. I find myself accustomed to certain habits. Something I've come to begrudgingly enjoy is living less than a block from Central Park, the pivotal factor in why running has become a recreation I continue to partake. I remember the first time I went for a run in the park. It was a night run in September of 2010. One of the first days we had just moved in and I wanted to blow off some steam. I decided to stay on the main road since it was night. I ran down probably less than a mile to a fork, I don't remember which one, and back up to my entrance.

I remember going again during the day around the reservoir once, building up to twice. It is 3 miles twice around. To change the scenery I would go down to the 59th St. entrance and again back up. That was about 3 miles too. I would eventually make it all the way around the main road - 6 miles. This year I mixed up the routes with different turns onto the main road, across the horse trails, around the reservoir. I built up to 7.8 miles around the park, and could go 6 miles pretty consistently. I became familiar with the roads and trees, landmarks and smells.

There are a million steps I've probably taken around that park, and I'll be sad to part from such a fantastic amenity. I know I have uncommon access to it, but I've come to see it as my backyard - a reprieve from the city. There was a point when I was running everyday for about 2 weeks. I've since calmed down, but I'll miss having Central Park there.

This past weekend, we went running in Santa Monica - down San Vicente and then along the beach. A tricked me into 11 miles. This route had some shade on San Vicente, but none on the beach. Central Park has pockets of shade all along the routes I've done. I don't like running next to traffic, which was what San Vicente was like. Central Park has horse and carriages, and taxis and cars along the SE corridor, but it's minimal compared to San Vicente.  Running along the beach was beautiful, anybody's dream, but it was windy the whole time. There's pros and cons for both routes, but I'll make do with what I can get. I'm not good at staying still, and I guess I should be less picky about running conditions if I'm going to continue running.

deceivingly tricked,
jt