Watch Greg Run: Running (Again) in New York City

In recent years, I have been able to enjoy an early December trip to New York City for the National Football Foundation Awards Dinner and related events. The event is held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue and, this year, during the Awards Dinner I was seated right behind Tim Tebow's parents. But enough of the name dropping.

While I am a native New Yorker, my part of New York is nearly a world away from Manhattan. Despite my upbringing in relatively rural Central New York (state), I have learned to greatly enjoy any opportunity to run in and around Central Park. So, whenever I am in New York I do my best to scheduled time for a run around the City.

My first purpose this past Sunday (December 6) was to retrace at least part of the disastrous final three miles from my run in November's New York City Marathon http://watchgregrun.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-york-new-york-0r-262-miles-to-go.html. My personal recreation effort put me on the east side of the Park, where I could take a picture of the statue honoring Fred Lebow (rhymes with Tebow) who founded the New York City Marathon. Fred's statue is located at East Central Park Drive (aka, 5th Avenue) and 90th Street, which is the point where the Marathon turns in to Central Park between miles 23 and 24. If you examine the picture closely, you will see Fred is looking at his watch for the purpose of timing runners as they pass by. In November, Fred could have timed me using a sun dial. The good news for me on this day was that, compared to November, my time was much better as I passed the 90th Street intersection.

Part of the pleasure in running Central Park is the quick transition from traffic and noise in to a quiet wooded area filled with active people and unique scenery. During a dinner conversation the previous Friday I was asked if I ran around the Reservoir as part of my Central Park running routine. The answer, at that time, was "no," since I typically either run the Park's perimeter or just get lost along the roads and paths inside the Park.

I could not have found two better December days to run around what is officially known as the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in Central Park. My Sunday run followed a (delayed) flight from Atlanta to LaGuardia, hotel check in and the accompanying wait for a room, and a request made of a friend in the hotel for use of his room for the purpose of changing in to my running shorts. As of Sunday, I have found the best way to wait for a hotel to prepare your room is to go for a run. Sunday, the sky was blue, the temperature was in the 30s, and while there was a bit of a breeze the bright sunshine helped keep things warm.

In addition to the run to and from the Waldorf, my Central Park experience on Sunday included

two laps around the Reservoir. Monday was a lap and a half, followed by two more Reservoir laps on Tuesday morning. Monday was a gray northeast kind of winter day, but Tuesday was again filled with bright sunshine. While the temperature Tuesday was in the low 30s, the benefit of running around the Reservoir was the chance to access the sun's warmth while running in the heart of New York City.

But, enough about my new obsession with running around the Reservoir in Central Park.

I'm now three days away from my final marathon of 2009. Except for the fact I can recall already having run 12 marathons this year, it seems hard to believe that I am approaching the conclusion of my "marathon a month" quest. That's actually an understatement, I'm actually shocked to be approaching the end of this particular journey.

My effort nearly ended at mile 15 in January's event (Mobile) when I had become convinced a stress fracture was developing in my arch. March and August were months where I saw no way to actually schedule and travel to a marathon. October was the twisted ankle at the mid-point a trail marathon. And, yes, there have been aches and pains along the way. Yet, here I am about to finish.

The entire crazy idea was just beginning to emerge at this time last December. In December 2008, I was preparing to run the Rocket City Marathon, which is held in Huntsville, Alabama (I ran a personal record 3:55 in that race), which was to be the first leg of the "3N3" challenge linked to running the three Alabama marathons (Rocket City, Mobile, Mercedes in Birmingham) in three consecutive months (December, January and February). The 3N3 effort launched me in to the consecutive month idea and, one year later, I'm packing for Dallas and the White Rock Marathon.