Ted Corbett Run Around Manhattan

Photo’s for this run can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklynbeast/sets/72157623365883552/

On Sunday, January 31 about 30 runners set out for a run around the circumference of Manhattan Island, in celebration of the life of Ted Corbett, one of the pioneers of ultra-running.  I won’t provide details or Ted’s life here, suffice it to say there is plenty of information about him out on the Internet and anyone who is interested in knowing about him can easily look him up online.  However, the run around Manhattan Island sounded like a lot of fun and I wanted to join in the festivities.

I travelled up to East 97^th Street and West End Avenue with my friend @aristorat to meet all of the other runners at Dave’s house.  Dave was the official organizer of the event and said a few brief words about Ted.  He explained how Ted would regularly do the run we are about to do as a normal training run and would often run the loop twice in one day.  We all marveled at the resilience of the man who was a true legend in ultrarunning.  Dave also went on to introduce a member of a local Korean Running Club who was getting ready for a run across the United States for a charity.  I can’t remember which, but if I do, I’ll come back here and post the information.

After a few group photos at the start we all headed out to Riverside Drive for the run up to the northern most part of Manhattan.  A steady wind was blowing against us and the temperature was around 15 degrees.  No one seemed to mind it though as we were all properly dressed.  My face did sting for the first few minutes while my skin got acclimated to the cold.

The run north to the George Washington Bridge is basically flat, with some small hills to get around construction along the Hudson River Greenway.  I stopped under the GWB to get a picture of the Little Red Lighthouse.  I would have liked to take more pictures along the way, but unfortunately, the group wasn’t waiting around for the picture takers and I didn’t want to lose the group.  Also, it was a little too cold to be without gloves on for long.  Every time I tried to take a picture, my hands would completely freeze and become very uncomfortable.

Once past the GWB we continued north up past Fort Tyron Park and the Cloisters.  We didn’t go in there, but one day I should return and perhaps run through that park.  There are some good hills inside it.  We continued north until we got to the northern most part of Manhattan.  I’ve never been here before and you could hardly believe you were on the same island that calls itself the Big Apple.  It was very rural and the trestle bridge crossing from the northern tip of Manhattan into the Bronx looked like something you would see out on a bayou.    We headed east for another couple of miles and made our first stop at a place called Twin Donuts.  This was around the 8 mile mark.  I had a cup of hot chocolate, mostly to warm up my hands and to give myself some cheap calories.  I felt like the quick sugar rush from some simple carbohydrates.  I did have some Hammer Gel at this point for some more consistent fueling and I think the combination worked out nicely.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to hug the water as we made our way around the northern end of Manhattan and began to turn our way south.  It was a lot of street running for the next 8 miles, some of it was on the NYC Marathon course.  At some point an old time and fantastic ultra runner named Bob Vogel and I got separated from the lead pack.  I’ve run with Bob in several races in the past and he is very good company to run with.  He was an encyclopedia of knowledge regarding various landmarks in NYC, pointing out various Museums that are must sees, to the hotel that Castro stayed at in Harlem when he was here to speak to the UN all those years ago.  It was easy keeping company with him and the fact that we were at least 10 minutes behind the lead pack did not bother me at all.

Eventually we caught up with the group at a bagel store on York Avenue and 86^th Street.  We caught the tail end of the rest stop, but I was able to get some water and ate a Snickers bar I carried with me along with some Hammer Gel.  I wasn’t really hungry during the run, which I took as a good sign that I was running efficiently and using my energy stores appropriately.  Once we left the bagel store, we started to make our way south and east towards the river.  It felt good to get off the city streets and hug the island as was the intention of this run.  Hopefully, one day NYC will complete the greenway completely around Manhattan.

The East River Greenway ends at around 53^rd Street until it picks up again at around 34^th Street.  Once we got back on it at 34^th Street, I started running with @aristorat and we began a steady tempo pace down the east side.  We ran this way past the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges and finally took a rest break just south of the Brooklyn Bridge to wait for the main pack to catch up with us.  It really felt good to be able to pick up the pace for several miles after you have already gone marathon distance.   The pack caught up to us within a few minutes and then we headed on to the next official rest stop at the South Street Ferry Terminal.  At each of our stops the cameras of the various runners came out and we recruited various tourists and NYC citizens to take pictures of our group.  Most of them couldn’t believe we were running around the island of Manhattan.  Stories were told to each other of doing ultra runs in Central Park with the participants being thought of as NYC wiseasses, when they responded they were doing a 50 mile run in the park.  Most people can’t believe the distances that ultra runners do regularly.

After we left the ferry terminal, we were on our final leg home up the West Side Highway Greenway and back to 97^th Street.  It was here that I had a couple of Forest Gump moments.  I was running out in front of the pack, on a long and straight stretch of road, with the sun setting on the horizon.  I kept reflecting pack to the scene in the movie where Forest is running and all of his followers were trailing behind him.  It was an odd, yet very good feeling.  Once I got up into Riverside Park, I was kind of ready for the run to be over.  I was very hungry and thirsty by now, but didn’t want to stop to eat and drink.  I only had a couple of miles left, but I was going to get in a bad state quickly if I didn’t, so I had a gel and the last few ounces of water that I carried with me.  It gave me enough of a boost to run through the 70’s, 80’s and in what felt like no time, out of the park, onto the streets and then a quick right onto 97^th Street to the finish.

All totaled about half the group finished the run, which I am told is the largest finishing group for this unofficial event ever.  I was really glad that I was a part of it and happy to have learned a new running route around Manhattan.  I think the next time I do it, I will extend the route from home.  This should give me a nice route of 45 miles.  Perfect distance for training for the Vermont 100 Miler this summer.