Running in new territory

Yesterday as I was getting ready for my run I had a stroke of genius: since I missed a run this week, I'm going to try to make up for it with an extra hard run today. Instead of going over the Queensboro, going down the East Side, and going up the West Side, I mapped out a route going over the Queensboro, down the East Side, over the Manhattan Bridge, over the Brooklyn Bridge, and ending at Battery Park. As mapped here: http://beta.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ny/new-york/322813642.

WTF was I thinking?

First off, it turns out that between 59th Street and 34th Street you can't run along the river--there is just no path. Once I found this out I had to backtrack to 1st Ave until 34th Street. At 34th Street I completely miss the entrance to the path along the river and end up taking a 5 block detour. This whole time I thinking: who designs a running path that you can't access?

Finally, at 23rd Street (maybe 28th) I manage to get on the running path and start getting into a nice stride (this would be about mile 3 or 4). Eventually I see a bridge and figure that I have to get on the other side of the street to get on to what I think at the time is the Manhattan Bridge. Turns out it was the Williamsburg Bridge. And after another 5 block detour I'm back on the East River path.

After going through 50 red lights in Chinatown I made it onto the Manhattan Bridge. After so many detours and reroutings the last thing you want to see is a barrel view of a 135-foot climb. And immediately follow that with the Brooklyn Bridge. By the time I landed back in Manhattan my knees, quads, and hamstrings were screaming to stop.

The last mile was forgivingly flat and I coasted to my endpoint (the Whitehall Stop on the R/W). The goal was 11 miles in 1hr 39min--but at 1hr 46min, who knows how much I had run. But I can tell you that even the seats on the NYC subway feel like leather sofas after a run like that.