Friday, August 1, 2014

New York's Ever Changing Running Landscape

I've been running in Brooklyn and Manhattan for almost 16 years now.  I was surprised, when I arrived, to find that it was a great place to run.  When I started, I had two runs: over the Brooklyn Bridge to South Street Seaport and back, and over the Brooklyn Bridge, across to the West Side, around Battery Park and back.  Later, I added in the Prospect Park Loop, and a long run over the Williamsburg Bridge.  That was pretty much the routine for a long time.  After a few years work on the Manhattan Bridge was completed,  that got added in as a two bridge loop.  The Battery Park route was a casualty of 9-11 for a while, but these were the routes for a decade.  Then all sorts of things started to happen: (1) Hudson River Park made running up the West Side a pleasure; (2) Brooklyn Bridge Park continues to evolve and change; and (3) even Ikea made a contribution by landscaping a park behind the store with great views and industrial grit.

Today, something even more fundamental happened -- Prospect Park changed.  For the last few years the bottom of the Park has been a construction site.  Where the skating rink used to be, there were barriers promising a future wonderland to be known as Lakeside.  I've gotten a few glimpses, here and there, but this morning, a rerouting of the pedestrian path forced me to face the new world.  The lake in Prospect Park has always been a nice natural feature, but access was reserved to walkers on the nature paths.  Now there is a network of intersecting walkways, terraces, and fountains (not operating yet) that are really quite impressive and make use of the natural features as well.  Even the waterfowl seemed happy.

6 comments:

  1. I can't wait to see it...someday!

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  2. It's going to be really amazing. Oy. I don't like the look of those three little dots. How is your foot feeling?

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  3. The three dots were to symbolize other things too, like how I'm not sure when I'll be back in Brooklyn. Maybe in the fall.

    Foot has had some better days lately, but I'm sure I'm jinxing it just by writing that down. Jury is still out. Both my PT and I will be on Cape Cod next week.

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  4. Where? I'm in Wellfleet all week!

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  5. Really? Hannah and I arrive in Harwich on Wed. (the week is spread out over the next weekend). On the map it looks like Orleans is in between us?

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  6. Orleans and Eastham. We're just over the Eastham/Wellfleet border. We're here until Saturday. Going to the drive in movie tonight if the rain holds off. :-)

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