I went to New York City on a short business trip and took this opportunity to run in the Central Park. I thought this would be an efficient way to see and enjoy the iconic park as I had a limited time in the City.
There are few different Central Park running routes ranging from a short two mile run to a six mile full loop. For a more in-depth look at different routes, please see here. As this run would be my first after the disastrous Val d'Aran, I was really eager to get out there and test my knee and body. My hotel was about a mile from the park so the run ended up being little over 8 miles (full park loop plus 2 miles back and forth).
I left my hotel at 7:30 in the morning on a Sunday, heading up north on Park Ave and then left on E 51st St to the famed 5th Ave. Along the way, I got a nice and peaceful (no tourists other than myself) view of the St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Ave and St. Patrick's Cathedral on 51st.
The 5th Ave is a mega-shopping and entertainment destination as it's home to premium luxury brands such Cartier, Salvatore Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany's and $1,000+ night hotels like The Peninsula and St. Regis. During the day, the street would be overflowing with tourists, but people were scarce on this Sunday morning so I was able to jog my way through the street easily.
I entered the Central Park via 5th Ave entrance leading to the Central Park Zoo, which only took few short minutes to run through. After the Zoo, there's Conservatory Water, a small man-made pond, which at it's north you can view the Alice in Wonderland bronze sculpture, one of the highlights of the park run.
One of the peculiarities of running in Central Park is that all walkers, runners, and bikers follow this unwritten rule of traveling counter clockwise around the Park. In fact, I only saw one runner going against the grain. Also, there are clearly marked paths for walkers/runners, bikes and cars which people seem to abide by.
Working up north from the Alice in Wonderland sculpture, I ran by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and arrived at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, a Central Park Reservoir that was renamed in her honor in 1994 to commemorate her contributions to NYC. From the top of the Reservoir, you can catch a view of the Billionaires' Row that's on the southern side of the park.
Leaving the Reservoir, it's a few short minutes to the top of the park, at which point there's a steady decline with the bottom marking the turn-around point, and steady incline that curves around to start bringing you back down south.
On the way down, at around 97th/96th Street, I started to come across runners competing in 2022 NYC Triathlon; the course brings the runners into the park for the last couple miles to the finish. Triathlon/Ironman is something that has always fascinated me an endurance runner so it was nice being able to run along some fine-tuned athletes. I ran with these runners to their finish, which was located just south of The Lake near the Skater's Circle. As these runners turned to head into the finish, I continues towards the 5th Ave entrance to complete my run.
By the time I got back to my hotel, it was little over 8 miles and it took me 1 hr and 41 mins, a very easy pace. My knee felt really good and I didn't feel other pain, discomfort or stiffness elsewhere lingering from Val d'Aran,
Overall, the Central Park course was not demanding at all - there's very little elevation change and most of the route was on pavement and gravel road so you could really make this a fast course/run to set your personal best, if site seeing is not important. Summer in NYC can be hot and muggy and this became an issue later in the run as temperature started to rise and I needed to drink water. Helpfully, there were plenty of drinking fountains along the way. And, plenty of maps to guide you along so don't worry about getting thirsty or lost. Just get out there and start running!
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