My running coach has an awful lot of six-milers on it, and I usually head for the same running route, so some burnout is natural. I mix up my routes on the weekends, but during the week, I just want to get my run over and done with and not spend time traveling to get somewhere to run. Still, this route burnout has made it a little hard for me to get out the door in the morning.
Yesterday, I slept in and ended up getting a bad headache in the afternoon so I pushed my run off until today. When I woke up, I bummed around for almost an hour (where does this time go?) before finally pushing myself out the door to run six miles when I realized that the longer I pushed it off, the harder it would be.
I ran down my West Side Highway path. The same route may get boring, but the gorgeous river views never do.
Looking up 10th Ave from 17th Street.
Instead of running back up the path to the street closest to my apartment and heading east, I decided to hop on the High Line and run that to change things up a bit. For non-New Yorkers: the High Line is the site of a train track that lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air to separate it from street traffic. Trains stopped running in 1980, and the park was opened in 2009.
Looking down 17th Street.
Looking up the High Line at Midtown West.
I was never a morning person, but I’m starting to really love running in the morning and seeing New York just waking up. I mean, the High Line will never be this empty during the day.
My Garmin died a mile in, so I relied on my RunKeeper app for the other 5 miles. Cutting in east early shortened things, and by the time I was in front of Duane Reade to grab a coconut water, I was only at 5.05. “I could just cut my run short and round up,” I thought. “Nobody would ever know.” But I would know. And I was still feeling good and wanted to push things, so I ran in some circles to get the remaining .95 miles in, and then I felt even better having actually accomplished what I was supposed to.
Having my favorite breakfast (sunflower butter, banana and English muffin) didn’t hurt either.
Do you mix up your running route or just keep running the same routes? Tell me about your favorite running route.
The High Line is one of my favorite places in the city. So nice that you were able to get out and enjoy it before it gets super crowded the rest of the day!
Also, there’s a roller skating rink at the north end of it. Awesome? I think so.
when i’m bored with my favorite route I run it backwards. I’m not sure why that makes it any better, but in my very messed up runner’s brain…it does.
My favorite goes through Golden Gate Park to the ocean, past a couple of pretty lakes and a whole lot of bison. If I’m doing any run of 6+ miles, I’m probably doing it there. But it’s the 3-6 milers that kill me, route-wise, especially because I’m trying to save the park for long runs so I *don’t* get sick of it. Truth: I’m writing this from bed because I can’t decide where to run today!
I have always thought about running on the highline, but never knew if it’d be too crowded. Looks like mornings are definitely the time to go! Glad you enjoyed your new route to switch things up, and made yourself accountable for the full distance.
Highline is beautiful. Is it that empty in the morning?
I think, maybe I’ll do this run tomorrow. I have 6 on my plan and can’t decide whether to do a run club tmrw night (but I have plans with you…) or skip spin and do it early.
Like Emily I was going to suggest running your regular route backwards, it actually does help, you see things from a different perspective. In college we used to run the trails that are really close to the campus(near foxhall) and the Cathedral 3 miler, even though I don’t run there anymore those are still some of my favorite routes.
The high line sounds so cool! I have never been to NYC but it’s on my “to go there soon!” list. 😀
I have a handful of go-to routes, but I do try to switch it up. I run at least one new route a week.
When I do switch my route (which doesn’t happen often) I catch myself thinking of food one way or another. For example, a few days back, I turned a different corner on the way home and I found myself with a cup of fresh yogurt. lol I don’t know. It seem to just happen for me. But I love times like that. It may not be something big, but a little bit of change to my usual run is always good. 🙂
I am totally someone who gets bored with the same old thing. I am not looking forward to transitioning into my Alaskan workout routine, only because the location of the treadmill is in a windowless, TV-less, internet-less basement. I’ll be relying soley on my iPod and books on tape to keep my long run days from getting suicidally boring.
Hi – I’ll be in the area at the end of the month and was planning on getting a good run in while visiting. Can someone share a route to run which includes the High Line? I’ll start around Penn Station and can catch a cab back instead of running a loop. I’m looking to get in 6 – 10 miles.