(out and back version)
This trail has been on my radar for quite some time, but I wasn't sure the best time of year to do it. The trail is technically open sunrise to sunset which at my pace precludes a mid-winter effort. Summer was out - too hot / too exposed to the sun. Mid-fall turned out to be a great choice - lots of foliage, perfectly clear weather, and enough leaves on the trails to make it interesting in a couple spots. There's a lot of variety - you get some rolling hills, a few stair sections, quite a few back roads, and there are really nice dirt sections mixed in along the way. Crossing over the High Bridge into Manhattan was my favorite section - great views, you see more of the original aqueduct here, and the short dirt trail beyond that point was fun. After that it's mostly city running, you cut through Central Park and then head down the busy streets to finish at Bryant Park.
The trail is not without challenges - albeit a bit different than most trails:
- water is very hard to come by. i passed a few water sources early in the run (too early to be useful) and after that it was a very long time. I did find a trickling spring about 21.5 miles in - not sure if that is always active but it was probably the only natural water I saw the whole trip that looked trustworthy.
- there are a lot of road crossings and you have to deal with a ton of traffic of all varieties (pedestrian, equestrian, cars, trucks, bikes). It takes some patience and you really can't be in too much of a rush.
- navigation can be tough - it's not just all the road crossings and intersections, the trail also disappears in spots so you have to be constantly staring at your phone/gps.
I ran unsupported and carried 3L of tailwind to start - the pack was over 10lbs which is really not fun for such a relatively short effort. I got really dried out in the city and things were getting a bit desperate by the time I found the aforementioned spring on the return trip. It took a really long time to fill up here and filter but I felt much better afterwards.
Eventually it got dark and I realized I had lost my headlamp somewhere, so I had to resort to my watch and phone to light the rest of the way. That section of trail is also the roughest and was covered in leaves, so pretty unsafe. I had run out of water again by this time so it was mostly just a slog to get back to the car. Overall a great day!
Also an interesting note, about 10 miles into the run someone drove by and asked if I was doing the whole trail, and said they were the current FKT holder. Not sure who it was (I guess technically 3 people have the FKT right now) but it was pretty cool and unexpected!
Splits were roughly:
6:06:00 out
6:13:44 back