The gf and I are headed to Princeton this weekend to find a place to live and we were hoping to get into NYC on Sunday and do a run around Central Park. Here’s what I know so far: NJ Transit will get us to Penn St, and from there we can take one of several lines to Central park. Several questions:
Is there a place to store your gear while you go for a run? Lockers? I imagine there would be some at Penn St, but I was curious if there were any IN Central Park. Any public showers around there? Maybe at the pool?
Is there a time of the day that’s better for running, especially on the weekend?
We’re on a budget, so recommendations for inexpesive “hidden gem”-type places to eat are welcome! We’re open to most foods.
Anyone actually going to be out there on Sunday? We’ve read that there is a 5miler on Sunday morning but we don’t think we can make the start.
Hey Brian,
1)I dont think there are any places in the Central park area,where you can store your gear.I could be wrong,but I’ve never seen any.
2) Its going to be a warm weekend so I would suggest,running before 10 A.M. The CP loop is also less crowded at that time.
3) On the Upper Eastside on 3rd ave, there are lots of good places to eat. Just make your way over to 72nd st/3rd ave. and walk north.
4) On Sunday,I plan on running 11 miles early morning with a friend of mine,and following the run with the 5 mile race in CP(16 miles total).
The NYRRC races are alot of fun,and they usually get a pretty big turnout(3000+ runners).You and the GF should try and make the race.
Hope this helps.
Joe
I’m a regular out there and yes, there’s about 3000 people in that run on Sunday. Since you don’t have a a place to store your gear, why not just sign up for the race and use them as your “locker room”? The race starts around 9am (good time considering how hot its supposed to be) and there should be some water and bagels at the end. The bags are stashed in a fenced off area near the finish and while not particularly secure, its good enough (i’ve doing these races for years and never heard of any problems) - of course, don’t leave your wallet/valuables in the bags.
The race usually has slots left for morning registrations - its probably around $25 each. Check out http://www.nyrr.org for race details.
As far as showering off later; that’s tough - don’t suppose you have a gym membership? (eg. - NYSC or some other club)
Hidden gem? hmm, another tough one since there’s so many but at that time of the morning, probably just wander around and look - I like places on the west side. Midtown will be a little more expensive and anything new Penn St is sh*t.
Go to any NYSC (New York Sports Club - there’s one at 73rd between Central Park West and Columbus) and get someone on their way in to let you use one of their guest passes. Most people don’t actually use these so if you just explain your situation, you should find a nice person willing to let you in.
Sign up for a free one-week trial at Dolphin fitness center, a low-budget, exceptionally mediocre gym. There are only two locations in Manahattan and neither is exactly convenient to Central Park, but you could drop your stuff, hop on the subway to Central Park, subway back, shower, go to dinner - great dinner options downtown near Dolphin. Anyway, http://www.dolphinfitnessclubs.com/guestpass.asp.
I would expet the park to be REALLY crowded after around 9am. That said, part of what makes CP so nice for out-of-towners is the energy when it’s crowded, so any time is fine - it won’t be like you’re tripping on other people.
Check out menupages.com. Good luck with the “inexpensive” part - it’s NYC. Here are a few personal favorites that aren’t toooo expensive: The Place (get a seat out front, and yes, the name of the place is The Place), Tartine (BYO), and Nice Matin (close to the NYSC on 73rd).
Nope, I’ll be getting my ass kicked at training camp for Timberman. Well, I’ll be back by 4pm on Sunday but probably won’t feel like going for a run. If you want to use my NYSC guest pass, after 4pm, PM me.
There used to be some lockers available at Wollman Rink, just north of the entrance from 6th Avenue. They were there for the people using the rink for skating (ice and roller, in season) and for people renting blades for use in the park.; you might be able to use one of those.
Unfortunately, the very large Lasker Pool, at the north end of the park, where they do have showers and lockers, won’t be open until June 29th.
For food, you could go to the restaurants in the Park: at the zoo, the Loeb Boathouse, or the cafe at Columbus Circle. Also, on the other side of Columbus Circle, is a Whole Foods in the basement of the Time Warner building. Good salad and hot food bar. You could then bring your food back out to the lawn just inside the park north of Central Park South, and eat while watching people running and riding on the loop.
For a shower, you can join the Ramada Manhattan gym/pool for a day, at 50th Street and 7th Avenue for $40. Not cheap, but available; I did my Total Immersion sessions there.
I like Alex’s suggestion of using the race pen for storing your gear during the run. If you can get there by around 8AM, you can still sign up for the NYRR 5 mile race. I’ll be there, back in the ~8m/m crowd. There were 4600 people at the last race I did, Japan Day 4 Mile, a couple of weeks ago, so it will be crowded around race time, but after that, there will be a lot of people, but it won’t be too bad, just keep to the left, so I don’t hit you while speeding by in my aero bars on my post race ride.
Get a day pass at one of the YMCA’s in town and store your stuff there and shower after. I think if you go to just about any gym and try the whole “we want to check it out for a day” thing you should be able to get the run of the place at take advantage of the facilities.
Decent cheap eats can be found anywhere and you are really only constrained by your definition of cheap eats - new yorkers can have a skewed sense of what that means. I vote for the upper west side, but I am biased since I live there.
Hi:
I am not a NYC person, but this is something that I actually did a couple of months ago with my GF: Took the bus to NYC and made my way to SBR Sports ( open Sundays 11am to 6pm 1-888-794-6245, 203 West 58th and 7th Ave). Here I tried on several wetsuits and swam with them in thier endless pool and wound up buying a Zoot Zenith. Then I put on my ruunning shoes with the GF and we walked one block north to one entrance of Central Park. We ran the loop (counter clock wise) and I swear my Garmin 305 Forerunner said it was 6.20 miles. We then went back to SBR Sports and got our clothes and the new wet suit and went home (Philadelphia). SBR Sports does not have showers and a locker room, but they do have changing rooms and were cool with us leaving our stuff there while we ran. Use common sense and enjoy the park. The Big Apple is actually a lot safer then the City of Brotherly Love. Bottom line: the Central Park 10K loop is very much worth the time and efort to do it, also if you haven’t done it yet, then Phillys 8.4 mile Art Museum Loop is also well worth being put on your “to do” list. Tim
