Thursday, August 15, 2013

Summer Streets - Week 2


This past weekend was Week 2 of Summer Streets.  I missed Week 1 because I was home in PA, but I was really excited for Week 2.  Summer Streets is one of my favorite times of the year.

Don't know about Summer Streets?  The simple explanation is they close Park Ave and 4th Ave for a whole morning, leaving it open for runners, families with lots of activities.  The more detailed explanation, see the below description from the official website:

Summer Streets is an annual celebration of New York City’s most valuable public space—our streets. On three consecutive Saturdays in the summer, nearly seven miles of NYC’s streets are opened for people to play, walk, bike, and breathe. Summer Streets provides space for healthy recreation and encourages New Yorkers to use more sustainable forms of transportation. In 2012, more than 250,000 people took advantage of the open streets.
Summer Streets is modeled on other events from around the world including Ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia and the Paris Plage. The event is part bike tour, part walking tour, part block party--a great time for exercise, people watching, or just enjoying summer mornings.

It's such a nice change of pace from the park and the West Side Highway.

This past weekend, we met at 52nd and Park and headed south.  It wasn't crowded until past Grand Central, then it just got more crowded.  While it's annoying to me running, I am glad so many people are taking advantage of Summer Streets!  We kept going south over the Brooklyn Bridge and then back north.  We kept going to 72nd St and headed into the Park.  I did part of the lower loop and then I was done!

It was a nice break from the park and turned out to be a great run.  Looking forward to Week 3 of Summer Streets!

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