New York, New York!

Scenes from a weekend #38

Every year in August, NYC closes some of its streets to traffic for ‘Summer Streets’ – letting the runners, walkers and cyclists take over from 7am to 1pm. I’ve heard about it the past couple of years and I knew it was Park Avenue that was closed to traffic. In my mind, that means the Upper East Side, which is a bit of a commute for me to make just to take advantage of the closures.Β I am so relieved I actually looked up the website on Friday and realized that the streets were closed from the Brooklyn Bridge all the way up to Central Park.

So with a long run already on my schedule for Saturday morning, I ran to the bridge, then up Lafayette Street and Park Avenue, to Union Square, for a wonderful out-and-back on the LAST day of Summer Streets for this year!

It was a gorgeous day and these views are pretty killer to kick off a run:

Scenes from a weekend

Followed by an amazing chance to check out NYC neighborhoods on the run – without worrying about traffic or crowds.

Scenes from a weekend #38

Scenes from a weekend #38

Scenes from a weekend #38

Of course, the run didn’t happen unless there were selfies, right? πŸ˜‰

Scenes from a weekend #38

Something that was also much appreciated was the rest stops along the route. All of them hadΒ drinking fountains, courtesy of the NYC Water DepartmentΒ (thankfully!) and each rest area had different amenities. One down near the bridge was offering free bike hire, but my favorite was at Astor Place, where there was a stretch area set up with bands and rollers and stretch classes going on – all free. I kind of wished I lived right by Astor Place, so that could have been my end stop!Β I’m so happy I took advantage of Summer Streets.Β I’m already looking forward to next year.

Scenes from a weekend #38

I also happened to be passing a fire station just as one of the firefighters was doing the ALS ice bucket challenge.

Scenes from a weekend #38

Luckily, someone nominated my husband, so I was fortunate enough to be able to tipΒ a bucket of ice water on Fran’s head later that day. There was chatter on Facebook after he posted it that perhaps it was a bit of a slow pour by me, but I just wanted to make sure I was accurate and thorough with my aim. You can’t really tell in this still, but Roman was cracking up.

Scenes from a weekend

It was such a gorgeous morning and running over the bridge inspired me to suggest we take Roman down to Brooklyn Bridge Park for a bit of a rampage once I got home. We had a lovely time wandering about, playing tourist.

Scenes from a weekend #38

Every time I go to BrooklynΒ Bridge Park, it seems like they’ve expanded it a little more and there are more cool summer features, like kayak rentals.

Scenes from a weekend #38

And of course all this adventuring requires snacking….some healthy, some not quite so healthy. But oh-so-delicious.

Scenes from a weekend #38

I went to spin class on Sunday morning, with my friend Maggie. It was a really hard class and the instructor ‘forgot’ (?)Β Scenes from a weekend #38 it was a 45 minute class, so we started our cool down flat at around 50 minutes or so. Holy cow, there were quite a few hills involved. I was a sweaty mess.

When I got home, Fran and Roman had kept themselves busy with a little bit of dress-up fun. That face, he just kills me. Then we headed out again for some fun at the splash pad in Prospect Park. They were having a Dino Day, with characters from Dinosaur Train – Roman doesn’t watch the show, but he’s just starting to really get into dinosaurs, so he was VERY excited to meet a real baby T-Rex!

Scenes from a weekend #38 All in all, a pretty awesome weekend. The only bad part was that I think there’s something going on with my left hamstring. I noticed on Friday after running it was a little tender, so I decided to see how it felt when I headed out on Saturday. It was fine during the run – I forgot all about it – but late afternoon, when I had time to put my feet up, I realized it was still niggling at me. I skipped my run Sunday and just did spin and today I’m cross training, so hopefully it will work itself out.

Where did you run/walk/cycle/hike/swim/yoga/chase children this weekend?

Do you ever play tourist in your own city?

14 thoughts on “Scenes from a weekend #38”

    1. I really hope it goes away! I try so hard to keep myself injury free, it feels unfair to have one!! Story of every runner’s life, I guess.

    1. It’s so special to be able to see the city from a whole new perspective. πŸ™‚ I have clients visiting St Louis this weekend – I hear you guys are having quite a heatwave!! Ugh, sorry mama!

    1. We MUST have passed each other!! That’s so funny! I got to union square around 8:20 and did my turnaround. It wasn’t super crowded either – I wish I’d spotted you!

  1. Oh my son would LOVE to meet the dinos from dinosaur train! We’re doing the Thomas the Train thing next month. That is so awesome they shut down the roads for everyone to walk/run/bike/etc. We had a low key weekend, but it was still pretty awesome. Have a great week Carly! πŸ™‚
    Caroline recently posted…30 Feels Pretty Good!My Profile

    1. Roman is obsessed with Thomas. He especially loves Cranky the Crane. πŸ™‚ that will be so fun!!

    1. That sounds like a lovely touristy thing to do! I’m so excited you photographed your first wedding! I bet the couple will be thrilled with the photos.

Comments are closed.