Midtown loop for tempo run

By using the greenway path and the bike lane of the 8th ave. you can easily do a tempo run. Nice scenario of the river, specially at sunset and of the hectic city while crossing midtown.

Central Park - "squared" (10km)

It had been in my backlog for months to try to go around central park and run its rectangular boundary. It was a nice ride, there are some points where you should be paying attention to traffic and traffic lights, but nothing that can jeopardize your training.

It's amazing to see how the "ambient" changes from upper west side to Harlem and them back from Harlem to upper east side. Well, the park is pretty much smooth, changes can only be noticed outside.

A very good approximation is that each longer side is 4km long and the smaller ones 1km. I started at Columbus Circle and finished 10km in front of the Museum of Arts and Design.

A great place to run when in Toronto, ON, Canada

I was really hoping to find a nice place to run in Toronto with a nice view of the lake Ontario. I was fortunate to go to centre island. Besides the nice trails full of trees you'll have nice views of the lake as well as the city skyline.

It is really simple to get there: on Bay St move south until you reach the shore (Westin Harbor Castle Hotel). There you can buy roundtrip ferry tickets for 6.50 canadian dollars leading three possible harbor points. Have fun and do not miss the sunset, it's awesome!

a 6km course

NYC Marathon 2009

Perfect weather to run: not too cold, not raining, not sunny and America has seen a fellow citizen winning after 25 years!

I am totally in for the 2010 NYC Marathon because I have run these streets once and now they are the sweet streets of mine.

About the womens run: read this.

The two bridges run

15.8Km (9.82 mi)

• To enter Manhattan bridge there's a pedestrian way on the right side (towards Brooklyn)
• In Brooklyn follow signs to Brooklyn Bridge (I ran on the bike trail)
• After you get out of the bridge turn left and keep left until you find your way next to the river again
• Enjoy the scenery! :)

uptown is another town!

biking uptown, originally uploaded by mcyrillo.

you may find a different and astonishing new york city up there :)

Enormous Central Park

I took the subway line C from 42nd Port Authority to 110th St, on the upper west corner of Central Park. My plan was to run along the east side and then return home. In the path I saw lots of fireflies and after a while it started to rain cats and dogs! It was a blast to run for the first time in the US in the rain. And it was in NYC, in Central Park, a moment not to be forgotten so soon.

The most amazing thing though it was the fact that when I realized that after 6km I had passed the starting point! I did not notice, but I ran in circles, as shown in the map bellow.

My definition of Central Park: it's just like Ibirapuera that we have in São Paulo, but with infinite possibilities.

From Brooklyn to Home

It is something to be able to cross the Brooklyn Bridge towards Manhattan in a Summer Sunday evening. Lot's of people enjoying the view and I was breathing the air fiercely, the view was just another motivation, an add-on to the good feeling of running. It was just the beginning of my run and I knew right off the bat that I would be able to run the almost 12k home easily; that view provided me the fuel.

I feel good, I feel nice, like sugar and spice.

Pictures taken during the run (I am becoming a pro):

Keep Running

I'm back, I'm back!

It's amazing how capable we are to, from time to time, ignore what really makes us pulse. I've been writing about running, I've been talking to people about running, some people think of me as the running guy, the one who once ran the NYC marathon and never stopped running.

The truth is that the NYC Marathon's main contribution to my life was to make me fall in love with the city and to make me wish I could live here someday. Now this has become reality and another good thing happened: after 2 years of occasional - or lazy if you will - running, I'm back to serious training. The ones that may eventually get me back to half marathons and even marathons. I once had a dream of getting to know the world by running marathons, then I switched to half-marathons but it happened that work was helping me more on that. I've been to Tokyo and there I could see thousands of people running the Tokyo Marathon while I was running 5k in a local park.

The problem about getting back is huge. First you have to admit you are not that good anymore. You're older, you're less fitter, but your brain does remember everything you were capable of. So, when that overweight guy passes by you very quickly, you have to tell your brain that you must not speed up, you have to respect your pace, do your training. And when you see that athletic girl running at a very fast pace, just admire the view and keep on with your slow, yet steady pace.

It's been only two weeks and I'm already getting better. I feel like my body is re-learning something that it was very used to feel and it might take some time but I will get back there. The good thing about being older is that you become more resistant, I may eventually run further than ever. Well, at least I want to believe that, it's comforting.

I was thinking about some motivational ideas. I first decided I would pursue running the distance between the earth and the moon. I thought that would not be too hard, taking into account that I have run many thousands of kilometers already in my life. But if you do the math you'll find out that it would take you hundreds of years running more than 180km a week. Even half way to the moon, to "see the moon" closer, is unfeasible for a poor guy like me. I wish I had that idea when I was 18...

Happily enough I found out that I did not need that kind of motivation, I had already started and once you decide to start it, that kind of decision that mobilize all of your body elements, it will happen in an unavoidable way.

To make things funnier though, I decided that from time to time I will take a subway to some distant part of Manhattan and have the motivation to run back home. I intend to document this here.

And for you that are thinking about re-starting, here's something that may help you:

sample week:

day 1 - 2 to 4k at a steady pace, not too comfortable, because comfortable means you're not really running

day 2 - off or cycling

day 3 - 3 to 6k again at a steady pace

day 4 - off or cycling (not too much of cycling)

day 5 - run 2k at a slow pace to warm up, then run as fast as you can for 20s and rest for 40s. Repeat this fartlek (quick / slow) 6 times, then run 2 more kilometers in a very slow pace

day 6 - go to a hospital. Not really, but relax

day 7 - run 6 to 8k at the pace you want, go to somewhere you never been to and enjoy the view.

In the first weeks you may not do everything, but try to reach to this point, or even a more aggressive one in 3 or 4 weeks.

Never forget that your body talks to you, if something is hurting too much, take care of yourself and observe what happens when you run again.

Keep running, it will keep you healthy and happy.

::run:: 6km @ Tokyo, around Tokyo Tower

I was fortunate to be there at the weekend the Tokyo Marathon 2009 was happening. Only if I knew it one year in advance, I would probably train and try to run it. Ok, I know, what are the things we know one year in advance besides the deadline to do our taxes? ;-)

I started to run after I had walked about one kilometer watching the official runners. I turned my Forerunner 405 on and ran through very narrow streets where I could find numerous restaurants, then I eventually joined the mob and became the only person that was illegally running the Tokyo Marathon.

No registration number but a smile on my face, it felt so good to take part of it, even if for a short period of time.

Weather was good, 16C, cloudy, many people on the streets, cheering up the runners.

I took this photo with my iPhone while running at the exact moment I had the guts to cross the line and join the runners.

Wanna check the course in Google earth? Here's how (you have to have Google Earth installed).

::run:: 6km @ Valley Forge National Park, PA, USA

Today I went running in the Valley Forge National park, 1km from home and I ran 6km there, trying to take some pictures while I was running. There weren't many people in the park, maybe because it was the end of the day and it was cold (32F, zero Celsius). I enjoyed it, and I enjoy the fact that now I endorphin is all over my body...

See pictures here.