Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Run 76 NYC Parks

NYC has many nicknames, one of them is "The Concrete Jungle".  Although, that is an accurate name.  It is amazing how many parks and green spaces there are.  
"Parks & Recreation is the steward of approximately 29,000 acres of land (14% of NYC) including more than 5,000 individual properties ranging from Coney Island Beach and Central Park to community gardens and Greenstreets. We operate more than 800 athletic fields and nearly 1,000 playgrounds, 550 tennis courts, 66 public pools.  We care for 1,200 Monuments.  We look after 650,000 street trees and two million more in parks." -NYC Parks & Recreation (click for info video)
Nature has always been a huge part of my life and very important too me.  So many people find an oasis away from the concrete jungle right near their home.  Everyone is familiar with Central Park and most know Bryant and Battery Park, etc.  But everywhere you turn there are hidden pockets of nature.  It maybe a garden on your building's roof top, or a planter box in your window sill.  It could be a few small plants on the stoop of your building, a community garden, a tree line street, a river view from a pier, the possibilities are endless and "concrete jungle" is become less accurate the more I write.  
This blog was conceived in Riverside park.  I have my own rooftop garden.  One of my favorite parks is the Highline, which is an abandoned elevated railway turned into a park. I have volunteered a few times for a new park in the planning stages called, the Lowline, which hopes to build the world's first underground park in an unused trolley station. 
Tonight I ran Riverside Drive.  The entire 6 miles was in a park.  It was hard to believe I was running in NYC.  I leave you with a slide show of photos I have taken in NYC parks.  I will continue to add photos to the album (and the others) as time goes by.  




Time: 1 am
Distance: 6.13 miles
Time: 50:02 minutes
Music: Chely Wright

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