Run 108 On Broadway

When I first started this adventure, I wasn’t really sure it was even possible or if I would really do it, but here we are just over a year later and I just completed my last run.  I saved the best for last.  It just so happens that Broadway runs from the very northern tip of Manhattan at 221st Street all the way to the southern tip, Battery Park.  It is just under 14 miles long.  A year ago there was no way I could have ran 14 miles, but here I am, now officially a runner.  This run was like a highlight reel of all my runs.  The scenery changed with each mile.  I started way up north, in a place with short buildings and street parking, so different from the Manhattan I know.  I passed streets like a count down.  
200th Street where I heard the story of Gallery 207
185th Street where I found a barn in NYC  
175th Street where I saw one of many churches.    
155th  Street where I got scared on my spooky run.  
125th Street where in the summer heat kids played in the fire hydrants like water fountains.    
47th Street where I live and Times Square where people are visiting the shiny center.  
34th Street where the Empire State Building is located.
20th Street where I finally found parking.
12th Street where I went behind the scene.
Lower Manhattan where the street have names and I get lost.  

I wanted to share and celebrate this experience with people I loved.  So I invited some friends to join me.  I gave them two options.  To meet me just south of Canal street and jog the last mile with me, or meet me in Battery Park and cheer for me as I crossed the “finish line”.  I had 4 friends join me for the last mile.  Right after we met up I took them on a small detour and showed them Franklin Place.  My secret beautifully graffitied alley that I discovered on run number 96.   I couldn't help but get a little emotional as I ran that last mile with my friends.  I was proud and impressed that I had accomplished my goal.  I was in shock that it was over, that I could say I’ve run every street in Manhattan.  When we approached Battery Park I could see more of my friends up ahead.  They brought balloons and a ribbon to use as a finish line.  They cheered as I completed my adventure. 

We popped a bottle of sparkling cider and had a celebratory picnic in Battery Park.  I sat there with friends, eating and laughing with the Statue of Liberty as our backdrop.  It now seems surreal, like I’m describing a scene from a movie.  But this is my NYC, this the island of 8 million people and 508.38 miles of streets, that I ran in 108 runs over 14 months.  I will never look at it the same. 
During this process I ran 697.39 miles on the streets in 95 hours and 56 minutes and 29 seconds. I ran another 162.3 miles in races and training runs. For a total of 859.69 miles.  
NYC Marathon.... here I come!! 

Time: 1pm
Distance: 13.9 miles
Time: 1:45:33
Music: shuffle