Cliche comment alert: Guyssss how is it already August? And not even the first week of August anymore. I guess when you spend two weeks traveling the middle east it makes the rest of the summer fly-by. I don’t wanna say goodbye to warm weather and the quietness that is NYC in the summer.
Today marked weekend #2 of Summer Streets! Summer Streets is when all of Park Avenue/ 4th Avenue / Lafayette (all the same street technically) is closed off to cars. Basically the avenue becomes a pedestrian, runner and cycler heaven. Last year I even took a spin class on Astor Place courtesy of Revolve as a part of Summer Streets. It was definitely one of the highlights of last summer.
I wasn’t in the city last weekend and unfortunately will be away next weekend as well, so I knew I had to get out there and take advantage of the beautiful weather.
First up: a run.
I’m pretty sure the last time I laced up my running shoes was the Oakley Women’s 10K 2 months ago. It’s been a while to say the least. I knew my running wasn’t going to be pretty or easy for that matter, but I also knew the weather was too perfect to not take advantage of Summer Streets with a run.
Oddly enough, my body was like “LET’S RUN!” the second I hit 4th Avenue. My desire to run didn’t last all that long, nor did my stamina, yet it was still nice to run on the not too crowded streets and not have to worry about cars and traffic.
There was definitely a smile on my face as I looked around at everyone running, cycling or walking. Everyone just seemed so happy to be other this on a beautiful Saturday in the city.
Since I wasn’t taking my run all that seriously, I also checked out the sound installation in the Park Avenue tunnel
How often do you get to walk casually through the Park Avenue tunnel? Answer: never.
I made it up to about 40th Street (I started around 10th Street) and eventually got a text from my parents saying they were awake and getting ready, so I turned around and started heading back downtown. Our plan was to rent a Citibike for the first time ever and take advantage of the empty street on the bikes.
But first I had a peach green tea lemonade from Starbucks, because I’m addicted to them and the thought of having my usual favorite hot drink wasn’t cutting it today.
Back downtown I met up with my parents for:
Part two: the bike ride!
The thought of bike riding in NYC scares the bejesus out of me. More power to you if you feel comfortable cycling around this city, but it really does terrify me thanks to cars doing scary things. I’ll stick to traveling around by foot and subway for now. The thing is I really love bike riding so I was super excited to finally get to ride in the city.
If you haven’t heard of Citibikes it’s a pretty cool idea– it’s a bike sharing program in NYC where you can rent a bike up to 30 minutes before you have to return it and grab a new one. The intention is to provide people with additional transportation options in the city. In my neighborhood there’s got to be at least a dozen Citibike stations where you can rent a bike. It’s been on my “to-do” list since the program was first started but the process always overwhelmed me.
My parents and I struggled at bit at first to rent the bikes– first my dad’s credit card wasn’t accepted, then it worked for him, then it didn’t work for my credit card and the guy behind me yelled at me (thanks buddy!). Eventually we got 3 Citibikes and were ready to ride!
Shoutout to my parents that haven’t ridden a bike in forever (I’d guess the last time they rode a bike was before I was born…) It’s true when they say “it’s like riding a bike”. All three of us loved riding around on the empty streets. If you’re planning on hitting up Summer Streets next weekend I would recommend going on the earlier side since the streets were definitely a bit more crowded at noon compared to when I had been out running earlier.
Summer Streets, you are officially one of my favorite things about summer in Manhattan.
Successful Saturday Duathlon! My parents and I joked should have hopped in the pool at their building afterwards to make it a triathlon. Next time 🙂
Leave a Reply