Lantern Run NYC
New York, NY
- Half Marathon, 10K, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Run a 5K, 10K, or Half-Marathon through a beautifully designed course at the Lantern Run NYC. Note that course is looped for longer distances. This event is a smaller, more private setting with waves capped at 25 participants. Coordinators will be able to hand-time your run and record finishing times. … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Mar 07):
| 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
| H (°F) | 50 | 33 | 39 | 52 | 61 |
| L (°F) | 36 | 18 | 32 | 40 | 33 |
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Small Race, as Advertised
This race made me wonder why we sign up for races. I mean that positively. I'll explain. This race is what it is advertised to be. It is not a … MORE
This race made me wonder why we sign up for races. I mean that positively. I’ll explain.
This race is what it is advertised to be. It is not a giant event. It is capped at 25 runners for each event during the day. The organizers are two guys with clipboards, stopwatches, and a pallet of bottled water. They set up, runners show up, check in, are given instructions, and then are sent out there. I’m betting they don’t need or bother with a race permit. You’re out there like joggers, of which there were a number, and it’s casual.
Yet while I could simply have shown up on the pier, mapped out a route, and run it as a solitary activity, I know I — others might, but not I — would not do that. I am a run commuter, and an avid racer. But I rarely, indeed never, head out for a solo run for reacreation. So without an organized effort, my paying an entry fee, and the formality of being a competitor. I would not have had this exercise.
That is why I am indebted to these organizers. They are entreprenuers like any other race organizers. Their event is just not as fancy. I am glad I saw their website. I would race with them on another occasion. (Apparently they do this regularly. They have many other cities too.)
The race itself was four loops. I have done four loops before, including at venues I already know. I doubt I’d want to do more than four loops. But this was not someplace with which I was familiar, and there was enough variation that even without headphones I was not bored by the scenery at all.
The start point, which is in the middle, is Pier 45 in Manhattan. This is along the Hudson River. It was south to Pier 25, looping around it; north to Pier 51, which is developed and doesn’t have pedestrain access along the actual pier; back to Pier 46, looping around it; then looping Pier 45. Then repeating the big loop as described three times more, for four times total. My watch clocked it at just over 13.1, but that was with a tiny bit of cheating on my part on the last lap, when I went through part of Pier 25 that cut maybe 50 feet off, and also cut the corners on Pier 46, for another 100 feet savings. It was quite windy. The sun came out though.