Kick off the racing season at the NYRR Joe Kleinerman 10K this January! Start the new year strong by recommitting to your running goals with a scenic lap around Central Park. Whether you’re chasing a personal best or just enjoying the run, this race offers the perfect start to a …
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Kick off the racing season at the NYRR Joe Kleinerman 10K this January! Start the new year strong by recommitting to your running goals with a scenic lap around Central Park. Whether you’re chasing a personal best or just enjoying the run, this race offers the perfect start to a new year!
The NYRR Joe Kleinerman 10K honors the legacy of Joe Kleinerman (1912-2003), a celebrated distance runner, track coach, and founding member of NYRR.
The course is slightly more than one lap of Central Park’s six-mile loop.
Mile 1: Start on East Drive just south of the 102nd Street Cross Drive and head north around the northern end of the park through the Harlem Hills, then south on West Drive.
Mile 2: Continue through a series of three rolling hills as you pass the Reservoir on your left.
Mile 3: Enjoy a welcome downhill, followed by a flat section.
Mile 4: Pass the 72nd Street Transverse and climb a small hill to the TCS New York City Marathon finish line. Continue south around the bottom of the park and onto East Drive.
Mile 5: Pass the 72nd Street Transverse and continue north. Ascend Cat Hill and pass the Metropolitan Museum of Art on your right.
Mile 6: Pass Engineers’ Gate (East 90th Street) and continue north. Shortly after the six-mile mark, turn left onto the 102nd Street Cross Drive and continue to the finish.
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Well-organized Central Park 10k
From bib and shirt pickup to the finish line, I found the whole race to be well-organized. Pickup was easy, quick and seamless at the NYRR RunCenter. On the day … MORE
From bib and shirt pickup to the finish line, I found the whole race to be well-organized. Pickup was easy, quick and seamless at the NYRR RunCenter. On the day of, there were clear signs in the park on how to get to the start line and plenty of parking in the area. Once there, enough portable bathrooms were setup to prevent lines that were too long. Corrals were easy to find and there were no start delays.
The race itself was great – weather this year was perfect for racing as it was neither too hot nor cold and the rain held-off. It is not the easiest course due to the rolling hills of Central Park but I enjoyed it more than the flat course of a place like Governor’s Island as it was more mentally engaging in terms of pacing. Racing etiquette was good and plenty of volunteers steered us to stay on-course and were ready to help, if necessary. I did see many runners complaining that the mile 4 marker was later than it should have been but that was not a problem for me, personally, since the finish line was in the right spot.
I would recommend this race as a good way to start the year and maybe your 9+1 – it’s well-organized and as someone who prefers racing in cooler conditions – just right in terms of weather this year. I PR’d despite the hills so happy with my result and a great way to start my new year!
1 Lap Through Central Park
I was visiting NYC this weekend so decided to do this 10K. It is produced by NYRR who produce the NYC Marathon. It is a pretty cheap race. There is … MORE
I was visiting NYC this weekend so decided to do this 10K. It is produced by NYRR who produce the NYC Marathon. It is a pretty cheap race. There is good pre-race communication with clear instructions for bib pick-up and start/finish line set up. There is the option for pre-race packet pick-up but I arrived to NYC late on Friday so got my packet the day of the race. Morning packet pick-up was easy. For the really huge NYRR races, you should try to do pre-race packet pick-up but for the “smaller” ones race day is fine. I put “smaller” in quotes as this still had ~5000 runners. These races are very popular as they are part of the 9+1 program to get guaranteed entry into NYC marathon. The start was well organized and you are assigned a corral based on predicted pace. The course starts on the upper east side and ends in the middle of the park around 102nd street. There were porta potties at the start/finish. The bib pick-up is closer to the start. You pick up the shirt after the race. The course is pretty much the entire 6 mile lap around the main road on Central park with a slight overlap to make it 6.2 miles. 10K is definitely my favorite distance for Central Park. I get sick of half marathons as they are multiple loop but the 10K allowed to see the whole park without having to do loops. Central Park is cool to run in if you never have but gets a little boring after you’ve done enough races here. Central park is hilly but I know the hills well. This course is set up well where the worst hill Harlem hill occurs around mile 0.5 which is a good place for the worst part of the course. The rest of the course is more rolling hills and a bit flatter at the southern part of the park. Production was good with just 1 issue with the 1 mile marker in the wrong location. Plenty of aid stations and some of the most cheerful, wonderful volunteers on course. Central Park is always a bit annoying as the roads are not closed. But the race started relatively early at 8am and it was a bit cold but not miserable today so it wasn’t as bad as other races with perfect weather and packed park. My pace was fine. I was aiming for under 1:30 and I met that goal. There are tons of back of packers and I was never alone at this pace. There is no medal at the end but very cheerful race staff/volunteers cheer you on. No medal is fine to me for races shorter than half marathon. There was not the best post race snacks just some pretzels and apples. You get the shirt at the end. One minor critique is I’d prefer the shirts to be at the finish line but they were closer to the start so I had to walk back to the start to get the shirt and then back past the finish line to catch my train on the west side. But not a big deal. The shirt isn’t my favorite color. It is kind of an olive green but I love the quote on it so I will wear it. I did notice my results weren’t initially posted after the race. I was worried my time wasn’t recorded but it showed up before the end of the day. I think it may have been because I did race day packet pick-up though I’m not sure. Not a huge deal just don’t worry if you don’t get your result right away. I did check and they have an easy way to submit missing results which luckily I didn’t need to use. Overall this is a solid 10K and I’d recommend it if you happen to be in NYC the weekend of the race.