Christine Coppola: August 2013

I have spent countless hours and logged mile after mile in Central Park, and every single time I enter the Park it is like a new place to me. There is always something new to discover. I feel so lucky, it is my backyard and my training ground. Here are some quick facts about Central Park (Source: Central Park Conservancy):

38 million people visit Central Park each year
The Park is 843 acres, or 6% of Manhattan's total acreage
Starting at Engineer's Gate at 90th Street and Fifth Avenue, which is where I enter, below are some popular routes and their distances:

Full loop of the Park: 6.1 miles
Upper Loop, taking 102nd Street cutoff: 5.2 miles
Lower Loop, taking 72nd Street cutoff: 1.7 miles
Along the Bridle Path: 4.25 miles
One loop of the Resevoir Running Track: 1.58 miles
Along all the pedestrian pathways: 58 miles

There are 21 playgrounds in the Park
There are 24,000 trees, including 1,700 Elms
There are 9,000 benches, which would stretch 7 miles if placed end to end
More than 275 species of migratory birds have been sighted in the Park
There are seven ornamental and approximately 150 drinking fountains in the Park (I often do not have to carry water on runs!)
There are 36 bridges and arches in Central Park

I've bolded that last bullet, because I have always wanted to visit every bridge and arch in the Park. Yesterday, after a 4 hour bike/run training session, it occurred to me that there is no better time than the present! So, we covered an additional 6+ miles and set out on this journey. The pictures below capture part of our trek through Central Park to visit each bridge and arch - at some point I will get to labeling them (this is not a comprehensive catalog of each one we visited - it would make for a very long blog post):