Option 1 - Harlem - $ 775 a month - 2 hour, 10 mile bus ride
Option 2 Brooklyn - Near the Bridge $ 1500 a month, Great spot , some logistical stuff to figure out
Option 1 - Harlem - $ 775 a month - 2 hour, 10 mile bus ride
Option 2 Brooklyn - Near the Bridge $ 1500 a month, Great spot , some logistical stuff to figure out
Hoboken or Jersey City Heights
I lived in the north end of Hoboken for a while then eventually up to JC Heights
The track in Weehawken is about 1.5 miles from Hoboken and a little longer depending where you start in the Heights. I used that distance as my warm up.
In the Heights there is also a dirt track at Pershing Field, its like 1/3 of a mile
The viaduct on 14th in Hoboken and the hill up to Stevens are your only real hills, but they are long and steep.
Wide, paved, bike/walking path along the water stretches for miles and miles. There are multiple stops for water fountains and restrooms along the way.
Both are cheaper options than NYC.
Great food, bar and singles scene if you're single and in your 20s/30s
The commute to my office near Times Square was about an hour-90 mins door to door depending on the Lincoln Tunnel.
Brooklyndan wrote:
Williamsburger wrote:
Williamsburg is a nice place to live, and commuting to Manhattan is really easy. (Just take the L across the river then transfer to whatever you need. You might not even need a transfer, based on your specific location.)
Multiple public tracks. But then I was low mileage there so didn't worry about getting bored with my routes.
The tracks are being refurbished and the L train into Manhattan will be shutting down.
Keep this in mind when you make your choice: Williamsburg is great, but commute is soon going to be a nightmare.
A couple of areas you also would like to consider is Harlem near the north side of Central Park or Morningside heights. Cheaper than UWS and UES, qreat running opportunities and a decent social life as it is packed with students from Columbia.
If you don't mind commuting a little more, and want to save some money, consider also the Bronx near van Cortland park; this is one of the best spots for running in NYC, but your social life may suffer a little bit.
UWS or Harlem are your best bets. As you'll only be in NY for one year consider paying a little extra to live in these neighborhoods as there is a lot to do, Central Park and Riverside Park are right there and your commute to work will probably be pretty good on the subway.
Coming from an UWS guy, everyone is right. Central park and the Hudson river a stones throw away. Not only a great spot for running, but the neighborhood is quiet with plenty of good restaurants and bars. If you are looking for poon you just take an uber downtown, its simple.
Okay Jogger wrote:
Hoboken or Jersey City Heights
I lived in the north end of Hoboken for a while then eventually up to JC Heights
The track in Weehawken is about 1.5 miles from Hoboken and a little longer depending where you start in the Heights. I used that distance as my warm up.
In the Heights there is also a dirt track at Pershing Field, its like 1/3 of a mile
The viaduct on 14th in Hoboken and the hill up to Stevens are your only real hills, but they are long and steep.
Wide, paved, bike/walking path along the water stretches for miles and miles. There are multiple stops for water fountains and restrooms along the way.
Both are cheaper options than NYC.
Great food, bar and singles scene if you're single and in your 20s/30s
The commute to my office near Times Square was about an hour-90 mins door to door depending on the Lincoln Tunnel.
Exactly. That door to door seems pretty long though?
The people hating on Jersey are idiots. Hoboken is unreal, and Jersey City Heights is an even better deal if you want to mix it up a bit. For that money, I'd get a 1br pad in downtown Hoboken next to the Path and profit. If you hook a hot chick in the city, just Uber it back and don't make a big deal.
If you can afford to live in Manhattan go for it.
Join a club for comraderie ---- one such as Central Park Track Club. It is distance oriented and meets for
workouts 3 times a week. One track workout, one tempo on roads and one long run. In the winter, they run
at the grat 168 street armory once a week. Lots of races in Central Park on weekends.
Not a perfect environment....... I guess a perfect environment for a hard core runner would be a college program but
don't know if you are young enough or good enough for that. Man hattan College or Iona College but that's big $$$$
Wow, thanks everyone for all the replies. Tons of good info here for me and hopefully others. Will update when the final decision is made but it might be a month. Oh speaking of which -- how far in advance do apartments rent out?
thanks for sharing its really helpful
South Bronx has all nice neighborhoods with housing at an affordable rate.
Brownsville, Brooklyn is also very nice.
Increased safety if you will be doing your runs at night.
Always wear short shorts (if you are a guy) in the day and night! This is to prevent harassment. Briefs for the women will do.
I live on East 31st Street just off 3rd Avenue(work at Trader Joe's nearby). You would think that getting to central park would just be a nice 10 minute jog, but it is a nightmare.I couldn't imagine living downtown. It would take you all day to get to Central Park.
105 mpw wrote:
Wow, thanks everyone for all the replies. Tons of good info here for me and hopefully others. Will update when the final decision is made but it might be a month. Oh speaking of which -- how far in advance do apartments rent out?
Start looking one month in advance.
Banana Bread wrote:
I live on East 31st Street just off 3rd Avenue(work at Trader Joe's nearby). You would think that getting to central park would just be a nice 10 minute jog, but it is a nightmare.I couldn't imagine living downtown. It would take you all day to get to Central Park.
WHATWHATWHAT? Is this real? I've been to that TJs but I've never heard anyone talking about Bekele there
Wtfbbq wrote:
105 mpw wrote:
Wow, thanks everyone for all the replies. Tons of good info here for me and hopefully others. Will update when the final decision is made but it might be a month. Oh speaking of which -- how far in advance do apartments rent out?
Start looking one month in advance.
Yup, and be prepared with all the necessary paperwork (offer letter, tax returns...) to pounce if you see something you like.
I'll hop in on this discussion because it's sort of relevant to me (my wife is choosing between NY Presbyterian (rotating between Columbia (Washington Heights) & Cornell (upper east side) sites) and MGH (in Boston) for fellowship; I've resigned myself to the fact that we'll be moving to the east coast in a little more than a year).
So, some questions I have about NYC after getting back from a week long visit (spent some time in Harlem w/ my sister-in-law), and sorry if some of this may come off negative:
How quiet does the UWS get at night / early morning? (Or even the day?) Harlem kind of had me going crazy with all of the honking and sirens.
Can you ever actually use the fields in Central Park? (e.g. sheep meadow, great lawn) Is it ever not either closed or so filled with people that the only useful aspect to the park it is the bridle paths and reservoir loop? (Like, actually having room to do barefoot sprints, or play frisbee or soccer, instead of wasting the outdoor space by just sitting in it?) Do they plow or salt the bridle paths during winter? Are there times of day (or even year) when you can do a run in Central Park and not be surrounded by throngs of people?
Van Cortlandt Park was great (and what I had hoped Central Park would be like before visiting), although the commute to the the Cornell site is too far for my wife if we lived there. (I'm pretty sure we'd live up there if she was only at the Columbia site, as I work from an internet connection). How often does some event take up most of the fields there? (Does that ever happen? Or will it pretty much always be usable?) Can you get away with playing tennis on those courts (in Van Cortlandt) or closer to the UWS without the stupid (and frankly immoral) yearly permit?
Speaking of that permit and the visitor-friendliness of your public transit (such good explanatory maps you have coming from JFK /s): just how corrupt is the government?
Basically: I think my wife prefers NYC because that's where her sister lives, and the programs are similar. I (fairly clearly from what I've written) prefer Boston. To those who live there, try and ameliorate my fears and convince me that Boston isn't a far nicer place to live.
Swaglord wrote:
Okay Jogger wrote:
Hoboken or Jersey City Heights
I lived in the north end of Hoboken for a while then eventually up to JC Heights
The track in Weehawken is about 1.5 miles from Hoboken and a little longer depending where you start in the Heights. I used that distance as my warm up.
In the Heights there is also a dirt track at Pershing Field, its like 1/3 of a mile
The viaduct on 14th in Hoboken and the hill up to Stevens are your only real hills, but they are long and steep.
Wide, paved, bike/walking path along the water stretches for miles and miles. There are multiple stops for water fountains and restrooms along the way.
Both are cheaper options than NYC.
Great food, bar and singles scene if you're single and in your 20s/30s
The commute to my office near Times Square was about an hour-90 mins door to door depending on the Lincoln Tunnel.
Exactly. That door to door seems pretty long though?
The people hating on Jersey are idiots. Hoboken is unreal, and Jersey City Heights is an even better deal if you want to mix it up a bit. For that money, I'd get a 1br pad in downtown Hoboken next to the Path and profit. If you hook a hot chick in the city, just Uber it back and don't make a big deal.
Yes 60-90mins is a bit long but i wasn't getting on the bus until like 8am. Its like 3 miles which makes it frustrating some days but you can get all your reading and some napping done. I guess it depends what time you are going in and coming home. If you are getting on the bus by 7am you are probably sitting at your desk in 45 mins.
Funny to see how many letsrunners live in the city. UWS is the only answer, unfortunately. Anyone who says other neighborhoods in nyc have "good" running either just visited or aren't training consistently. Not that you can't run high mileage in Williamsburg but the west side highway, central park, and prospect park are the only good running spots here.
CuriousPerson wrote:
I'll hop in on this discussion because it's sort of relevant to me (my wife is choosing between NY Presbyterian (rotating between Columbia (Washington Heights) & Cornell (upper east side) sites) and MGH (in Boston) for fellowship; I've resigned myself to the fact that we'll be moving to the east coast in a little more than a year).
So, some questions I have about NYC after getting back from a week long visit (spent some time in Harlem w/ my sister-in-law), and sorry if some of this may come off negative:
How quiet does the UWS get at night / early morning? (Or even the day?) Harlem kind of had me going crazy with all of the honking and sirens.
Can you ever actually use the fields in Central Park? (e.g. sheep meadow, great lawn) Is it ever not either closed or so filled with people that the only useful aspect to the park it is the bridle paths and reservoir loop? (Like, actually having room to do barefoot sprints, or play frisbee or soccer, instead of wasting the outdoor space by just sitting in it?) Do they plow or salt the bridle paths during winter? Are there times of day (or even year) when you can do a run in Central Park and not be surrounded by throngs of people?
Van Cortlandt Park was great (and what I had hoped Central Park would be like before visiting), although the commute to the the Cornell site is too far for my wife if we lived there. (I'm pretty sure we'd live up there if she was only at the Columbia site, as I work from an internet connection). How often does some event take up most of the fields there? (Does that ever happen? Or will it pretty much always be usable?) Can you get away with playing tennis on those courts (in Van Cortlandt) or closer to the UWS without the stupid (and frankly immoral) yearly permit?
Speaking of that permit and the visitor-friendliness of your public transit (such good explanatory maps you have coming from JFK /s): just how corrupt is the government?
Basically: I think my wife prefers NYC because that's where her sister lives, and the programs are similar. I (fairly clearly from what I've written) prefer Boston. To those who live there, try and ameliorate my fears and convince me that Boston isn't a far nicer place to live.
Lots of questions in there...I'll add some (hopefully not useless) comments
-Regarding commuting from wayyy uptown (Inwood, Riverdale area), if you like the area and VCPark - you can jump on the metro north to get you to 125th and switch to a 4/5/6 train - it's not a terrible commute option. but more expensive than just a subway.
-Running in central park - there's always, always people running but it never feels too crowded to me, maybe I'm just used to it. I like always seeing people out there, even in rain/snow, you're never alone. The bridal trail is dirt...I don't think they plow/salt, but I could be wrong. They do a hell of a job cleaning the main road however, it's rare for it not to be easily runnable even a day after a big storm.
-UWS, if you're on a street, is quiet. If you're on an avenue (or just off) it will be a little louder.
-I'm not cool enough to play frisbee in the park, but if you go further north in the park to the less common fields, there's plenty more space. Yes sheep meadow is usually crowded when it's nice...but that also means plenty of nice scenery around
-I don't play tennis, I think most courts require the permit and scheduling. Inwood hill park (very top of Manhattan) does not
Randall's Island is also one of the prime running spots in NYC that you can get to from the UES via the 103rd Street footbridge. Not sure how people don't know of this...
In a van down by the river.