I used an ice cream cart as an aid station.
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(Photo: Brendan Davis)
Updated June 18, 2026 04:40PM
When you think of running in New York City, Central Park probably comes first to mind. But don’t sleep on Prospect Park tucked away across the river in Brooklyn.
Like Central Park, this 585-acre recreational refuge was similarly designed by architectural duo Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. And it was this park that they deemed their “true masterpiece.”
Or so David Colley says in Prospect Park: Olmsted and Vaux’s Brooklyn Masterpiece. Apparently, Prospect Park was designed to feel more natural and immersive than its sister in Manhattan. But it wasn’t until after I had run hundreds of 3.36-mile laps on the paved path around the perimeter that I woke up to what that actually meant.
(Photo: Brendan Davis)
I started noticing dirt paths, mulch paths, cobblestone paths, and eventually paths that looked suspiciously like actual trails. I’m hesitant to say for certain that you can trail run in Prospect Park, but I think you actually can.
Everyone was keeping this a secret from me, but there are plenty of people out there jogging off-road along the creeks and ponds, walkers ripping bongs aside their basset hounds, and bird watchers following migrations in groves. There are at least three waterfalls and a mountain lookout and a place labeled as a ravine.
(Photo: Brendan Davis)
I found a closed-off and decommissioned staircase next to a trail that takes you almost to the top of Battle Pass slicing through the park’s northeast corner. I can’t say for sure, but you may need to fight off dogs on the loose while their owners call their names across the field. I’ve seen a guy dressed like an ultrarunning meme, and the porta potties get cleaned more than they get credit for.
You can’t shit in the woods. Or at the very least, you shouldn’t shit in the woods; there are still too many people around. It’s New York City, after all.
Singletrack, mud, punchy hills and stone bridges take you to algae-bloomed lakes with more turtles than I’ve ever seen in one place swimming next to lovers drinking wine and men fishing for yearly-stocked fish.
Geese, swans, ducks, and pigeons don’t move when you ask politely. Squirrels and chipmunks will hardly let you look at them.
Come out of the woods to the smell of cigarettes next to a kids baseball game and grab an ugly-cute SpongeBob popsicle for when things get rough out there.
The longest trail run I have done in this park here is about 10 miles, but you could do more. I touched the road every once in a while, but I didn’t re-trace my steps very much. The trails twist and turn and spit you out in surprising places, though I think you can only get lost for a few minutes at a time if you are moving quick enough.
I did lose track of my thoughts, though, in the deepest woods. It’s quiet enough to think you are alone until you run into someone’s camp that’s been set up for a while.
I didn’t move from Boulder, Colorado, to New York City for trail running, but it’s nice to know it’s an option.