On a recent Thursday, Joe Longo got an unexpected text from a friend: \u201cHey, wanna run around the entire Manhattan perimeter on Saturday?\u201d For Mr. Longo, 26, the answer was an easy yes. \u201cHow often do you get a text from a friend asking if you want to run an ultramarathon that weekend?\u201d said Mr. Longo, who lives in Flatbush, Brooklyn. \u201cI was like, \u2018Well, I can\u2019t really say no to that, obviously.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Two days later, it was not even 8 a.m., and Mr. Longo and his friend, Sarah Shields \u2014 also 26 \u2014 were already about five miles into their mission, running north along the East River Greenway. The two started running last year, and the perimeter was the longest run either of them had attempted. Mr. Longo has run one marathon, and Ms. Shields ran a half marathon last fall.<\/p>\n
The length of the Manhattan perimeter \u2014 around 32 miles, give or take a few detours around construction \u2014 is roughly equivalent to the 50-kilometer distance many runners seek out for their first ultramarathon. For many New Yorkers who run, there\u2019s a certain beauty in this coincidence. (An ultramarathon is typically defined as any run longer than 26.2 miles.)<\/p>\n
In late May, I joined Mr. Longo, Ms. Shields and a group of nearly 200 other runners in a perimeter run attempt organized by Central Park Run Club. It was the club\u2019s fourth year facilitating the event, and by far the best attended: The first year, in 2023, only 10 runners showed up. Last year, there were about 70, according to Izzie Fulcher, one of the club\u2019s coaches.<\/p>\n
Mile 0<\/p>\n
Brookfield Place<\/p>\n
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Just before 7 a.m., the group met inside Brookfield Place, on the Hudson River waterfront in Lower Manhattan. The runners stretched, adjusted their packs and made conversation (\u201cAre you running the whole thing?\u201d) until the coaches called their attention. Tony Yung, another coach, gave the runners a quick primer on etiquette: Don\u2019t run more than two across; fall into single file in crowded spaces. \u201cYou\u2019re going to see places in Manhattan you\u2019ve never seen before,\u201d he said. Shortly after 7 a.m., the group took off. I ran with them for about seven miles.<\/p>\n
Running the perimeter is an old tradition: It was a regular route for Ted Corbitt<\/a>, the Olympic marathoner and founding president of New York Road Runners. Sometimes, when he was training for an ultramarathon, he\u2019d run the perimeter twice in a row, said his son, Gary Corbitt, who is 75 and lives in Jacksonville, Fla.<\/p>\n But in recent years, the perimeter run has become more popular, particularly among runners in the city seeking a fresh \u2014 and free \u2014 challenge. According to data collected by Strava, the fitness tracking app, the number of runs uploaded to the app with a map matching the perimeter of Manhattan increased in 2025 by 30 percent compared with 2024.<\/p>\n Joe DiNoto, the founder of Orchard Street Runners, which organizes unsanctioned races around the city, said that in 2014 the club held its first iteration of an unsanctioned race around the perimeter, with just 11 runners. This year, they had 200 runners show up.<\/p>\n There might be an element of one-upmanship in the perimeter\u2019s appeal, said Maria Gilbert, who ran the route in 2024 with some friends. \u201cThe trend was running the New York Marathon,\u201d said Ms. Gilbert, 29. \u201cAnd then so many people started running the New York Marathon that it\u2019s almost like, \u2018OK, what\u2019s the next crazy thing to do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But in some ways, running the perimeter is easier than running the marathon: This year, according to New York Road Runners<\/a>, more than 240,000 people entered the marathon lottery, a nearly 20 percent increase over last year. Roughly 1 percent of those applicants will be running the race this fall.<\/p>\n Mile 7<\/p>\n United Nations Headquarters<\/p>\n |<\/p>\n