Hilly Streets: Rocking and Rolling through Central Park’s Hills

NYC Marathon Course Section: Central Park, Miles 24.5-25.5

Central Park is known for its rolling hills and is the site where most New York runners do their training runs. Hill repeats are a great way to prepare for any race distance. If you can take on a hill at full speed repeatedly for 4-5 miles, you can do anything. Luckily during the New York Marathon runners don’t have to take on any of the park’s most brutal uphills. The closest is taking the famous “Cat Hill” on the downhill. Taking it downhill is much better than taking it uphill, but after running nearly 25 miles it is still quite challenging and could be very painful if there is a prior injury/extreme muscle fatigue.

Marathoners Rocking New York Song:

Track #16: Hilly Streets

Time: 2:10

Tempo: 188 bpm

Treadmill Elevation: start on 2.5 & take it down .5 for each verse

NYC Marathon Course Section: Miles 24.5-25.5, Central Park in Manhattan

At this point Sheena is running completely on will power. Mentally she’s starting to lose it as dehydration sets it in. She feels a few twitchy cramps in her legs but tries to relax and keep going. At one point she slows down briefly to an almost walk but the crowd rallies around her and she feels that she can’t let go now; she has to be getting close. This last little bit of the park never felt so long before. She starts to think about Sisyphus rolling his bolder up a hill but never reaching the top. She begins to wonder if she’ll ever reach the end of this race. She realizes that won’t get her anywhere so instead she starts channeling all of her running idols and tries to imagine running in their bodies. She also remembers running cat hill as a hill repeat in training and how she had conquered it before. That helps, but it’s picturing her favorite rock stars in concert that really gets her going again.

Download “Hilly Streets” on iTunes

Hilly Streets Lyrics:

Verse 1

Hitting the streets again, I’m feeling the heat of it

Hilly Street Running

Full of a will for it, I’m getting a skill for it

Hilly Street Running

Setting my feet on it and clawing to the meat of it

Hilly Street Running

All of these obstacle repeating in cycles

Will I get over them or am I just Sisyphus?

You don’t really want to stop cuz you’re going to reach the top!

Verse 2

Spinning my wheels on it, I’m feeling the thrill of it

Hilly Street Rocking

Propelled by the need for it I want to be freed from it

Hilly Street Rocking

Running to the beat of it and setting my speed to it

Hilly Street Rocking

All of these obstacle repeating in cycles

Will I get over them or am I just Sisyphus

You don’t really want to stop cuz you’re going to reach the top!

Verse 3

Charging the streets again, extending my reach for them

Hilly Street Rolling

Swinging my wings up here, I’m flying through rings up here

Hilly Street Rolling

Scaling the heights and I’m seeing new sights up here

Hilly Street Rolling

All of these obstacle repeating in cycles

Will I get over them or am I just Sisyphus

You don’t really want to stop cuz you’re going to reach the top!

BRIDGE/VARIATION

Sweat comes in bullets, heart shoots rapid fire beats.

I’m getting really sick of these f*#ing hilly streets.

The last part the hardest so you dig in the most

Life’s biggest obstacles will knock the wind right out of us

We all go through it, so lean into it, do not quit cuz this is really it

You don’t really want to stop cuz you’re going to reach the top!

Marathoners Rocking New York is the rock’n’roll-fueled journey of a 70’s punk loving young woman named Sheena. She’s on the cusp of turning 30 with nothing to show for it. Her rock star dreams are not coming true. She succeeded at the downtown party lifestyle but not at keeping a band together. After stumbling on the New York City Marathon with friends, Sheena accepts a drunken dare to run it the following year. To her surprise, and everyone else’s she actually does the training (with a little help) and makes it to the start line on time.

Sheena runs the marathon without music, so Marathoners Rocking New York is the guitar-driven soundtrack going on in her mind as she navigates the course. The songs are influenced by the early punk movement in 1970’s New York with bands like the Ramones, Blondie, The Patti Smith Group, and Television. The album is in an excellent tempo for running playlists and a useful tool for marathon training that can be downloaded through iTunes.