We Tested Out Brooklyn's Most Popular Routes

When you run the Popular® Brooklyn Half, you'll see 13.1 miles of Kings County, New York's most populous borough. But with the 2019 race in the books, perhaps you want to see more of Brooklyn? Our blog team tested out some of Brooklyn's most popular (lowercase p, in this case) routes based on Strava data and gave our thoughts and impressions, in case you're looking for new spots to check out.

Read on for more information about each run, or jump to a route from the list below:

Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges
Prospect Park
Brooklyn Navy Yard
Williamsburg and Greenpoint

Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges

Brooklyn Bridge. And Manhattan Bridge. In one run. Sounds like a long-run route, am I right? Local runners training for a half- or full marathon often incorporate both bridges into their long runs. But this wasn’t a 16-miler—it was a six-mile route. And it surprised me because it packed a lot into those six miles.

• Starting in Cadman Plaza Park, you are barely in a rhythm when you reach the Brooklyn Bridge approach. The ascent isn’t as long as it looks and before you know it, you’re springing off the boards of the world-famous bridge, which can give the legs a much-needed lift.
• I recommend doing this route early in the morning. As New Yorkers know, the Brooklyn Bridge gets crowded. I set off at 8:12 a.m., and tourists already packed the pedestrian path. When I stopped to take pictures, I often had to jostle for position, and I felt a little self-conscious when I encountered two wedding-related photo shoots. There I was, a sweaty runner, taking selfies as I huffed along. I also recommend not wasting energy by people-dodging—both on the bridges and through Foley Square and Chinatown. Just slow it down and catch your breath.
• This run is popular for two reasons. One is the views. It’s sometimes easy to forget how breathtaking New York City can be and this route offers a strong reminder. You get the landscape of lower Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge, a stunning aerial view of Brooklyn and the surrounding landscape from the Manhattan Bridge, and the gorgeous greenery in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The other reason is the challenge. There’s enough incline on both bridges to give your legs a real workout on a route that is shorter than 10K and you also enjoy some scenic flats, where you can push the pace as much as you want.
• When you reach the Manhattan Bridge, you can settle into a nice pace. From here, you enjoy the sights of Brooklyn before being greeted by….
• The piers at Brooklyn Bridge Park. The first, Pier 6, is a lush, splendid garden that almost made me forget where I was. From there, you got waterfront views of Manhattan as you race through Dumbo (site of the Popular® Brooklyn Half Pre-Party Presented by New Balance) to your finish back at Cadman Plaza Park.

Gary was wearing the men's Brooklyn Half Q Speed Breathe Short Sleeve in Black Heather.

Prospect Park

I am what you might call a “casual” runner to begin with and am coming out of a long winter of not running, so I was a little daunted by this route. I knew Prospect Park was described as having “rolling hills,” so I mentally prepared myself for some burning. Although the course is only 3.4 miles long, I gave myself plenty of time as I knew I was not going to be setting any PRs on this day.

• Starting and finishing in front of Grand Army Plaza felt kind of epic. There are very few places in the world you can experience something like that, and most of them are in ancient cities like Rome and Paris.
• I much prefer running in loops rather than out and back, so I loved this aspect of the route. Running a loop puts the end goal in front of me rather than behind me, and mentally, it is easier for me to process. I also prefer having different scenery throughout the run rather than seeing the same thing in reverse.
• The park is so beautiful. I’d never been in Prospect Park before, so everything was brand new to me. The lakes, the ancient trees, the peeks of Brooklyn beyond; it was all fantastic.
• So many people! For some that might be a turnoff, but I enjoyed it. I felt a part of something. Besides the countless runners, there were people walking and chatting, cyclists whipping past every few minutes, even a young woman getting a horseback riding lesson! In a place as large as NYC, running this route felt like I was part of a community, even though I don’t even live in Brooklyn.
• “Rolling hills” is not an exaggeration. The route starts out on a downhill then goes up and down, and up and down…then ends on Battle Pass Hill, a steep uphill of about three-quarters of a mile (it comes just after the four-mile mark of the Popular® Brooklyn Half). I am used to running on relatively flat trails, so this was difficult for me. If you run this course, save something for that finish and prepare to feel the burn!

Katie was wearing the women's Brooklyn Half Q Speed Breathe Striped Tank in UV Blue.

Brooklyn Navy Yard

If you’re looking for a fun, FLAT, varied, scenic out-and-back training run through Williamsburg and Dumbo, complete with water views and diverse neighborhoods, look no further than this six-miler. It’s awesome preparation for the six-mile Ocean Parkway stretch of the Popular® Brooklyn Half.

• I usually train at about 8:30/mile pace, but I gave myself an hour for this run, knowing I’d want to stop for photos (and of course to wait for the light at intersections) and to admire both the local scenery and the views across the water to Manhattan.
• I loved the flat course, which allowed me to get into a nice rhythm—a skill you’ll need during the Popular® Brooklyn Half—and just enough elevation change (heading in and out of Dumbo) to keep things interesting.
• I REALLY loved the lively and endlessly varying scenery—I saw Hasidic children skipping off to school on Bedford Avenue, hipsters biking to work along Kent Avenue, Navy Yard personnel coming and going on Flatbush, and shoppers popping in and out of chic Dumbo shops. I also loved the feeling of the shoreline never being far away and the constant reminders of its presence—the sprawling Navy Yard, the massive bridges, the distant Manhattan skyline.
• I wasn’t crazy about passing one construction site after another throughout the six miles—though it speaks to the area’s vibrant economic growth and change, it also made for a lot of noise and traffic—this is NOT a run where you can space out unless you want to risk being bumped into (or worse) by a dump truck. I cherished the few quiet blocks of ivy-covered brownstones where only the sound of birdsong broke the silence—but this was the exception to the rule on this run.
• This is one of the few runs I’d recommend doing NOT in the early morning (except on a weekend) or late afternoon, when the area is at its busiest. Try mid-day (on a day that’s not too warm/sunny) or after dark, as long as you’re dressed to be seen and use caution at intersections.

Gordon was wearing the women's Brooklyn Half Singlet in Guava.

Williamsburg and Greenpoint

The run begins at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge, follows Bedford Avenue through McCarren Park and into Greenpoint, turning around near the Pulaski Bridge. It then follows the East River along Franklin Street and Kent Avenue back toward the starting point.

Here are some of the highlights:

• It’s pretty much flat, save for a few gradual inclines along Bedford Avenue.
• The stretch from the Williamsburg Bridge to the Pulaski Bridge follows the TCS New York City Marathon course, and as someone who has never run that race, it felt cool to imagine those same roads lined with people cheering.
  • Imagining that scene made me feel less self-conscious about setting up my phone’s camera with a self-timer to take photos of me running. I wasn’t doing this for me, I was doing it for the millions of my fans out there. (They’re all just out of frame in this picture.)
• Bedford Avenue is interesting, in that it’s a mix of generations of buildings, with a fair amount of construction on either side of the road.
• As evidenced, in one instance, by this stone-and-brick building (built in 1910) located across the street from a steel-and-glass Whole Foods (opened in 2016).
• McGuinness Boulevard was just a little busy, with just a few trucks. Maybe stay on the sidewalk for this segment. If you want to keep following the TCS New York City Marathon course, you can continue across the Pulaski Bridge into Queens, but since this is a post about the Popular® Brooklyn Half, we’ll save that for the first Sunday in November.
• Once Franklin Street turns into Kent Avenue, there’s a dedicated two-lane bike path, and most of the intersecting streets are dead ends, so without much traffic, you can run without stopping for a pretty good distance.

Ted was wearing the men's Brooklyn Half Singlet in Bleached Lime Glo.

And we'll leave route no. 5 to you, the reader, to try for yourself. Scoot along the waterfront at Brooklyn Bridge Park with this flat and scenic 3.2-miler, or come out to the NYRR Open Run held on that same course every Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.

Special thanks to New Balance and Strava for their help in coordinating this post. Check out the full Popular® Brooklyn Half collection from New Balance, featuring official event apparel, footwear, and accessories.