Prepare for anything.

My friend and I decided to do the Tip-to-Tip walk, aka the Broad City challenge, on somewhat of a whim when we saw it was going to be 80 degrees in March. Here’s how it went:

We started our journey at about 9:45 am on a beautiful Saturday morning, equipped with bandaids, water, and other emergency supplies. We took the 1 train up to 225 St Marble Hill, which could be considered extra, since starting in the Bronx adds a little bit of time to the trip. But I insisted on walking the entire length of the island. We walked over the Broadway Bridge to Inwood, where we grabbed bagels.

Then it was time to go through Upper Manhattan. I finally saw the George Washington Bridge from foot, even though that’s how I drive to campus each year. Other interesting landmarks included the Morris Jumel Mansion and Sylvan Terrace in Washington Heights. A little further down, we saw Columbia’s Medical School and Boricua College.

At this point, we were questioning our sanity, but kept pushing to get to campus and lie down for a while. After a not so quick break, we were back on track down Broadway.

We took a “lunch break” at about 4 pm in Central Park with food from 7th Street Burger, and passed Michael Imperioli (not pictured) on a bench outside of the Natural History Museum. This was where I really started to doubt our ability to finish on time. It also started raining slightly.

After the burgers, we felt empowered to finish the journey, racing through Times Square but stopping to take a picture of Martha Stewart BC’63 modeling some Skechers. Unfortunately our confidence got the best of us in SoHo, where we got cold in our shorts and shopped for jeans for about an hour and a half.

After a slight mental breakdown, we sat down for dinner in Little Italy, where we were accompanied by some grandmas from Bay Ridge and a high school tour group. At this point it was dark, but we were determined to finish.

We sped through the Financial District, which was eerily empty, and made it to Battery Park. Sadly, there were lots of barriers blocking our view of New Jersey and the Statue of Liberty. Still, it felt really good to finally finish a trip that I thought would take 6 hours and 14 miles at most.

Here are my pro tips if you feel compelled to do the tip-to-tip walk:

• Wear running shoes, and bring extra socks and bandaids.
• Plan for all weather so you don’t make ridiculous shopping decisions.
• Lying down on your dorm bed will feel like heaven, but it’s a trap.
• Avoid restaurants in Little Italy where the host is trying to kidnap you to eat there.
• Start before 9 am.
• Don’t let the haters and doubters track your location on Find My (they will call you slow).
• Take your time when taking pictures. Most of mine are at a diagonal.
• And have fun!

Manhattan Map Header via Flickr

Other Images via Author