Mile by Mile Description of the Newport Liberty Half Marathon

This Sunday, Sept 20th, will be the Newport Liberty Half Marathon at 8:30 am in Newport, Jersey City, NJ. I’ve participated in this race as a runner and as a spectator since 2012. I thought I would do a mile by mile description of the Newport Liberty Half Marathon. Thanks to Google Streets for all of these shots.

This is where the race will start. It’s right by the Newport PATH station so getting to the race is very easy.

At Around Mile 1, we’re going to run past this beautiful condo building. It’s the tallest building in this area,
so it stands out. I love looking at this building.

We’re going to run past my old home. See that building past the bridge? That’s where I used to live. It’s super close to Newport. It’s one of the closest condo buildings to the race. Bye, old home!

We’re finishing our loop and heading back to the start/finish area.

At Mile 2 we head back to the start of the line. The next time you see this area again will be at the end!

Around Mile 3, we’ll be in the lovely Paulus Hook area of Jersey City. There are many pretty brownstones in this neighborhood.

 Around Mile 4, we’ll run under these two bridges. We’re heading toward the jewel of Jersey City,
Liberty State Park.

We’re just about to enter Liberty State Park.

In Liberty State Park
When we used to live in Hoboken, we ran here every week. It’s one of the best places to run in
Jersey City. About six miles of Newport Liberty Half is spent inside the park.

By the time you’ve ran half the race, you’re getting tired, but the sight of Lady Liberty will perk up your spirits.
The views of the Statue of Liberty, Hudson River, the Manhattan skyline, and the waterfront are simply spectacular. This is one of my favorite section of the course.

The waterfront in Liberty State Park
Gorgeous, isn’t it?

We’ll swing past the 9/11 Memorial at around Mile 9.5 as we start running out of the park.

At this point, we will be exiting the park once we cross the bridge. We’re back in downtown Jersey City.

Past Mile 11, we’ll be running past Taqueria Downtown, the best place for tacos in Jersey City,
California Girl approved.
The restaurant is the little reddish-brown storefront on the left hand side.

Before Mile 12, we’ll be on the Jersey City waterfront.

This is a photo of the waterfront that I took (actually the first photo I ever uploaded onto WordPress).
The waterfront is great place to run. Word of warning, when running around Hyatt Hotel at Mile 12, your Garmin watch may freak out. I often lose signal or Garmin suddenly thinks I ran a half mile out on the Hudson River and back. Be prepared for GPS signal disruption and don’t let it derail you.

At Mile 13, you’ll no longer be running along the waterfront. The course takes you back to the streets of Jersey City. When you see this, you know the end is near. There’s one last right hand turn to the finish line.
The roar of the crowds grows louder here and there’s a stick wall of cheering spectators in the last .1 mile of the course. It’s time to switch into high gear and deliver your winning kick!

I hope you enjoyed this mile by mile description. I loved visiting my old streets on Google and can’t wait to see them and my friends again this Sunday.