Running, Running, Running in Brooklyn

Gary Jarvis is a very new Brooklyn immigrant who moved here from Iowa City on June 20, but it hasn't taken him long to get people to pay attention. That's because he has a wonderful new blog, Runs Brooklyn, and the ambitious goal of running every street in Brooklyn. He's using the blog to document the runs with words about and photos of the neighborhoods through which he passes. Last week, he was profiled by Jotham Sederstrom in one of his excellent Brooklyn articles in the Daily News. Mr. Sederstrom writes:

Each jog will culminate with Jarvis heading home and mapping his route, which he said will be chosen on a whim each morning when he heads out the door. He'll post the routes and his observations on the Web later in the day...Jarvis has already clocked about 45 miles in parts of Crown Heights, Flatbush, Greenwood Heights, Kensington, Midwood, Park Slope, and Sunset Park. He has also seen some of the borough's best-known landmarks, such as the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, Green-Wood Cemetery and St.Michael's Catholic Church. As for Brooklyn's 4,440 acres of parkland, Jarvis has already circled the perimeter of Prospect Park and plans to duck inside the borough's other pastures along the way.

"As long as pedestrians are allowed, I'm going to do it," said Jarvis, who tends to jog alone. "Obviously, I won't be jogging the BQE, the Gowanus or the Belt, but everything else is fair game."

A sample run was the one Mr. Jarvis called Wave Fences and Jimibeetles. It took in 7.97 miles through Gravesend and Sheepshead Bay in a little more than an hour. Of the scenery, Mr. Jarvis writes:

The run included a nice mix of residential streets (with lots of larger apartment buildings) and small businesses. Still, the sight that struck me most was the fencing around the sewage treatment facility (officially the Coney Island Water Pollution Control Plant) over by Shell Bank Creek -- along part of Knapp the fence curled over above the sidewalk like a breaker, while down the street and around the corner the top was scalloped in an abstract representation of individual waves.

Each of Mr. Jarvis' posts includes photos that he's taken along the way, making his Brooklyn Runs a compelling read indeed.