Chicago Gal heading to NYC - East River Running?

I hope you get better info from someone than I can give you. I've never really run on the East side. I understand that there is a promenade that runs from the mid-upper 30s down to the South Street Seaport, but you may actually have to cross over somewhere in the 20's. The last time I tried to run on on the ES and find it, I couldn't, got frustrated and just jogged down 1st ave in the dark of the morning (not fun).

If you know you like running in Central Park, you could treat the 1+ miles up there as a warmup/cooldown. Or if you have other places to go and see you can get a citibike pass for $10/day (https://www.citibikenyc.com/) and make it a multisport morning. That could also get you to the west side, where the greenway runs from down at Battery Park up to the GW bridge (pretty flat throughout).

Welcome!

The greenway on the East River is much improved over the past few years, but unlike the West Side greenway, it isn't continuous from end to end. Because it can't go past the United Nations (security reasons), it breaks off aroud 37th street and doesn't start up again until 63rd. That's not convenient from where you are, unfortunately.

Here's a link with a map: http://www.nyc.gov/html/edc/pdf/greenway_mapside.pdf

Also, while I haven't spent much time on the greenway myself, I don't know if I'd feel as safe on the East Side greenway as I would on the West Side. It goes past some quite deserted areas, under some overpasses, covered parking areas, etc. I've been on it a few times and it definitely feels a little sketchy in places.

I think I would stick with Central Park or, if you want to try something different, head across town to the West side and run the West Side greenway instead.