By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper
They may have talked the talk, but could they walk the walk?
That was the question as two aspiring travel writers embarked on a five-day, 150-mile walking tour throughout New York City. This adventure began, like most epic journeys, in Brooklyn.
“We will walk 30 miles each day, in hopes of experiencing more of the city than anyone ever has over the course of a week,” said Rob Moncure, 27, who, along with college buddy Matthew Green, 27, first had the idea to get to know the city that most of us only know through mass transit.
“Our route will take us through diverse landscapes and neighborhoods, sights both well-known and obscure.”
Moncure had yet to experience the Big Apple and hadn’t seen his friend in a while, so the idea of experiencing New York together seemed a natural fit.
They planned on beginning their march on Monday, June 4, and completing it by Friday, June 8 — giving them five full days to finish the task.
But Rob and Matt’s excellent adventure soon turned out to be a bogus journey (like the time they rode a Greyhound bus for 52 consecutive hours just for the heck of it).
Shortly after the halfway point, the grueling quest claimed its first casualty: Moncure had to drop out because of, what else?, foot pain.
“I had tremendous pain in my ankles,” said Moncure, who ended up sidelined last Wednesday after walking a respectable 83 miles. “The front of each ankle was incredibly swollen. Each featured a large lump that didn’t feel any more comfortable than it looks.”
At least the West Coast native got a healthy dose of Brooklyn flavor before he was sidelined — the pair scheduled the walk so that its first dinner would be in, where else?, Bay Ridge.
“It has the most diverse restaurant selection in the entire city,” said Moncure. “The only problem was selecting only one eatery.”
They settled on Vesuvio, at 7305 Third Ave. Moncure ordered the Manhattan pizza, and Green ordered fettuccine primavera.
“Vesuvio’s was great,” said Moncure after the meal. “The food was the best we had to that point.”
The two friends also met some of Bay Ridge’s good Samaritans along the way.
A local religious leader was inspired by the duo’s exploits and reached out to contribute. The Rev. John Farrell of Christ Church Bay Ridge, which is at 7301 Ridge Blvd., offered the men a place to rest their weary bones that first night.
After that, it was back to the races. At the time, Green thought it would be a walk in the park.
“We are well known for our strenuous methods of training and preparing for our trips,” he said at the time. “We included such intensive measures as eating pizza and watching ‘Smokey and the Bandit.’”
That kind of training may lead people to think this kind of thing is easy, but when Gary Jarvis tried to run all 1,742 miles of Brooklyn earlier this year, he made it halfway and petered out.
The sidelined borough runner had some advice for the two aspiring city walkers: “Wear comfortable shoes, take some toilet paper, and go through neighborhoods you’d otherwise not have occasion to visit,” said Jarvis.
“Oh, and stretch those hamstrings.”
Green, the Bay Ridge native, must have listened, because last Friday, he finally crossed the finish line at City Hall, where he was greeted by the hobbled Moncure.
The walker-extraordinaire’s words would have made Don King blush.
“Roll over Lewis and Clark and tell Neil Armstrong the news,” said Green. “The pantheon of great American explorers is a little more crowded.”
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