The healthy side of the Big Apple

New York — \o7A recent week's schedule looked like this:

Monday: Bouldering with Naomi after work

Wednesday: Kayaking with Karen and clients after work

Saturday: Trail running race, 8 a.m.

Sunday: Cycling with group

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IF you guessed that I was bouldering in the mountains of Colorado, you'd be wrong.

If you guessed that I was paddling among the orcas in Washington's Puget Sound, you'd be even farther off.

I spend most weeks like this getting to know New York City. Yes, that New York, the one whose name invokes images of pallid workers trudging through underground subway tunnels day after day.

But my New York is different. The city I know intimately is not from the pavement but from the waters of the Hudson River, the mean back hill of Central Park, the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and the steep, unforgiving trails of Van Cortlandt Park.

Below, you'll find four of my favorite outdoor activities and places in the city to try them out.

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Paddling

Seeing New York City from a kayak on the river, where the only sounds are the water lapping against your boat and the occasional thrumming of a passing ferry, is an otherworldly experience. The city should always be this peaceful.

Among places in the city to rent kayaks are the Downtown Boathouse, a free boat rental service run by New York City at three sites in Manhattan; and the Long Island City Community Boathouse in Queens. The Downtown Boathouse has branches in three popular areas: 56th Street and the Hudson River, close to what New York residents call the Mall, or the Time Warner Center; 72nd Street, in charming Riverside Park; and Pier 40, at Houston Street on the Hudson River.

But the newly opened Long Island City Community Boathouse is the more culturally satisfying of the two, because it's just down the beach from the Noguchi Museum and the public, cool Socrates Sculpture Park.

All four boathouses are first come, first served, and rentals are free; you're allowed to take the boats out for about 20 minutes. But the odds of getting a boat at the boathouses in Manhattan are 50-50. A better bet is to head over to the Long Island City boathouse and take in some sculpture while you wait for a boat.

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Climbing

Bouldering is the Zen-like art of crawling around on a rock, looking for the best way to work your way from one part of the rock to another. It's a terrific way to unwind, and you can do it in Central Park.