Highley Varlet 2020: Total Clarity - New York City, One Marathon at a Time

Highley Varlet and "2020: Total Clarity" on The Today Show!

With the walking portion of our project now concluded, this site will persist as an archive for all aspects of "2020: Total Clarity," our 7,000 mile, 260 marathon walking journey around New York City from June 2020 - June 2021. If you're just visiting for the first time, here is a clip from our appearance on The Today Show profiling our adventure:

Please take a look around the site to learn more about the walk routes, our seasonal clothing collection, the companion podcast series, and much more.

For all other completed and ongoing subprojects of "2020: Total Clarity," including our widely publicized NYC bagel review project "Everything Is Everything," visit our linktree page and follow along via Instagram and YouTube.

Week 52 route

One calendar year, 255 marathons and these last five to go. The project culminates Sunday, June 20th with a day-long wedding march around Brooklyn and a ceremony at Marine Park. Note: The 5.5 miles missing from the marathon length will be made up in walking around the Marine Park and Gerritsen Beach region.

Week 51 route

Our penultimate walk has the distinction of being the only one to touch all five boroughs. The same can be said of this week's focus: the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. This route visits memorial sites in all five boroughs - some grand and others understated. Note it is the only route to use transit during the course of the walk (the Staten Island ferry) though the walking distance of 26.2 miles is still maintained.

Week 50 route

In New York City, professional sports is as popular a conversation topic as pizza or the weather. Home to some of the greatest dynasties and underdog stories alike, we'll tackle three boroughs this week to visit their home fields. We start at the Barclays Center to visit the Nets and Islanders, then cross the Manhattan bridge to visit "The World's Most Famous Arena," Madison Square Garden, home to the Knicks and Rangers. Next is a long walk to the Bronx to visit the world's most successful professional sports franchise, the New York Yankees. We conclude with a trip to Queens to visit those lovable losers of Citi Field, the New York Mets.

Week 49 route

Our last movie-focused walk is also our first in our home stretch of special walks covering multiple boroughs at a time. Here we draw inspiration from the 2002 Spike Lee film "25th Hour" and the Edward Norton monologue contained within called "F*ck New York." In it, Norton's character Montgomery Brogan rails against the people and neighborhoods that make this city what it is. We'll visit as much as we can of the soliloquy, from Chelsea to Wall Street, Bensonhurst, Alphabet City and everything in between.