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 36 route

This week is the first of our 'loose ends' walks, where we identify neighborhoods on the walk we either barely hit or missed entirely. It's also the last walk we'll be taking exclusively in Queens. We set out for the Northeast tip of the borough to visit Little Neck and Little Neck Bay. Then we'll drop all the way south to hit the neighborhoods we missed the last time we were around JFK: Brookville, Springfield Gardens and Rochdale. We'll end at Jamaica to take the J train home.

Week 35 route

Our second walk focusing on music in NYC takes a look at the history of Hip-Hop in Queens County. From Queensbridge to Corona, from Hollis to Jamaica, Queens native musicians have played a critical role in the development of the form. We'll visit the neighborhood homes of Nas, LL Cool J, Nicki Minaj, A Tribe Called Quest and Kool G Rap, just to name of few. (Note: .4 marathon mileage delta will be made up as we wander)

Week 34 route

Our first walk in a series exploring NYC filming locations takes in a sampling of sites from three movies famous for their New York/Queens connections: Coming to America, Goodfellas and Men In Black. We'll visit sites still standing, sites since past and sites out of this world.

Week 33 route

Horse Racing, also known as The Sport of Kings, has roots in NYC dating back to 1665. This week we'll do a loop visiting both Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park and Belmont Racetrack on the Queens/Nassau border, home of the final leg of the Triple Crown. Turning the corner, we'll get a chance to explore the parks and residential neighborhoods surrounding JFK International Airport.