“Towards 120^th Street Wen almost killed everyone for food,” this is how my friend described what our journey was like halfway through. I’d argue that “killed” is quite an exaggeration, but it’s accurate that after almost three hours of walking and very little breakfast, I was extremely tired and craving for lunch.

As a group of five, my friends and I took on the Manhattan Tip to Tip Walking Challenge last spring. Out route was a five, or maybe six-hour-long journey of exploration from South Ferry to Marble Hill Station along Broadway. A more typical route would be the reverse since Manhattan goes downhill east to south. The whole experience is similar to that of an arm workout – at a certain time you feel like your arms are falling off your body, but after powering through that point of greatest fatigue, you feel like you can do it forever.

I doubt if I’d ever do the walk again in the near future, but this is a challenge that we all should try to take on during high school, especially with our school’s proximity with the city.

We took a morning train down to Marble Hill and transferred to the 1 train down to South Ferry. Thanks to the ground rules we laid out before the walk, everyone stayed positive and listened when a teammate was in needs. When we stopped for a bathroom break, the boys offered to get drinks while the girls were waiting in a long line. That moment of willingness to help produced tremendous positive energy in the group. When getting a little lost in Central Park, we all said it was nice to walk among the greenery and along watersides. We even entertained ourselves by yelling “Kiss! Kiss!” at couples in boats passing under the bridge we were on. And one couple actually did! We screamed excitedly and sprinted away from the weird looks that our impulsive behavior elicited.

I never thought I’d have the energy to walk 16 miles. But I made it with my group. It didn’t even feel like hours had past as I learned so much about the city along Broadway and formed a stronger bond with my friends. We counted down the last ten blocks loudly and started running. I felt like our excitement shook the iron bridge as we rushed toward the Marble Hill train station.

Go on for this walking challenge with your friends. You will learn so much about them and even more about yourself in the miles you walk together.