From left: City Running Tours founder Michael Gazaleh, Stephen Becker and City Running Tours guide George Roach run in Lower Manhattan near the financial district.

NEW YORK Running in a major city can feel like being a character in a fast-paced video game. Weave around a slow walker on the narrow sidewalk. Sprint through the crosswalk before the light turns green. And if you don’t dodge that incoming taxi, it could be game over.

Yet, many cities are home to running tours, providing travelers a way to maintain their exercise programs while getting in a little fast-moving sightseeing.

During a recent trip to New York, I signed up with City Running Tours, which offers tours in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Diego and Charleston, S.C. The tours range from about 2 miles to longer than 13 miles and can be done as an individual or in a group. My choice was the 6.6-mile Downtown Run, one of 12 routes offered in the Big Apple. The company’s guide meets you where you’re staying, provides subway fare to the run’s starting point and carries a backpack for your keys, wallet and a bottle of water.

For my run, company founder Michael Gazaleh and guide George Roach met me at my doorstep at 9 a.m. Gazaleh told me beforehand that I would set the pace, which sounded good to me as I only recently had returned to running after a broken ankle and foot.

Our run started a few blocks away from the water, just east of Battery Park. After a few minutes of crossing busy streets and the usual stop-and-go of New York sidewalks, we made it to the waterfront and the first surprise of the tour:

Down by the water, not only were there wide paths to run on, but there were green grass and shady trees and a cool breeze on an unusually warm October morning. This was an oasis in the concrete canyon, and a discovery I never would have made on my own.

The first major stop along the tour was Castle Clinton, a fort built to defend Manhattan from the British during the War of 1812. We spent eight minutes to take in an interesting exhibit that explained the development of Lower ManhattanWith legs rested and minds enriched, it was up toward Wall Street. Zipping through crowds of stock traders as they made their runs to the nearest hot-dog carts was an odd juxtaposition: they in their business suits, me in my gym shorts and T-shirt. I could tell from the looks on their faces that a few of them would have traded places with me in a second.

After running past the famous Charging Bull sculpture by Arturo Di Modica in Bowling Green, it was on to the Canyon of Heroes, a landmark I didn’t know by name but immediately recognized. This is the long, straight corridor on Broadway, just north of the financial district, in which New York holds its ticker-tape parades.

Along the sidewalk are memorial markers to each parade. It was telling to see how New York’s attitude on parades has shifted. From the 1920s through the ’60s, it seemed the city needed little excuse to celebrate, which it did — everything from visiting heads of state and war heroes to major events such as the first moon landing. Today, the city reserves these parades mainly for major sports championships. After exiting the Canyon, it was time to weave over to the Brooklyn Bridge, the site on the run that Gazaleh says is his favorite and the one I most had been looking forward to. But a minute or so into our crossing of the 5,989-foot-long bridge, it became clear that a lot of other people also were excited to visit the landmark. The pedestrian path was packed for nearly the entire crossing.

Once across, a five-minute jog led us through a waterfront park before we hoofed back uphill to the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge and the second major surprise of the run.

The Manhattan Bridge, it turned out, provided what its more famous cousin could not: a pedestrian path on which we passed only a handful of people, and the most spectacular view of the city. I found. You feel as if you’re running into the open arms of the skyline. As we reached the six-mile point, the scenery offered the adrenaline boost I needed to take it to the house.

Once across, a quick zip through Chinatown provided sights familiar in any Chinatown across the country, including whole ducks hanging in windows and Chinese lettering on every storefront. If you aren’t famished by now, a couple of blocks into Little Italy, the alternating scents of pizzas and cannolis baking are plenty to rev your stomach for lunch.

Exactly 1½ hours after we began, we were done. Not only had I taken in the sights and learned about the city’s history, I had given myself a free pass to eat whatever I wanted, at least for the remainder of the day.If you go

JOINING A TOUR: City Running Tours offers more than a dozen routes in New York City in the morning and afternoon. Tickets may be purchased on the company’s Web site ( www.cityrunningtours.com) or by calling (800) 979-3370. Cost is $60 per person for the first six miles, $6 for each mile after that. Discounts are available for groups of four or more; call (877) 415-0058.

TIPS FOR RUNNERS:

• Although tours are offered in the morning and at night, plan to go early. The last thing you want is to be tired from walking around the city all day.

• If you’re running in the morning, buy something small the day before to have for breakfast.

• Consider choosing a run that is slightly longer than what you’re used to. The visual stimulation and newness may be enough to push you a little farther. (On the other hand, you are on vacation.)