Woman Draws Plenty Of Attention Jump Rope Running Around Midtown

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A woman who works in Midtown skips lunch to skip rope. But not in her office or in a gym, but smack dab in the middle of busy Manhattan traffic.

The usual mid-day workout for executive Shannon Kay begins with a quick wardrobe change.

She then heads out to the street and jumps into an unusual exercise routine.

"You just jump and go," Kay told CBS 2's Dave Carlin, when asked how the routine works.

She takes off on the avenues, zigzagging around vehicles, getting waves and nods from officers, and ever mindful of cab doors that so often fly open without warning.

Carlin: "Some people say this is crazy!"

Kay: "This IS crazy, but it's fun as long as you watch where you going and pay attention. It's harmless."

Carlin: "Do you feel like you're in danger?"

Kay: "No not at all. Everybody's courteous, between the cars and the people."

New Yorkers seem to take Kay's routine in stride.

"She's very nice; she's very beautiful," one cab driver told Carlin.

"New York! You're bound to see anything," added Midtown resident David Stewart. "I don't know how she does it."

Kay said she's motivated.

"It's not only great for your health, but it's also a lot of fun," she said.

Kay said she started jump rope running about six years ago and before long she was out on the busy streets of Manhattan, training three to four times a week – 8-10-mile runs each session.

This intense training is for two upcoming marathons. In stands to reason she'll likely be the only one participating in this fashion.

"I'm running the New York City Half Marathon in March for the Multiple Myeloma Foundation and I'm running the full New York City Marathon for the Christopher Reeve Foundation," Kay said.

Her goal is to raise tens of thousands of dollars for her favorite charities, and her hope is this becomes a bandwagon more people jump on.

Kay said police never stop or question her, and she has been hurt only once, a minor scrape with a cab door.

Please offer your thoughts in the comments section below ...