Depends on what your main concerns are. Do you want to use less time and be able to explore NY or would you rather drive and explore all of the places inbetween?

Personally I would drive and explore all of the places along the way and call it a vacation.

 

Those are good points. I've never been to NYC or east of DC.

 

In my (much more) fast-driving days, I once made the 300 mile trip from West Point to my house in four hours. To do that, I left West Point at 9:00 pm. It was quite a day, since I drove up to West Point that very morning [that took more like 5 hours].

The next fall, I made the 200 mile trip from my house to Giants Stadium for one of the preseason college football games. It took me about 3 1/2 hours. It took me 6 hours to get home, even though I waited quite a long time for the parking lot & surrounding roads to clear.

The just-over 100 mile trip to or from the Army-Navy Game in Philadelphia has taken us as few as 2 hours and as many as 4.

(All of these travel times were pre-children. We did do ~600 miles in two days with one almost-one year old a few years back. This Christmas we did ~1000 miles in two days with an almost-four year old and an almost-one year old -- twice.)

 

Well, I-95 between St. Augustine and Ft. Pierce is OK unless there's been an accident. (Caveat: Avoid Daytona Beach on race days and during Bike Week.)

Once you've cut your teeth on that stretch, then you can move up to the nastier ones.

 

It's looking more and more like driving by DC, Philly, etc. just to say I was there is not such a cool idea....

 

I'd say fly...

You are going to run 26 miles, and even if you shouldn't run a couple days before, you don't want to be mentally fatigued....

 

I'd fly, then RENT a hybrid!!!

 

...renting a hybrid - that will be a feat!

There was a rumor that Toyota of Dallas was renting Prius's. When I inquired, unintentionally or otherwise they decided it meant "test drive", and it was necessary to firmly let them know that was NOT my intention...