NEW YORK (PIX11) – On Thursday morning Peter Shankman did something most New Yorkers only tell themselves are going to do the next day: get up early before work and exercise.

Training for a triathlon the tech guru set out for his run at 4:30 in the morning, having to complete the 10 miles on his training schedule before his work day was to begin.

But his act of determination ended up with him getting a summons. Two miles into his run an NYPD patrol car pulled up alongside and asked him and his running partner to stop so a summons could be issued.

Their infraction? running in the park before 6 a.m.

Shankman wrote on his Facebook page:

“At 4:30 this morning in Central Park, at mile 2 of my ten mile run, I was stopped by the police and given a summons for exercising in the park ‘before it opened.’ Apparently, Central Park doesn’t ‘open’ until 6am, and my exercising (running) in the park before 6am is illegal. Note – Running in the park. Not ‘performing sex acts for crack,’ or ‘laying down explosive charges,’ but ‘running.” Because apparently, a 215 pound man running through Central Park at just over a 9:10 pace is a threat to Manhattan.

To answer the question of why I was running so early – I needed to do ten miles today as part of Ironman training. If I didn’t start that early, I wouldn’t be done before my first meeting of the day.

A ‘hey, buddy, the park doesn’t open until six, you need to run on the sidewalk outside’ from the police officer wouldn’t have sufficed? Apparently not, since he made it clear that his boss was in the car with him, so he had to write me up.

I now get to go to court in May and fight this. What a waste of taxpayer money, and my time. Ridiculous.”

I just got a SUMMONS for running in Central Park at 430am "before it opened." ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME NEW YORK CITY? — Peter Shankman (@petershankman) February 27, 2014