Running in, and all around, NYC

As promised, here is a full NYC summary and race report (with photos).

DAY 1 (Thursday)
Thursday doesn't really count because, aside from having a near-death experience in a taxi, nothing very eventful happened. We did rush across town to pick up my bib and chip for the race on Saturday, and we bought dinner at a deli near our hostel and had a little picnic in Central Park.

DAY 2 (Friday)
We started out with a really fun bike tour that began in Manhattan and made its way to Roosevelt Island, then Queens, then Brooklyn, then back to Manhattan (7 hours, and 17 miles, later). Our bike tour was through Bike the Big Apple. Here is a picture of our tour guide, a native of Brooklyn (complete with hilarious accent), Richard. He and the "sweep", George, were funny and nice and put their lives on the line several times by stepping between us and numerous taxis. The tour was great because we got a chance to see a lot of the other boroughs of NYC, and we were definitely off the beaten path for the whole day. Except when we were dodging taxis across 6 lanes of traffic in midtown Manhattan. Except for that. Here's a picture of us on the bike tour. After the bike tour, we headed down to Times Square to see the lights. I didn't want to be out late, though, because the race was coming up on Saturday, and I was already a little bit pooped from the bike ride.

DAY 3 (Saturday)
Race day! We got up early and tried to get to the race via subway, only to be disappointed by the train schedule. We eventually abandoned the train altogether and just walked to the start. As you can see in these pictures, there was a decent sized crowd (~5000 people). It was a sunny day out with plenty of heat and humidity to go around. In the pre-race picture, you see me with a very panicked (upset, whiny, angry, who knows, it's just UGLY) face... as I've already mentioned, my shuffle was on E, so I was attempting to get SoxFan to stop taking pictures and come and get my shuffle! Oh! That's me in the navy blue adidas shorts and the bright green tank top, bib 5569. In the end-of-race picture, I'm about 200 yards from the finish, and as you can see, I'm smiling! Even more impressive, look at all those people behind me! In the post-race picture, I'm exhausted, but still smiling! I did it!

Here are a few more race-day details:

Mile 1- 13:11
Mile 2- 13:12
Mile 3- 13:34
Mile 4- 14:03 (damn hills)
Mile 5- 13:24

Out of 477 women age 20-29, I was 468th (but I am 29, after all, so it stands to reason that I should be the slowest in that pack, right?). Out of 3105 women, I was 2998th. I'm pretty slow. But, I finished! Even when I was sure I couldn't.

After the race, we rushed back to the hostel and I showered. Then we headed back to Times Square to buy tickets for a broadway show for Saturday night. Our travel companions were already there waiting in line, so we rushed to meet up with them. We decided to see "The Country Girl", starring Morgan Freeman, Peter Gallagher, and Frances McDormand. The show was great, and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a non-musical to see in NYC. All of the actors were fantastic. Afterwards we stood around by the stage door exit and I got a picture of Morgan Freeman (he waved to us and then rushed right into his waiting car) and I got a picture with Peter Gallagher (of "The OC" fame).


DAY4 (Sunday)
We spent Sunday morning at the American Museum of Natural History. This is just one huge museum of everything. Seriously? It would take a good 3-5 days to really do this place properly. Alas, we did not have 3-5 days, so we did the quickie tour: Space, Dinosaurs, Mammals, Sea creatures. Then we were spent, so we headed south to try to visit the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island. On the way there, we stopped for lunch in Little Italy and had some amazing pasta. We didn't make it to the ferry in time to do the SofLiberty/Ellis Island, so instead we decided to walk around the financial district for a while. It started pouring rain on us, so we took refuge in the Trinity Church on Wall St., then eventually made our way down to the World Trade Center site (aka Ground Zero).

I just have to include this, too... SoxFan, when he was a wee little child, used to pretend he was a T-Rex. So, when we got to the T-rex exhibit, I had to record his T-rex impersonation. Enjoy! Sorry that I am a complete bonehead and didn't realize that I couldn't record video in this orientation. I'm an idiot.

Sunday night, we went with our travel companions to The Comedy Cellar, a fairly well-known comedy club near Washington Square Park. This was really fun. We laughed until our sides hurt.

Day 5 (Monday)
On Monday, we woke up pretty early and headed to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. This was fun, and we got some good pictures, but by this point we were both starting to poop out a little. After this was done, we hit the Museum of the American Indian. This was near Battery Park and it was FREE! It was in an amazing building that used to be a customs house. Then we hit Grand Central Station during rush hour, then we had to rush up to Yankee Stadium. Yankee Stadium was sort of a disappointment. It wasn't as big or as impressive as I'd imagined it would be, and the place just isn't very fan friendly. Other than that, I was upset that not many of the Yankee fans seemed to be upset that they were going to blow up "The house that Ruth built." I figure if they're not upset about it, there's no reason I should be. After Yankee Stadium, we went back to mid-town to do the Empire State Building. It was gorgeous at night, but none of the pictures were fit to present here, unfortunately. By the time we got back to the hostel, it was ~2AM. I thought I would cry if I had to walk one more block. It was around this point that I started to feel like a narcoleptic. Seriously, if I sat still and quiet for more than 20 seconds, I fell asleep. I fell asleep in the Natural History Museum, the Guggenheim, and the Met. And on the boat to Liberty/Ellis Island. And waiting for the subway. And on the bus. I could not keep my eyes open.

DAY 6 (Tuesday)
On our last day in the city, we tried to hit the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), but it was closed (boo). So, instead, we went to the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met). I probably don't have to say again that we were really tired by this point, and therefore we sort of breezed through these two museums without noticing too much. It's really a shame because both museums are very interesting and have great collections. I think we'd just tried to squeeze too much into 6 days. After the museums, because we couldn't bear to walk another step, we got onto a bus with little idea of where it was heading, and we ended up in Chelsea (which is lovely, by the way). I probably couldn't get back there if I wanted to because I slept most of the ride. Eventually we hopped off and I got my eyebrows "threaded" and we had one last slice of NY pizza. "Threading", by the way, is barbaric and painful, and makes waxing/plucking feel like a nice little tickle.... but they look fantastic!

That pretty much wraps it up! Sorry this is so long (and not-so-much related to running, per se)... I ran again today, on the dreadmill at work. I pushed myself a little on the first mile: 12:45. I ended up getting in 2.25 miles in ~30 minutes, with 1 minute of walking to warm up and 1 minute of walking to cool down. Since I sort of surprised myself being able to run the 5M in NY, I am trying to push myself a little harder in all things running related. I figure that 13:00 is a comfortable pace for me, but I can probably run faster if I'm willing to breathe a little harder. And I honestly thought I would not be able to do 5 miles, but I did, so now all of the sudden, my idea of a "long run on the weekend" just shot up to 5-7 miles.

I hope to get another run in tomorrow, as well.