I wanted to do THIS entry Saturday night before the Marathon but got busy and tired so I’ll write it today (Wednesday) and do my “official” Marathon Memoir tomorrow. I am actually working 2 days this week (brutal) and was busy yesterday (swam , Krav Maga class, dog to and from groomer, unpacked , did laundry, etc. etc. ).
Here are my flight photos, I was the only one on plane wearing mask but I don’t want to catch a cold or Covid.
There was too much glare to get a good shot of Central Park but I saw this one on line last week.
Flight was smooth. Car pickup was a little confusing. There is a new Terminal being built and access to Terminal 5 (JetBlue) affected so I had gotten an email saying to meet car on the roof of the Terminal 7 parking garage (via sky Train) but when almost at the train, the driver called and said he was outside Terminal 5. I guess most limo/car services ignore the rules…. New Yawkers!
The drive into Greenwich Village was less than hour (which is the best one can expect unless midnight, I had even considered using Blade helicopter service but baggage limit 25lbs).
Amazingly my hotel room was ready at 11am! This was great because I had planned to have to leave suitcase there and find lunch and a park to relax in (I had a backpack so didn’t think I could easily do a museum). Instead I relaxed and had coffee and listened to my audiobook for an hour while unpacking.
I also was supposed to do an easy 5 mile run and was glad to do it earlier in the day.
I told myself before heading out on the run DON’T take any photos of places and things u have seen and photographed many times already in the 4 years Alex has been living in the city and I have been running downtown. But… I had never seen a Seaplane in East River before or the cool giant statue outside the Children’s Hospital.
After the relaxing run, it was a little chilly as in 50s and breezy, I sat in Union Square and searched for a good Ramen place on Yelp.
I did some binge watching of Lupin on my iPad. It is a French series about a Master Thief trying to get revenge for a long ago crime his father was falsely jailed for.
A solid night of sleep and then another easy 5 mile run. It was cool and crisp Friday morning, I wore gloves but still just shorts and a tech shirt. All the people hustling their kids to school and day care were bundled in winter clothes and all the dogs wearing sweaters.
Didn’t go all the way across to Brooklyn like I usually do …
There were so many tourists on the bridge even at 8am, clearly many Marathon runners with their families. It was a beautiful sunrise over Brooklyn illuminating downtown.
On the way to the bridge I saw a long line of people on the sidewalk, I assumed all waiting to get into work at the federal bldg and security delays. It wasn’t until I ran past the NY Supreme Court bldg and saw all the press that I realized it was all for the Trump trial.
After some Nespresso and an apple for breakfast, Alex came by and we grabbed a cab 🚕 to the race expo (details in next post).
I had arranged to stop by and visit my Uncles at their apartment on upper east side at 2pm (they were heading to Boca for the winter on Saturday). I had thought I would visit the New York Historical society after the expo and then walk across Central Park. But there was a lot to see at the expo and as Alex’s first marathon they didn’t want to miss anything, and then the taxi from the Javits center to the Upper West Side took FOREVER! It was already past 1 when I got there and I thought about calling and pushing back visit but I didn’t want to rush through the museum and also was already a little tired and didn’t want to drag out the day too much.
So I just talk a wonderfully leisurely walk through the park. It was a perfect fall day; Clear crisp air and blue skies and colorful trees.
The Apple Watch was great using the Apple Maps app for directions along the windy paths.
After passing Cleopatra’s needle and the Hamilton statue, walking along the actual marathon course, I took a detour to visit my Uncle’s bench.
As I cut around the North side of the Met I saw the playground that I remember my mom taking me and my sister whenever we visited the Met or Guggenheim as kids. It has a cool “pyramid” like structure that u can climb through and up ladder out the top.
I grabbed a Knish from a cart in front of the Met as a carb lunch!
And …. The WordPress app is getting sluggish…. Bleh! Will see if I can squeeze in rest of non-race stuff but if gets too slow I’ll split into 2 posts.
I had a nice visit for an hour with my Uncles (I forgot to take a photo of them!). Stephen has totally recovered from his case of acquired hemophilia that had him on home hospice and wheelchair bound in the late spring/early summer. I was amazed to see him as physically vigorous and mentally sharp as he had been before the illness. For 87 I would say he and Richard are well above average.
I grabbed the Lexington Ave subway on their block and an Express got me to Union Square in less than 20 minutes for $2.75 rather than a 45 minute expensive cab or Uber ride.
I did takeout again near Union Square. Saw some interesting bldgs
Another solid night of sleep but no run on day before race per my plan.
Alex had initially said we would run separately so after my half-Ironman on Labor Day I trained to be able to do a solid sub 4-hour Marathon (but not a PR like my 3:42 in London in 2021). I did all the long runs on the weekends (usually doing a mile or 2 extra) at slow pace but did not do all the other runs.
I went up to the Upper East side by an uncrowded Saturday morning subway to have brunch with my nephew.
Then I dropped off a post-race bag with sweatshirts and a phone charger for Alex and I in Central Park.
The park was very crowded. So much to enjoy!
I was close to the finish line as I got to the western edge so got a few photos.
And then I got to the NY Historical Society, just one day late 🙂
I have been trying every time I visit NYC to go to one thing I haven’t done before. Last time it was the Morgan Library which was amazing. It is incredible that even having grown up on Long Island and visiting NY dozens of times in the last 40 years since there is still an endless supply of museums, parks and attractions I haven’t been to. Of course there are a ton of people who have lived their whole lives in the area and haven’t been to many as well!
A large gallery had displays about the crafts, industry and history of NYC.
There was an exhibit about the Presidency.
I bought some hand made items from the annual women’s sale.
Great museum. The Tiffany lamps alone are worth a visit!!! I grabbed a cab back to Union Square as no direct subway route.
There is a farmers market in Union Square a few days per week , Saturdays is huge. In addition to usual farm stuff they had fish, distilled liquors, specialty baked goods, and on and on.
There was a nice pro-Ukraine rally going on and I listened for a while and cheered. It is so ANNOYING that so many Republicans are trying to abandon Ukraine to Putin !
