We flew into La Gaurdia on Friday - First up a taxi ride from the airport to our hotel. Uncomfortable...I just don't know taxi etiquette. Maybe we uttered 5 words between us. We checked into a nice room (more later) and unloaded the luggage. We were anxious to begin exploring and walk off some travel blues. We decided to hit the Race Expo. First though, we had an impromptu session on figuring out the Subway.
This was the Subway stop around the corner from our hotel and right in front of the Deli I went to every morning for breakfast. I'm a creature of habit. Cheap, 5 bucks for 3 pancakes and 2 scrambled eggs. Loved it and the people working there. Open 24-7. There was also another great Store/deli across the street that had an awesome lunch/ dinner table that changed every day. And next door to that was a great pizza joint. The scaffolding you see there is everywhere in NYC. Must be because of ongoing construction up high on the buildings. Actually pretty nice during the winter and rain I'm sure keeping the sidewalks clear.
This was the Subway stop around the corner from our hotel and right in front of the Deli I went to every morning for breakfast. I'm a creature of habit. Cheap, 5 bucks for 3 pancakes and 2 scrambled eggs. Loved it and the people working there. Open 24-7. There was also another great Store/deli across the street that had an awesome lunch/ dinner table that changed every day. And next door to that was a great pizza joint. The scaffolding you see there is everywhere in NYC. Must be because of ongoing construction up high on the buildings. Actually pretty nice during the winter and rain I'm sure keeping the sidewalks clear.The subway was a first time experience for me. What a great deal. We ended up buying a 7 day pass for 30 bucks for each person unlimited travel. Really in NYC you probably don't need anything else. Even saw one of our Kawasaki plant Subway cars. Was great seeing Product of the Midwest. They are pretty nice.
Left to right - Ryan, Austin, Brett. That jug of water got me in trouble...I drank a bunch of it trying to hydrate and had to pee multiple times right up to the start line. Try peeing with a few thousand of your close race friends right next to you...
The Ferry ride to Stanten island was uneventful, but the early morning sights were nice. Statue of Liberty standing sentinel was up and doing her job welcoming us across the Hudson.
We found the convention center, it was huge as expected for such a large race. I picked up my race packet without issues and we picked up a few items of official ING marathon running clothes. The kids scored some compression socks...All the rage. I still don't have a pair. My pictures turned out blurry. Stupid cell phone camera. We did a little more exploring and tried to figure out the NYC map eventually winding our way back to the Hotel and dinner.
We stayed downtown Marriott Manhattan close to Wall street and Battery Park not far from the Wall street protesters encampment and across the street from Ground Zero. In fact we could look down into the 3 - 4 story hole in the ground where one of the buildings had been from our 25th floor room. It was a hot bed of activity down there with daily visitors checking out the new Ground Zero site and also on-going construction. Too bad once the night rolled around, it was jack hammer city with the ground zero crew working on breaking some big cement blocks all night long. I'm a light sleeper, this room wasn't going to work if I had to try and get a good night rest going into the marathon the next day. Luckily, the crew at the front desk worked it for us and found us an better room that we could check in after 4:00pm. We packed and checked our bags and left for the day on Saturday to do a little bit more exploring. We hit the Museum of Modern art and did our first walk through Times Square. Crazy.
So many people. Mostly tourists of course, an international hot bed of activity, so many languages. When I stop to think about it, there were 47,000 people doing the Marathon, cutting out folks that live close and do the marathon, how many from out of town come with other people? Maybe an influx of 150,000 people coming into NYC? One thing that stood out is that everyone seemed genuinely happy and relatively fit. Maybe it's all the walking these folks have to do from the subway to their destination? Or maybe its just that they live in a city that is driven by fashion? Maybe they are happy because man was meant to live close to lots of other people. Any way being surrounded by people was really more pleasing than I thought I would like. In fact, I've always avoided wanting to go to NYC for that very reason, I guess I was wrong. Heck, people watching there could be a full time Job. There's a million stories out on those streets.
When we got back to the hotel, the folks there had found us a room on opposite side of the hotel looking out south across the River. It was beautiful. 27th floor looking south across Battery Park.
I checked in with my buddies, Ryan Regnier, Austin McKillip and Brett Daugherty that were also doing the Marathon from Lincoln. Austin and I were in the same corrale for the Marathon and also staying in the same hotel. Ryan and Brett were both Staying just across the river in New Jersey and in different start houses at the race, but same location so we made a plan to meet at our hotel in the morning and walk down to the Ferry launch in the morning. We had previously made reservations for the 6:15 am Ferry ride way back in June as required by the race organization. As morning rolled around it dawned as a perfect day to run a marathon. It was 45ish in the morning with highs up to 60 degrees and sunny. Perfect.
Left to right - Ryan, Austin, Brett. That jug of water got me in trouble...I drank a bunch of it trying to hydrate and had to pee multiple times right up to the start line. Try peeing with a few thousand of your close race friends right next to you...
The Ferry ride to Stanten island was uneventful, but the early morning sights were nice. Statue of Liberty standing sentinel was up and doing her job welcoming us across the Hudson.
At the Ferry docking station, they load you up on buses and take you to the starting corrales. We split ways with Ryan and Brett, and Austin and I settled in for a little wait before the start, maybe 1.5hr or so total. It went fast. Shedding clothes, deciding what to keep an put in your bag for the finish and what to throw away at the start. They even have huge boxes to donate clothes all the start staging area before walking down to the start line. Since this race is late fall, it's still chilly in the morning and you don't want to stand there too long and be cold before the start so lots of good clothes go somewhere...hopefully Goodwill.
Eventually you make you way down to the start. Here you can see the three groups.
Eventually you make you way down to the start. Here you can see the three groups.
And your off...First up the Bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn over the Varrazano Narrows bridge.
Too bad right away I could tell my legs were bad. My quads were sore from the gun and I was already wishing I wouldn't have worn the shoes I wore. I was battling back and forth in the prior weeks trying do decide which shoes were magic. I settled into a 7 min pace and hoped I could hold it for a while before having to start stretching the Psoas and groin out. I made it to about 14 - 15 miles before the pain was relentless enough I had to do the Warrior pose and try to loosen up. This would become my practice for the next 5 miles, walk through the water stations and stretch to the sky to get my lower abdominal to open up.
The run takes you up through Brooklyn, It really is a beautiful run. Lots to look at and bands every couple miles or so. There were spectators 5 deep this whole way. The city really comes out in force to cheer you on. Eventually, you make it up to the Queensboro bridge and cross back into Manhattan...when you come across and drop under the bridge, you encounter huge crowds running up 1st ave all the way into the Bronx. You do a short jaunt in the Bronx, and come back into Manhattan down 5th avenue and eventually drop into the bottom half of central park to finish it off. When I hit the Bronx for some reason I shifted into another gear and decided to get it done. My last 3-4 miles were all descending and I ended up with a finishing time of 3:22:41. My goal was 3:10:00...Ahhh, I'll take it considering my issues I've had all summer with running long. That time actually barely qualifies me for Boston in 2013, so now that's kind of on my short list if I can get my Athetica Pubalgia cleared up. BTW, the Crowds in Central park were off the cuff...huge. Quite the deal for sure.
Probably the biggest bummer is after the race, you have to walk your way through the crowd of finishers and get your clothes back from the UPS trucks that transferred gear from Stanten Island to the finish. It's a good 3/4mile ish walk up hill. Probably good to help flush the legs. My bag at the finish had my Cell phone deep in my warm clothes and got a hold of my wife and kids. They were only a couple blocks away and met me across the street from the Central park finishing area. They got me a warm pretzel and a cold Coke from a street vendor. Ah good stuff.
Too bad right away I could tell my legs were bad. My quads were sore from the gun and I was already wishing I wouldn't have worn the shoes I wore. I was battling back and forth in the prior weeks trying do decide which shoes were magic. I settled into a 7 min pace and hoped I could hold it for a while before having to start stretching the Psoas and groin out. I made it to about 14 - 15 miles before the pain was relentless enough I had to do the Warrior pose and try to loosen up. This would become my practice for the next 5 miles, walk through the water stations and stretch to the sky to get my lower abdominal to open up.
The run takes you up through Brooklyn, It really is a beautiful run. Lots to look at and bands every couple miles or so. There were spectators 5 deep this whole way. The city really comes out in force to cheer you on. Eventually, you make it up to the Queensboro bridge and cross back into Manhattan...when you come across and drop under the bridge, you encounter huge crowds running up 1st ave all the way into the Bronx. You do a short jaunt in the Bronx, and come back into Manhattan down 5th avenue and eventually drop into the bottom half of central park to finish it off. When I hit the Bronx for some reason I shifted into another gear and decided to get it done. My last 3-4 miles were all descending and I ended up with a finishing time of 3:22:41. My goal was 3:10:00...Ahhh, I'll take it considering my issues I've had all summer with running long. That time actually barely qualifies me for Boston in 2013, so now that's kind of on my short list if I can get my Athetica Pubalgia cleared up. BTW, the Crowds in Central park were off the cuff...huge. Quite the deal for sure.
Probably the biggest bummer is after the race, you have to walk your way through the crowd of finishers and get your clothes back from the UPS trucks that transferred gear from Stanten Island to the finish. It's a good 3/4mile ish walk up hill. Probably good to help flush the legs. My bag at the finish had my Cell phone deep in my warm clothes and got a hold of my wife and kids. They were only a couple blocks away and met me across the street from the Central park finishing area. They got me a warm pretzel and a cold Coke from a street vendor. Ah good stuff.
About the only thing I could muster after that was the walk to get a sandwich get on the Subway and a nap. Jen and I met Austin for a beer and a burger later in the hotel bar. Was a pretty good day.
The best part of the trip though was seeing NYC. On Monday morning, the crew rousted me and we went to the Natural Museum of History located right next to Central park. Getting down the stairs to the Subway was a feat in itself. The quads were screaming. All those that have run a marathon can attest to this...and Yes, I think this is the Museum that 'Night at the Museum' is written around. We whipped though it. 3-4 hrs. Such is the attention span of a traveler on a short string with so much to do and see. Plus, my legs were wasted...probably good therapy. At lunch time we found another sweet deli on the East side of central park and sat on a bench and ate outside along Central Park. Yes, it's true if you throw bread crumbs down the birds will come...don't do it. After Lunch we decided we wanted to check out Central Park proper and decided to rent bikes.
The best part of the trip though was seeing NYC. On Monday morning, the crew rousted me and we went to the Natural Museum of History located right next to Central park. Getting down the stairs to the Subway was a feat in itself. The quads were screaming. All those that have run a marathon can attest to this...and Yes, I think this is the Museum that 'Night at the Museum' is written around. We whipped though it. 3-4 hrs. Such is the attention span of a traveler on a short string with so much to do and see. Plus, my legs were wasted...probably good therapy. At lunch time we found another sweet deli on the East side of central park and sat on a bench and ate outside along Central Park. Yes, it's true if you throw bread crumbs down the birds will come...don't do it. After Lunch we decided we wanted to check out Central Park proper and decided to rent bikes.
There were a few rental places around and just happened to be one a few block from were we lunched. More therapy for the legs. We did a full lap of the park with a little detour through Midwestern side of Manhattan to the Hudson River trail were we rode along adjacent to the water. There was lots of green space there too. I enjoyed seeing apartments and business complementing each other in the bustling place.
This is looking across the Jackie Onasis Kennedy lake in Central park. Lots of thoughts of Ghost Busters looking at the architecture of apartments in NYC. Are you the gate keeper? We turned the bikes back in after an 1.5 hrs and decided to wrap up the afternoon doing a bit more walking around 5th ave. I was ready to Cry Uncle, the legs were shot, but the girls were ready to shop. Noah and I bailed and headed for the hotel to chill. I wished I would have a had bike there for the whole time. Really probably the best way to see anywhere is by bike.
Looking Northeast from the Empire.
As we entered the Museum
This is looking across the Jackie Onasis Kennedy lake in Central park. Lots of thoughts of Ghost Busters looking at the architecture of apartments in NYC. Are you the gate keeper? We turned the bikes back in after an 1.5 hrs and decided to wrap up the afternoon doing a bit more walking around 5th ave. I was ready to Cry Uncle, the legs were shot, but the girls were ready to shop. Noah and I bailed and headed for the hotel to chill. I wished I would have a had bike there for the whole time. Really probably the best way to see anywhere is by bike. On Tuesday, we did an morning Lower East side walk about, we hit the Empire state building, Grand Central station, the United Nations.. Our focus for the afternoon was hitting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We tore after it...trying to hit it all...Looking south from Empire state building...that's were our hotel was, and Ground Zero.
Looking Northeast from the Empire.As we entered the Museum
Jen and I blew the shift as the kids separated from us and took off in a furry to see it all. Jen and I got sucked into the European Masters a maze of room after room choking with incredible art. It is overwhelming. Note to self. Next time...prioritize. Look at the map, pick the exhibits you want to see first and go there and work backwards. A person could easily spend days in any one of the museums we saw. We finally got to the American masters and Modern area...just as they were announcing closure for the day. Somehow fitting. My pictures of the painting do not do them justice so I'll defer to your imagination.
The last day we were fried from being on our feet and walking so we decided to do a mission on the Subway and go out to Coney Island and see the Atlantic. After all we were that close and the kids hadn't ever stuck their foot in that body of water. It was great about a 45 min ride each way.
Coney Island was shut down for season, so basically it was a few old men in speedo's capturing that waining Fall 55 degree sun, some other sand walkers and Russian retirees carrying on conversations in Russian on the boardwalk. Must be some deal where people from Russia come here to retire? I'm sure there's a story there.
Coney Island was shut down for season, so basically it was a few old men in speedo's capturing that waining Fall 55 degree sun, some other sand walkers and Russian retirees carrying on conversations in Russian on the boardwalk. Must be some deal where people from Russia come here to retire? I'm sure there's a story there.
In the afternoon we made our way back up to Manhattan to do some last minute shopping and site seeing. We had Super fun trip, would like to go again sometime. Already thinking what a blast the Ironman NewYork race would be...
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