Monday, August 27, 2007
Miss me?
Ok, ok I'm sorry!!! I have not been blogging like I should and I am very sorry!! Most of the reason is that I haven't had the internet this month, so any chance I get to get on a computer is only devoted to the most essential activities: email, facebook, shopping :) Blogging just doesn't make the list! Well, it should, and I promise to do something about it very soon. By way of updates, I have been to Baltimore and Atlantic city since I last blogged, taking up most of my weekends. And this weekend, Amber (my friend from Perrysburg) is coming and then I'm heading to Nashville for a wedding. It's gonna be crazy! So that said, I promise to do my best to be better at blogging. For one, I am moving into a new apartment and it DOES have reliable internet, so that's good news! Furthermore, I definitely want to make sure to show you my new digs, so stay tuned. For now, I must do a little work (ew) and get to bed. Muah!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Banding Together
Do I have a story for you!!
Well, you may or may not have heard on the news that there was some flash flooding in New York City on Wednesday morning. That morning, I was supposed to be in to work for a conference call at 8am. Well, when my alarm went off at 6:30am, it was pouring rain and thundering and lightning. I decided to take my manager's advice and just take the call from home rather than braving the weather so early.
SO....I took my phone call, got ready and left my apartment at about 8:30am. As I walked up to where I usually get the bus, I noticed a much larger than usual crowd of people. I decided to just walk to the subway rather than get on a crowded bus (by this time it had stopped raining but it was REALLY hot and muggy outside. Anyway, I walked over to the subway only to see more people just sort of milling about, not decending the stairs as one might expect.
It didn't take long to figure out: the subway wasn't running downtown. Now, I know this doesn't sound like a big deal when I say it to you, but just so you know, about 5 million people ride the subway each day in New York City. When the subways aren't running (as I learned on Wednesday, and as NYC learned a few years ago when MTA went on strike for a day) the streets are so full of people and everyone is essentially trying to find some other way to get to their destination. When I looked up and down Central Park West, I saw tons of people trying to get cabs. The buses weren't even stopping to pick people up because they were already full. All hope of getting to work within a reasonable amount of time was pretty much lost.
Instead of stanging in Hopelessville, I decided to cut up an obscure sidestreet and think about my options when suddenly, blissfully, a cab pulled up and dropped someone off...I rushed over only to see someone already getting in. But, since I rigured he was likely in the same predicament of needing to get downtown as I was, I hopefully asked him where he was going and if I could ride with him. He told me he was going to 48th and 6th, which is about where I thought I might be able to get another train to work (at this point I didn't realize there were no trains running in all of Manhattan). THEN, just as the two of us were settling in, another woman came up and said "Where are you going" I told her we were going downtown and she said that she needed to get to the Financial District. Which is where I work so I told her to hop in and we could both take the cab all the way down.
So, here I am, sitting in the middle between a French guy and another complete stranger heading to work in a cab. We traveled to the first drop-off point, where the French guy gave us $15 and hopped out. Then, we continued down to Water Street in the Financial District. The total came to $35, so Dana (my other companion) and I only had to pay $10 each. Unfortunately, Dana didn't have $10 so I just paid the cab. We then went to the ATM together and then to grab coffee so she could get change for her $20 from the ATM. We finally parted ways around 10am none the worse for wear. It was indeed a good time and an adventure getting to work! It was my first experience of New Yorkers actually banding together rather than cursing each other out, and I must say I enjoyed it!
Well, you may or may not have heard on the news that there was some flash flooding in New York City on Wednesday morning. That morning, I was supposed to be in to work for a conference call at 8am. Well, when my alarm went off at 6:30am, it was pouring rain and thundering and lightning. I decided to take my manager's advice and just take the call from home rather than braving the weather so early.
SO....I took my phone call, got ready and left my apartment at about 8:30am. As I walked up to where I usually get the bus, I noticed a much larger than usual crowd of people. I decided to just walk to the subway rather than get on a crowded bus (by this time it had stopped raining but it was REALLY hot and muggy outside. Anyway, I walked over to the subway only to see more people just sort of milling about, not decending the stairs as one might expect.
It didn't take long to figure out: the subway wasn't running downtown. Now, I know this doesn't sound like a big deal when I say it to you, but just so you know, about 5 million people ride the subway each day in New York City. When the subways aren't running (as I learned on Wednesday, and as NYC learned a few years ago when MTA went on strike for a day) the streets are so full of people and everyone is essentially trying to find some other way to get to their destination. When I looked up and down Central Park West, I saw tons of people trying to get cabs. The buses weren't even stopping to pick people up because they were already full. All hope of getting to work within a reasonable amount of time was pretty much lost.
Instead of stanging in Hopelessville, I decided to cut up an obscure sidestreet and think about my options when suddenly, blissfully, a cab pulled up and dropped someone off...I rushed over only to see someone already getting in. But, since I rigured he was likely in the same predicament of needing to get downtown as I was, I hopefully asked him where he was going and if I could ride with him. He told me he was going to 48th and 6th, which is about where I thought I might be able to get another train to work (at this point I didn't realize there were no trains running in all of Manhattan). THEN, just as the two of us were settling in, another woman came up and said "Where are you going" I told her we were going downtown and she said that she needed to get to the Financial District. Which is where I work so I told her to hop in and we could both take the cab all the way down.
So, here I am, sitting in the middle between a French guy and another complete stranger heading to work in a cab. We traveled to the first drop-off point, where the French guy gave us $15 and hopped out. Then, we continued down to Water Street in the Financial District. The total came to $35, so Dana (my other companion) and I only had to pay $10 each. Unfortunately, Dana didn't have $10 so I just paid the cab. We then went to the ATM together and then to grab coffee so she could get change for her $20 from the ATM. We finally parted ways around 10am none the worse for wear. It was indeed a good time and an adventure getting to work! It was my first experience of New Yorkers actually banding together rather than cursing each other out, and I must say I enjoyed it!
Sunday, August 05, 2007
NYC Half Marathon!!
Today, I ran my 4th half marathon. Whoever's idea it was to have a half marathon in August...I shake my fist at you. Regardless, I ran with several of my Team In Training teammates and Taylor ran about 10 minutes ahead of us for his first ever half marathon!
Despite my complaints, today was actually a blissfully low-humidity and relatively low-teamperature day for early August. The race started at 7am, so we had to leave the apartment by 5:30am to get our bags checked and on the trucks to be taken to the finish line. After that, we had about 45 minutes to wait for the start. It was a beautiful morning, though, so despite the early hour, I have no complaints.
The first 7 miles of the race took place in Central Park - very familiar territory from training for the marathon this past spring. This part of the race was ok, but the BEST part was leaving the park and turning south on 7th Avenue. For the next 17 blocks, we essentially had a wide-open view of Times Square, eventually running through it before turning and running over to the West Side Highway. Except for the fact that I literally fell on 7th Avenue (luckily no one ran me over), this was my favorite part of the race.
After Times Square, we took a left onto the West Side Highway and ran all the way down along the Hudson River to the finish line at Battery Park. I actually felt pretty good for the last 4 miles of the race despite the climbing temperatures and lack of shade. I crossed the finish line with a personal-worst time of 1:58:33, but I'm not too disappointed considering I didn't do a good job training for the race.
After the race I met up with Taylor who did VERY well in his first half marathon. Then we grabbed brunch with his family and went home to stretch, shower, and RELAX.
Whew!
Despite my complaints, today was actually a blissfully low-humidity and relatively low-teamperature day for early August. The race started at 7am, so we had to leave the apartment by 5:30am to get our bags checked and on the trucks to be taken to the finish line. After that, we had about 45 minutes to wait for the start. It was a beautiful morning, though, so despite the early hour, I have no complaints.
The first 7 miles of the race took place in Central Park - very familiar territory from training for the marathon this past spring. This part of the race was ok, but the BEST part was leaving the park and turning south on 7th Avenue. For the next 17 blocks, we essentially had a wide-open view of Times Square, eventually running through it before turning and running over to the West Side Highway. Except for the fact that I literally fell on 7th Avenue (luckily no one ran me over), this was my favorite part of the race.
After Times Square, we took a left onto the West Side Highway and ran all the way down along the Hudson River to the finish line at Battery Park. I actually felt pretty good for the last 4 miles of the race despite the climbing temperatures and lack of shade. I crossed the finish line with a personal-worst time of 1:58:33, but I'm not too disappointed considering I didn't do a good job training for the race.
After the race I met up with Taylor who did VERY well in his first half marathon. Then we grabbed brunch with his family and went home to stretch, shower, and RELAX.
Whew!
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