THIS is why I quit Netflix today!

I mean SERIOUSLY, who do they think I am?

http://imdb.com/title/tt0127953/ - I don't think so

I'm running the New York City MARATHON!!!!

That's right, it's official. As of today, I have qualified to be a participant in the ING New York City Marathon on November 2, 2008. That's just 53 short weeks away, so I guess I should get crackin'!

The reason that today is a big deal is because I ran a race this morning in Central Park that will Qualify me for the 2008 NYC Marathon. New York Road Runners, the organization that owns the marathon, has a system in place where if you join the organization and run 9 qualifying races in one calendar year, you automatically qualify to run the NYC marathon in the next calendar year. And since the race is in November, that means that it's a long wait! Today I ran my ninth race in the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff Race, which I think is fitting!

For those who are curious about my races this year, here they are:

Race Name, Date	Dist. (miles)	Net Time	Pace per Mile
NYRR Team Champs - Women August 18, 2007	5.0	40:49	8:09
NYC Half-Marathon August 5, 2007	13.1	1:58:33	9:02
AHA Start! Wall Street Run May 22, 2007	3.0	26:31	8:50
Healthy Kidney 10K May 19, 2007	6.2	54:11	8:44
NYJL Mother's Day 10M May 13, 2007	10.0	1:31:47	9:10
NYRR Brooklyn Half-Marathon April 14, 2007	13.1	1:55:53	8:50
More Two-Person Half-Marathon March 25, 2007	13.1	1:55:48	8:50
NYRR Bronx Half-Marathon February 11, 2007	13.1	1:57:54	9:00

Yay!! Looking forward to chronicling my adventures training for this event next year!

Hittin' the links!

I swear...this blog has a 7-day delay..my apologies! Last Saturday, I had my first experience golfing! For the past few months, Taylor and I have been taking many trips to the driving range near his house, and I am actually starting to get the hang of it (read: I hit the ball 90% of the time and sometimes it even goes straight!). So, I decided to try to take my driving range and mini golf skills out on an actual course. I should caveat the phrase "actual course" because the course chose was actually a "pitch-and-putt" course, which means that each hole is a par 3 of about 40-80 yards. You're only supposed to use a 9-iron, a pitching wedge, and a putter for the whole course. Taylor and I were paired with an older man named Rich for the course. Rich was better than either of us, but we had a great time playing with him. He actually decided that I am a "natural" because I did have a few good hits. He recommended that I take golf lessons to hone my skills before I get too far along in my golfing career. We'll see if that happens, but we did have a great time and I would definitely go back! Well, I'm home this weekend in Ohio, so I will definitely keep you up to date on my adventures!

The City of Brotherly Love

I wrote this last weekend and thought I'd posted it! Sorry!

Taylor and I took a trip last weekend to Philadelphia. Thought I'd put up a few pictures from the trip. We left New York at 5pm on Friday and drove straight to Philadelphia.

As soon as we arrived, we went out for dinner at Eulogy Belgian Beer Tavern, a famous destination for over 100 great international beers. I had a DELICIOUS beer called Kwak. Here's me enjoying a glass:

We stayed at the Omni hotel in Philadelphia. The hotel was right in the Old City part of town near all the great tourist sites! We even had a flat-screen TV that played calming fishtank images...But Taylor appreciates it more for the high-quality football pre-game coverage:After dinner on Friday night, we stopped for another drink and shot this great picture:
On Saturday, we went out touring Philadelphia on foot according to a nice walking tour that I found online. Here are some highlights:

In front of Independence Hall, where the Constitution was written:With a statue named Barry (whose importance is apparently self-evident):
Eating Philly Cheesesteaks at Pat's, apparently the best place in the city:
Later on Saturday, Taylor and I went to the Philadelphia Art Museum, which is better known for being the site of the famous steps scene in Rocky. Here are a couple photos.

Taylor with the Rocky statue:
View from the top, looking out over downtown:

Take a walk through my neighborhood!

Ok, so the fine folks at Google (bless their innovating hearts) have just come out with what they call "Street View" in several cities throughout the country: San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Vegas, Denver, Orlando, Miami and last but not least New York City.

So, I thought I'd give you all a taste of it as well as a view of my new neighborhood. This is going to be an interactive blog, and I will try to make it as easy as possible.

1. Start by clicking here
2. Put in this address: 50 W 81st St, New York, NY 10024
3. Click on "Street View" in the upper right corner of the map
4. Put the little yellow man on top of the green arrow that points to the address you searched for. If he's already there, just click on the man and a photo will pop up. When you do, you should be looking at the front of my building. There's a rounded green awning with whit trim.
5. Now, turn around and take a look at the Museum of Natural History. You can do this by clicking on the icon above the plus sign that points down and to the left. This will rotate your view couterclockwise. Click it 4 times and you're looking through the trees toward the Hayden Planetarium, which is part of the Museum.
   
6. Now, I want to take you for a walk elsewhere, so go ahead and click the X in the top corner of the bubble with the picture in it. The picture should disappear and you'll see the map with all the streets lined in blue. If you want to move the view of the map, you just click anywhere and hold the click and then drag the picture. Then, to look somewhere on the street, go ahead and get the little gold man and click on him, pulling him wherever you want to look.
1. Take some time exploring and getting used to the street view. You can do things like rotate the view (by clicking the button above the plus that I mentioned above), walking up and down the street (by clicking on the arrows on the imaginary translucent lines) and even spinning around (by clicking and dragging the photo itself).
7. Now, let's lo0k at some places I enjoy. First, there's my Starbucks. You can see this by taking the little man and placing him between 81st and 82nd streets on Columbus. Rotate until you are looking west and then use the arrows on the photo to head in either direction until you see a Starbucks. You'll recognize it by the round green logo above the door.
8. Want to take a walk in the park? Look to the east (toward that giant green area!) and you'll see a road running north and south on the east side. It has the blue outline (unlike the road on the west side) and is called "Central Park E. Dr." Drop the little man just north of the end of "Dr" and rotate conter clockwise and you'll see some folks frolicking in Central Park on (presumably) a Saturday afternoon. Who knows, maybe I'm in the photo!

Well, feel free to tour around a little more. I must admit, it's tough to type these directions, but please feel free to look around at various places. Here are some addresses you might find interesting:

180 Maiden Lane, New York, NY - My work
34th and Broadway, New York, NY - Macy's in Herald Square
42nd and Broadway, New York, NY - Times Square
46 Church St., New York, NY - site of the World Trade Center
William Street and Wall Street, New York, NY - look down Wall Street

You can copy and paste each of these addresses and have a look around. Feel free to email me if you have a question or leave it in a comment.