Greetings From NYC

AM: 53 mins. (7+ miles)
PM: 3 miles + strength

What a busy day! It started before the crack of dawn, when Jordan and I dragged ourselves to the Dowd to meet the group again. (Remember how I said waking up early would get easier? For some reason that only applies on Wednesday. Thursday still sucks.) I hung back with Ben for most of the run, wanting to keep things super easy in light of tomorrow's race, and felt very relaxed and comfortable throughout.

The rest of the morning was spent packing and traveling...to New York City! Woohoo! I'm so excited to be here for the weekend and to race tomorrow! The group o'travelers includes myself (racing the 5k), Coach Simmons, Jess (5k), Futsum (5k), Alex (5k), Simon (mile) and Nelson (mile). Tanya is also running the mile and will join us tomorrow. Our hotel is located right in the middle of everything; we are next door to the Letterman show, a block from Times Square, a 3-minute jog to Columbus Circle and Central Park, and less than half a mile from the Museum of Modern Art. The rooms, while small, seem palatial compared to the shoe boxes we stayed in last year. The best part about racing on Friday afternoon is I should have time to enjoy the city and explore my surroundings, plus meet up with some friends while I'm here.


Columbus Circle, with Central Park to the upper left of the frame

After settling in for a few hours, Jess and I embarked on a shakeout through Central Park. We entered through Columbus Circle and immediately found a wide dirt path on which to run. We ran past the soon-to-be defunct Tavern on the Green, then passed through an underpass where a bagpiper was playing a song that seemed to be just for us. We reluctantly turned around after what felt like just a few minutes; both of us were eager to continue, but needed to be mindful of the reason we were here. Besides, we'll have plenty more opportunities to explore the park before our 5pm flight on Sunday.


Tavern on the Green, an NYC landmark

The rest of the evening was very low-key. We're both anxious to race tomorrow--I run in the Championship section at 2pm and Jess runs in the Collegiate section at 9pm--and I'm looking forward to challenging the PR I set last year at this same meet. See you after the race!