A Weekend in New York City!

Weekend in New York Recap?  GO!

Friday - Katie and I got up early and got on a bus from Syracuse to New York.  We didnt get to sit together since Syracuse was the last stop to pick up passengers.  I made my way a few rows behind Katie and sat next to a nice looking guy in his 50's.  He talked my ear off much of the ride when I didnt have headphones on and I learned all about him and his family.  Turns out his kids went to college with me... I was a little annoyed that he talked so much and would have liked to relax and enjoy the trip more by sleeping!

Carrie met us at the bus stop and we walked to her apartment before going out and spending some time sight seeing.  I couldnt resist taking a picture of the flowers they were selling at a market we walked through.

We purchased goodies from a little bake shop to enjoy later that evening for dessert.  I bought a Gluten Free pumpkin muffin and thoroughly enjoyed it later that night!  We also walked through some stores around Times Square including the triathlon shop that sponsored Helene (our coach) when she was racing.  I also did a little secret shopper thing at one of the Jack Rabbit running stores!  That was fun.

The next morning Katie and I were on our own to get to the Tri-Mania conference while Carrie met her team to swim.

Dr. Metzl was the MC of the event. One of the things he did in between each 15 minute session was ask random trivia questions.  The person that answered the question, won a prize from one of the vendors or the speaker that followed.  In the first block of 4 presentations, one of the speakers talked about swim anxiety... which for anyone who knows me will understand that I needed to hear that presentation!  Well, right before that section, Dr. Metzl was doing his trivia thing and said something like this.... "Now, for all you religious people out there, this question is for you.  How long was Jonah in the whale?"  Of course, I knew immediately and my hand shot up!  He called on me and I answered "Three days and nights."  What did I win?  A ten minute consult with the sports psychologist to talk about race anxiety and..... (drum roll please.....) a pair of GOGGLES! HA ha ha ha!  Carrie and Katie had a fun time with that one and kept talking about it all day!

Dr. Metzl

It was a busy day full of information.  Seminars included:

• Coaching - what makes a good coach
• Bike Fit
• Common run injuries
• Nutrition - the 4th discipline

It was a wonderful day... I talked to many vendors, saw a lot of different races to get me motivated for next year and even talked to a local Syracuse triathlete that I recognized as a customer of Fleet Feet.  We also qualified for swag bags and got lots of goodies and freebies!  Here is a picture of my stash of stuff from the day.  See the goggles?  :)

I also purchased a running vest that is reflective and has a front pocket!  I love it and had to take a picture of it in the dark to show how reflective it is!

I had to write Katie and my race on the board... can you find it?  

So, all in all that day was fun!  We went back to the apartment happy to put our feet up and get pizza (and getting the Gluten Free one for me was quite the fiasco! ha ha)  We watched some of the SU Big East game and went to bed.  

Sunday we got up at 5 and met some of Carrie's team mates to go watch the NYC 1/2 Marathon start in Central Park.  Katie and I had to run a loop of the park that day so we dressed to run and FROZE all morning.  Literally numb for the first few hours we were out!  26,000 runners was amazing to watch.... before everyone got to start the race, the lead pack came through at mile 6!  28 minutes and a group of about 20 Kenyan runners came through followed within minutes by the lead female runner!  Once they went through Katie and I headed out for our run going the opposite direction of the race.  I felt FANTASTIC!  It was a fun hilly run for 6.2 miles around the park.  My heart rate got really high from the hills but it didnt bother me at all.  Once we got moving we were dressed appropriately.  After our run Katie and I walked (a LONG way) trying to find somewhere warm to drink hot chocolate and stretch out my knee which then started to seize up when we cooled back off and got cold again.  A street vendor told us to head to Angelos down one of the roads and we got a CHEAP very good fresh cooked breakfast!  Then we headed back to Carries to shower before we headed out to finish our sight seeing and catch our bus home.  

We took the subway to Battery Park and walked to the Brooklyn Bridge with all our baggage in tow.  SO hard to walk carrying 40 lbs strapped to your back!  We got tired and ended up sitting in the subway station at Penn Station for a while just relaxing.  We also had a delicious lunch at TGIFridays before we headed to the bus stop a few blocks from Penn Station.  We got a seat up front next to each other and I slept much of the ride home.  

What fun we had.  I came back ready to train and get going again... Which was good because that was our last real break for the next few months!  We are now doing 9 workouts each week over the course of 6 days.  

Goggles On!