After checking into our hotel, which was only blocks from Time Square, we headed to the Empire State Building! The Empire State Building was the highlight of the trip for me! We went to the observation deck on the 86th floor. Here are a couple of pictures and I posted a video on facebook.
Josh and I decided to go for a five mile run and it turned into seven, because we wanted to make it to the Brooklyn Bridge. The coolest part about this run is that I found $100 on the side walk. I really cracked up these girls when I was looking around to see if anyone was looking for it! My run the next day was exciting for other reasons. Steve and I ran in Central Park, which is amazing! The bad thing about the run is that we ran by a crime screen with a dead body. The body was covered but you could tell that it was a body. Anyway both my runs in NYC were eventful!
Friday, We took a ferry out to Ellis Island and Liberty Island. The Statue of Liberty is massive! That night we ate at Bobby Flay's restaurant. It's was very good! After the meal we headed to the Yankee - Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium!
Saturday, we picked up Chris and headed to the race in Stroudsburg, PA. Sunday after the race we went all over NYC. Downtown, Chinatown, Little Italy, and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. In Chinatown we got awesome ice cream and massages, Little Italy had amazing pizza, and the Promenade had breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty all light up at night!
Okay, now about the race! Josh, Steve and I ran the marathon. Chris had planned on running the marathon but didn't due to injury. He was planning on moving to the half but there was only a relay. The race found him a partner, but the next day at the race when he finished the first half she was not there. haha! I guess the rain scared her off.
At the start it was 60 degrees and raining. I like it a little cooler but I could handle this. The goal was top 5 and sub 2:30. The main thing was to go under 2:30!!!! The race took off and I hit the first mile in 6:10, only 27 seconds off the 5:43 pace I needed to run. haha! That was bad considering it felt like 5:40 pace. The next couple of miles were better but I was still slower then the pace I needed to run under 2:30. Around mile six I caught the 7th place runner. We ran together for two miles. He asked me what I wanted to run and after I told him he told me I only needed to run 5:41 pace the rest of the way. He must have been a math genius! About that time I took a cup of water instead of Gatorade, which I had taken at all of the other stops. It seamed to give me a boost and everything started to feel easy! I came through the first half in 1:15:10. I was worried because I was slower then goal pace and I had been told by everybody that the second half is much harder then the first. But I was feeling good! The second half was flying by as I was hitting high 5:30's for my mile splits. I passed a couple of more runners on the way to the finish When I crossed the line in 2:29:06 in 5th place, it felt amazing! Both goals accomplished!!! I then went and got my camera to get pictures of Josh and Steve finishing. Josh finished in 3:09:18 and got 58th. He had just ran the OKC marathon two weeks before or he would have ran better. Steve put on a show finishing 71st in 3:12:21! This is a huge PR for him and qualified him for the Boston Marathon! The whole trip was an awesome experience! Now I'll get some rest and then start preparing for my next race.
See you on the roads,
Matt
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