New York Trip, Days 3 & 4

Day 3 began with Sunday brunch with the family at Edward’s, a small Mexican themed restaurant.  To our surprise, there was an advertisement for a “Cincinnati Day” at the restaurant in a few weeks featuring such specialties as Skyline Chili, Montgomery Inn BBQ, LaRosa’s Pizza, and Graeter’s Ice Cream.

During the brunch, we discussed possible plans for the day.  Since we got off to a late start, we split out on our own from the restaurant to head North to Central Park.

First on tap was ice skating in the Park.   Of course, with our impeccable timing, we arrived and got our skates on just as the Zamboni took the ice.  About a half an hour later, it was finally our turn.  We skated around the overcrowded rink and snuck a couple pictures before deciding we were cold enough and our ankles had taken enough abuse to call it quits.

From there, it was a chilly walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  With it being a Sunday, we arrived within half an hour of closing time.  Luckily, its a free admission museum, so we were able to run quickly to the new Samurai Exhibit and enjoy it for about 10 minutes before being ushered toward the exit.  In an effort to see as much as possible, we took the scenic route through other areas of the museum, snapping quick pictures along the way. 

Back out in the cold, we made our way to the subways and back to my aunt and uncle’s condo.  We weren’t sure what our evening plans were going to be but arrived to a homemade pot of chili on the stove.  That provided enough incentive to relax and settle in for the night.  We hung out with the family, enjoying beer, chips and fresh-made guacamole, pistachios, cheeses, and of course, chili.  It was an early night.

Monday morning was our “early” starting day as we left to see the city at around 11:30.  Today started with a walk from the condo to Greenwich Village where we stopped for a quick lunch at an Irish Pub. From there, we made our way through the Village and over to the Highline, a new elevated walking path renovated from an old train track. 

The Highline

A view from the Highline

When we hit the current end of the path (a larger section is still in progress), we made our way to the subway and shot up to Times Square.

Times Square

When Hershey’s and M&M’s face-off, everybody wins

A rainbow of M&M’s

Approaching Rockefeller Center

 

Checking out the ice skating scene at the Rock

Photo op of the Empire State building while switching subway trains

After our whirlwind day and a good deal of shopping, we headed back to the condo for a pit stop before being taken out to dinner for our last night in the city.  We had reservations at Tamarind, an Indian restaurant (which neither my wife or I have much experience with).  Looking at the menu, we clearly had no idea what we were doing, so our host took charge an order a sampler of appetizers, breads, and entrees to share.

A selection of Indian entrees (watch out for the fiery chicken)

Most everything was delicious and spicy, so we cooled down with a sampler of Indian ice creams (Apricot, Pina Colada, Banana, and another that was similar to vanilla) and Mango Cheesecake.  Once we were more than satisfied, we headed back to the condo to pack and prepare for our return to the Midwest.

Currently, we are at the airport in New York making our way home.  Back to the real world tomorrow.

New York Trip, Days 1 & 2

To celebrate the opportunity to travel inexpensively after the holidays, the wife and I decided to treat ourselves to a long weekend in New York City.  Another reason for the trip was to use the Broadway tickets that I had gotten her for our first anniversary (paper anniversary). 

Our journey began Friday morning with a tearful goodbye to our dog and a drive to the Columbus airport.  From there, we had two flights, both delayed by the recent snowstorms in the Mid-West, but we still managed to get on the ground in NY by 7:15 pm (only one hour behind schedule).  We had dinner reservations at 8:30 with my cousin and her friends so we needed to make our way to lower Manhattan to drop off our bags before heading to dinner.  My aunt and uncle (who live on the island) were kind enough to offer the guest room of their condo for our stay.  More on that later. 

Somehow we managed to make it to the restaurant only 5 minutes behind schedule and proceed to enjoy a delicious Italian meal at Vento (highly recommended).  Then, being the party animals that we are, we decided to check out some of the local night spots.  My cousin first took us to the Spice Market, an Indian restaurant/bar with a great atmosphere

After a couple hours of hanging out at the bar here, our group moved on to our next destination:  a dive bar called the White Horse Tavern.   We closed down the bar before heading home at 4 am.  Long day.

Day two started at around 10 o’clock when we pulled ourselves out of bed and I got a quick run in to keep the streak alive.  Once that was out of the way, some lazing around the condo and catching up with my aunt and uncle was in order.  Speaking of the condo, check out our digs for the weekend.

Beats a New York hotel… especially for the price.  And check out the view we woke up to in the morning.

 

Once we were filled with coffee and homemade breakfast, we decided to venture by foot and explore some of lower Manhattan…

Progress being made at Ground Zero

St. Paul’s Chapel

Further south to old Trinity Church (remember to remove your hat)

New York Stock Exchange

A sad panda and a happy bull

 

Lady Liberty as seen from Battery Park

Obama Condoms, anyone?

A break from the cold at one of the hundreds of Starbucks locations

Finishing the walk at sundown

Back to the condo for a quick change and then off to dinner and to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theater. 

Good food and drink at Mexican Radio

Sneaking in a (illegal) picture before the play began

Off to a good start.  Tomorrow’s activities are still up in the air, but there are a lot of ideas floating around.  Should be a fun day.

100 runs in 100 days

I was going to wait until I completed this challenge before writing about it, but it looks like I will be hitting day 100 while on an extended weekend trip upcoming that I’m hoping to report on. Also, in trying to be more consistent updating here, I’d like to get another entry in before the weekend, but didn’t have much coming to mind to write about.

Anyways, as the title of this post implies, I am nearing completion of my longest ever running streak (fingers crossed nothing bad happens this week). By the rules I established for myself at the outset, I have run at least 20 minutes a day since October 3rd. For recovery, I try to complete 1 run per week with my wife (a slower pace than my normal) as my only workout, basically serving as my off day. Also, I have been pretty religiously rotating 3 pairs of running shoes in efforts to stave off injuries. These strategies and a good dose of luck have seemed to pay off. Other than the occasional leg fatigue, I have avoided any real issues.

I noticed that weeks 2-5 were by far the hardest to get out the door consistently. Week one is all about the excitement of starting a new challenge, so there are no issues with motivation there. By week 2, your legs start asking, “What are you getting me into?” especially on days after a hard or longer effort. This carries on for the next few weeks with your legs trying to tell you that the streak is short enough right now that it wouldn’t feel like a loss if you gave it up. Once you near the halfway mark, your momentum builds on itself. The legs are adjusted, so don’t complain as often, and you know how hard you worked to keep it going this long. Once you get into this rhythm, the rest is pretty much habit. The biggest issue of late has been trying to fit the runs in with the holiday travel, or trying to fit other workouts in while still getting my daily run (I still need to bike and swim sometimes too).

Contrary to what you’d expect, I really didn’t pile up monster mileage during the streak. Usually, I only averaged 30-40 miles/week. My longest run was 9 miles. The focus of my key workouts was on building speed, as I mentioned I was using a 5k training plan for those, so most runs were in the 4-7 mile range.

As I near the end, my legs feel very strong; this is good since I’m going to start bumping up the long runs to prepare for another half marathon PR attempt. The biggest reason I’m excited to complete this, though, is to no longer have to worry about how I’m going to fit my run in EVERY DAY. However, it’s been an interesting and rewarding challenge to keep me busy in the off-season.