(Sunday Paper, Year VII, Issue 46)

Last week, I made my Sunday trip to New York to watch the Jets (more on that later).

Depending on the week and my running schedule, sometimes I’ll sneak in a run in the morning after I arrive.

First of all, I like running in New York - a good change of pace/scenery.

Secondly, I get excited for the games and that helps kill the hours until kickoff.

But last week I had a plan - As part of my run, I’d check out a little of the New York City Marathon.

And it all worked out really well.

I don’t have the same relationship with the New York City Marathon that I do with the Boston Marathon.

That’s not really by design…just by nature. It’s not something we did growing up…we didn’t go to the marathon. We did drive to Jets games and had to avoid certain road closures on Marathon Sunday, I remember that.

But that was the extent of it.

In Boston, as I’ve said often, I lived along the marathon route and it’s a special day since it happens on a Monday when most people are off from school, so it’s just been a different experience. It’s hard to live in the Boston area and not have a relationship with the Boston Marathon.

As it turns out, though, my parents’ house is only a few miles from where the New York City Marathon comes through Queens.

My brother clued me in to a good spot to check out the runners - right at Vernon Boulevard, as the runners make a right turn at Mile 14, before they turn left onto the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan.

It was just about four miles running to that spot (which, since I didn’t know exactly where I was going, was a little more roundabout)…but could have been three and change.

I wasn’t sure what to expect - but it turned out to be pretty exciting.

And inspiring.

I saw the runners pretty early on - some of the folks I knew who were running were just starting the race when I got to mile 14. And it was before the day turned too hot - things got much more difficult later on.

I guess in the back of my mind I had considered trying for the New York City Marathon some day.

But these races, coming only once a year as they do, they’re hard to plan for in some ways.

I’ve already committed to some 2023 fall plans (hopefully), so if I want to run New York it would be 2024 at the earliest.

And so much would have to go right - health-wise, running interest-wise (not that I expect either of these things to change) - between now and then.

But after seeing the runners come through Queens for the brief moments I spent watching them….

well, I’m certainly going to hold open that first weekend of November in 2024.

It would be nice if it can be a touch cooler that day.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

“The Diary Of Alicia Keys” - Alicia Keys
“White Blood Cells” - The White Stripes
“The B-52’s” - The B-52’s
“What’s Going On” - Marvin Gaye
“Titanic Rising” - Weyes Blood
Training Day
This Is The End
Notting Hill

I’ve told you, this is not a race to 365. However, each week I have been listening to/watching more than 7 albums/movies, and I’m slowly creeping back up towards one-a-day after not reaching seven some weeks earlier in the year. I keep reminding myself it’s not a race to 365….but it’s kind of becoming a race to 365.

Also, that Marvin Gaye album is considered by some to be the best album of all time. We’re down to like 45 days left in the year, so it’s time to start checking out some of the can’t-miss stuff that I’ve missed over the years. You know what that means, right?

It’s about time to watch Die Hard.

Notes

*Unless you’re cheating and reading this on Saturday night, when I sneakily posted this so I could schedule a Facebook post, as you are reading this I am either running or have completed the B.A.A. Half Marathon. The training was a little rough for this one, but I think that comes with the first race of the season. I was much stronger for the second marathon last year, and when I ran the Wilmington Half in February I was already halfway through training for that marathon. So I’m trying to remind myself that this is all progressing towards bigger goals as the year goes on.

*That said, I’m figuring it’ll be a 2-hour, 10-minute run this morning. We’ll see what happens. I don’t think I’ll approach a PR - which would have to be better than 2:02. And, in fact, I’m not trying for that. Just out to enjoy a good long run with a friend.

*(in the rain, apparently, as the forecast looks as of Saturday evening.)

*We drove out to the Franklin Park Zoo and checked out the half marathon route on Saturday morning. I’m glad we had the chance to familiarize ourselves a little bit with it - it’s in an area of Boston I am not very familiar with.

*The timing of this run worked out nicely with the Jets schedule - it’s their bye week, so I’m not missing out on the chance to watch them in New York. (Although, I guess it might have been nice to just hang out at a bar all afternoon after running 13 miles and watch the game.) (Although, I guess that still might happen…just without a Jets game.) Anyway, it’s been a really exciting first 9 games of the season. The Jets beat the first-place Bills last week in a game no one expected them to win. I think they’ve easily surpassed my realistic expectations for the year. (But they are living up to my fantastical expectations!)

Next week I won’t be going down to New York because it’s so close to Thanksgiving…and because the Jets are playing the Patriots, so I have the game at home. It’ll be nice to watch them here - I think maybe the Thursday night game in December will be the only other opportunity I’ll have to do that.

*The social media links are below - you can definitely see some half marathon updates at the running Instagram later today.