Sept. 10, 2017 – As many of you will recall, I ran in the New York Marathon in the fall of 2016, and it was truly one of the most amazing days of my life. People loved the Bowie costume, and I loved running for 5 hours straight through all 5 boroughs!
This year I am running in the New York Road Runners 9 + 1. It is a program for residents, or at least for people who are able to attend 10 races in the city throughout the year. If I run in 9 races in 2017 and volunteer at one race, I will qualify automatically for admission into the 2018 marathon.
One of the races I ran in this year is the Fifth Avenue Mile. I was super excited to be running down the middle of Fifth Avenue for this one! Though I thought the race would start at the south end of Central Park and go south from there, past Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany’s, and all the other fabulous stores. But no, it started at 80th St and went to 60th. I was disappointed about this, so I decided to just keep running past the finish line, and I ran all the way to 10th St, where I live. I heard the name David Bowie mentioned several times as I ran down the avenue. I am glad to be keeping his memory alive.
A handsome German tourist took this picture of me (below) when I was finished. It was 3.5 miles in all. The timed mile of the race took 8:31–possibly my fastest mile since highschool! And then another 26 minutes to run 50 more blocks. What a great way to spend Sunday morning.
I arrived at the race about an hour early, so I had coffee and fruit salad at the counter at this delightful New York diner on W. 82 Street, called Nectar 82:
And then I spent 20 minutes looking at Egyptian mummies at the Metropolitan Museum before it was time to line up for my heat. Ah, New York!