charity: water 10k 2011

Last year's charity: water 10k was such a success that we decided to plan another one. Jessica Joy took the lead last year, but she had a lot on her plate this year so I took the lead in planning the event. We had a total of 26 people participate in this year's event. It was a perfect morning in Central Park, and everyone did a great job!

Thanks to Mike Anderson and John Nelson for taking all the pictures.

4-mile Run and Aunt Karen & Uncle Woody's Manhattan Visit

Last Saturday (September 17th), I completed my first 4-mile distance run/race with New York Roadrunners. I finished in 35:44, which is an 8:56 minute/mile. Given the short distance, I was happy to be able to break the 9 minute mile pace.

It was a nice, cool September morning for running.

Finished...I forgot my workout headband, so my hair was a disaster.

After my run, I came back to my apartment and quickly got ready to go to midtown to meet up with my Aunt Karen & Uncle Woody. They were in the middle of a cross-country road trip, which included a weekend in NYC. Woody was in NYC years ago, and Karen had never been before.

This picture is actually from Friday night. I met them at their hotel, and we walked to Bryant Park Grill for dinner. We then walked to Times Square (see picture), Rockefeller Center and back to their hotel.

On Saturday morning, we headed straight to Grand Central to take the subway downtown. They did great on the subway...just like seasoned New Yorkers.

Our first stop was St. Paul's Chapel. There were still white ribbons on the fence around the church from 9-11.

This is at St. Paul's...a listing of the events of September 11, 2001.

We then walked to South Street Seaport to buy discount Broadway Show tickets, and from there got a good view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

We then walked to Wall Street, but that was a disappointment because the street was closed due to a protest. We could only see it from a distance. After Wall Street, we walked to Battery Park, which is the best view of the Statue of Liberty without getting on a boat. From there, we walked through Battery Park City to Ground Zero.

This is the new Freedom Tower at 1 WTC. As you can see in the picture, the base is completely built of concrete and steel. This is due to the tower being so close to the street, so if anyone tries to drive a car with a bomb it will not take down the building.

After Ground Zero, we got back on the subway and headed to the Murray Hill area to go to lunch. This was the view of the Empire State Building when we came out of the subway.

Lunch was at Bareburger...all organic products and grass-fed beef.

After lunch, we took 2 buses to get to Central Park. We spent about an hour walking through the park.

From the park, we walked to the 1 train to get to Times Square for our Broadway show...

...which was The Addams Family.

I never watched The Addams Family TV show (however, I did know the characters). This was an excellent Broadway show, and Brooke Shields was playing the role of Morticia.

It was a great day, and Uncle Woody and Aunt Karen were definitely troopers with ALL the walking we did.

10k and Rockaway Beach

Last Saturday (July 9), I had signed up to run a 10k in Central Park with New York Road Runners. I was hoping to get more running in than I did prior to the race, but I ended up finishing with a time of 1 hour and 23 seconds, which is a 9:45/mile pace. This was a little faster than my half-marathon pace, so I was happy with the run.

After the run, I was just going to hang out at my apartment for the afternoon, but Jillian called and said that they were headed to Rockaway Beach if I wanted to go. I quickly got my beach stuff together and met the Nelson's at the 86th and Lex train station. Rockaway Beach is in Queens, almost at the end of the A train. For a portion of the ride, the train tracks are completely over the water.

At the beach...Joah fell asleep on the long subway ride.

Our first spot. We moved about 4 times throughout the afternoon because the waves kept getting too close.

The Nelson family - Jillian, John and Joah.

I love this kid!

The Cohen's also met up with us.

Joah and Azariah...two sweaty beach babies.

Their matching hats were so cute.

Joah loved climbing on my cooler.

Mike and John after we moved into a shady spot.

Beach days are always great. I came home from the beach, put in Blue Crush and called it an early night.

Kellyn's Trip to NYC

Kellyn came to NYC to visit me from June 29th to July 6th. We had a packed and fun-filled schedule while she was here, which included the following:

Mamma Mia on Broadway on Wednesday night. This was my third time seeing this show, and it was just as fun as the first.

On Thursday I left work a little early. We went to the Chelsea/West Village area, and our first stop was the Chelsea Market.

We also went in the Apple store.

And we walked on the High Line. This was a new part of the High Line...you could cool off and get your feet wet.

A good shot of the Empire State Building.

This was a new portion of the High Line that opened in the last year (it wasn't open at the end of last summer, which was the last time I was there).

On Friday morning, we woke up early to go to see Beyonce in the Good Morning America concert series. But, our 5:30am arrival time wasn't early enough. We stood in the overflow line for a little over an hour and we realized we weren't getting in. We heard that people started lining up 24 hours early for this concert. If I wanted to see Beyonce that bad, I would just buy a ticket to her concert. We came home and watched the concert on TV, and took a nap.

On Friday afternoon, we went down to Soho and walked around there, Washington Square Park and Union Square.

This is Washington Square Park.

On Friday night we went to the Mets-Yankees game at Citi Field with Lauren and Adam Midkiff, and Adam's brother, Drew.

Since Dave Hudgens is the hitting coach for the Mets, we get to pick up Mets player tickets.

Kellyn and I in our great seats.

Unfortunately, the Mets lost, but it was still a fun game. Below is Kellyn and I with Dave.

In order to go wait for Dave after the game in the Family Room, we had to wear bracelets that said No Photos, No Autographs - just so people wouldn't ask us :)

On Saturday we went with a group of friends from Trinity Grace to Long Beach on Long Island.

We played a best of 3 volleyball game...this team won the first game, my team won the second game, and then we got beat in the third.

Yeah team!

On Sunday morning we went to church. It was a rainy day so we decided to come home and take a nap. Otis didn't mind.

On Sunday afternoon, Kellyn was nice and went to Costco with me. We bought two bags of cat litter...a total of 84 pounds. Usually I will just buy one at a time, but with two people, it is easy to lift the cart on the bus and down the stairs of my apartment. So, I bought two bags to save me a trip. Those will last for about 5 months! Since it was still raining on Sunday night, we saw Larry Crowne at Lincon Center Theater. It was a good rainy day movie, but not one I would see again.

On Monday morning we went to the gym, and then walked around Central Park for a while.

Monday afternoon we headed down to the West Side Highway (we were at 41st Street) to see the Macy's Fireworks. This was my third year doing this.

A nice sunset while we were waiting for fireworks.

I really needed a tri-pod to get good pictures of the fireworks.

On Tuesday night we went to Athena Nails for a manicure and pedicure, and then Kellyn flew out on Wednesday morning.