nyc 2011

a couple of weeks ago, we headed to new york for the marathon.  i encouraged billy to run it while he was in marathon shape and could easily qualify, since it's one of the bucket list marathons for a lot of runners.  plus, after spending a weekend there with my mom and sister last year, i was anxious to get back! 
in retrospect, i think for future race travels, we'll try and travel the day before the race and stick around a couple of days after the race rather than fitting in our touristy activities while billy's getting ready for the race (which includes resting and being off his feet - not things that come easily in new york).  
we had a great time and were fortunate to find super cheap flights up there and stay in a very generous friend's apartment while he was out of town for the weekend.  so, our trip was on a great budget, which is always nice - and good for our possible anniversary trip because we'll have more money to spend :)
we took the early flight friday morning and were in the city by around 9.  then we headed to the expo, went to times square, and ended up at rockefeller center.  we went into the nbc store, which was great (got an awesome lil sebastian magnet), and we decided to do the nbc studio tour after that.  we had a very good dinner that night at a cuban restaurant in the east village where we were staying - cafecito.  would definitely recommend the place!  plus, it was close to josh's apartment, which meant not walking around much in the cold and surprisingly windy weather.  

picture at the expo with desi davila, one of the fastest american women

times square

budweiser billboard :)

30 rock

ice skating rink at rockefeller center...right after this, we witnessed a proposal on the ice :)

next morning, we went on a run around tompkins square park and then headed uptown to catch the grayline bus tour.  i would recommend that as well.  it's very informative, nice to see a lot of the city without being on our feet a lot (which was good for the runners in the group :)), and had pretty convenient stops.  we stopped around central park and went into the plaza, fao schwartz, niketown, and a few other places before catching the bus back toward the east village.  that night, we had dinner at perbacco, a little italian place in the east village   the food was pretty good (billy's lasagna was better than my risotto), but i thought it was pricey for the portion.  plus, their bottles of beer were $7!  i guess new york is just expensive, but we had definitely gotten more food the night before for half the price!  that night was early to bed after getting all of billy's stuff situated for the next morning.  

apollo theater from the grayline bus

harlem

met museum

madison square garden...another bud billboard :)

empire state building on our bus tour

i caught a cab with billy early sunday morning to go to the staton island ferry and looking back, i actually could have ridden the ferry with him towards the start.  i guess i'll know if he ever does it again.  instead, i headed back to the apartment and then toward the subway to go meet some new friends to watch the race with.  unfortunately the train was down, but i was able to catch the grayline bus up towards where i was meeting the girls.  it was really nice to have people to watch the race with (one of my best friends who lives in california now had a friend whose boyfriend was running in the marathon, so we coordinated to meet up and watch the race together) and talk to during the time spent waiting for our runners to come by.  we got to see the guys at mile 16.5 or so and then headed toward the park to watch around mile 25.5.  there were LOTS of people everywhere, which was fun, but i'll definitely be more prepared in terms of spectating strategies if billy does this race again.  it was kind of that way with boston - the first time, it was tough to figure out logistics for meeting up, etc. but has been easy ever since.  
we met up outside the natural history museum and got on the train right there to head back to the east village.     on our way back, we stopped at katz's deli, which i guess is pretty famous, but again, we thought it was pricey for what it was.  i think the stage door deli that my mom, kel, and i went to last year was better - not sure about prices, but they were probably around the same.  then, we went back to josh's apartment and packed up our stuff to go to the hilton garden inn in the garment district.  i got our room there for a steal online, so that was exciting, and it was a nice hotel in a very good location.  after we checked in, we walked to macy's to see the christmas decorations and ride the old wooden escalators, and then we went to the "top of the rock" which was lots of fun (great views at night!!).  we walked down to times square, which is great to see after dark with all of the billboards and crazy lights, and we ate dinner at an irish pub there - o'lunneys.  we had a special treat of eating right next to the owner, who so nicely bought us a round of drinks to celebrate the marathon.  we also met some people from norfolk, so that was random. 

around 16.5

final part of the race...uphill (even though this picture makes the incline look a little steeper than it was!)

around 25.5...no heel striking going on :)

macy's christmas decorations!

30 rock at night...so pretty!

empire state building from our hotel room

top of the rock

zamboni

times square at night

nuts...this was taken for one of billy's co-workers who told us we had to try the nuts. they smelled great, but we didn't get any :)

we relaxed, headed to bed, and got up the next day for our flight back home.  
so, it was a great trip, and we have another long list of things to do next time - 9-11 memorial, running in central park (not racing :)), possibly a museum, broadway show, statue of liberty, walking the brooklyn bridge, and some other restaurants to try out.  

verazzano narrows bridge (aka race start) from the plane