Weekend, Etc..

Besides having to work all day, Saturday, this weekend was a lot of fun for me (despite how serious I look in the photo, above). We were able to get to know some friends a little bit better on Friday night, by having dinner with them. Saturday night, we attended a party hosted by one of Reagan’s clients (and good friend). Then it was time to do work. Our friend Mike came down from CT to spend the night at our place in anticipation of the Queens Half-Marathon today. We woke up at 4:30, in an attempt to get to Queens in time for the race (7:00 AM start time). Things just got crazy, from there.

We caught the A, around 5:15, or so. The starting line was at College Point, which is not a very easily accessible location by public transportation. But they were going to have all of the roads shut down super early, which is why we opted out of driving. I kind of forgot that the A is still running local, at that ungodly hour. But when we got to 42nd Street, and were waiting for the 7 train, there were still plenty of runners in the same boat as us. So, I thought that surely we would be ok. For the final leg of the journey to the starting line, NYRR had chartered a shuttle service to take runners from the last stop on the 7 train line and take them to the park. We arrived at the shuttle stop around 6:45. With a gun time of 7, we knew that things didn’t bode well, especially accounting for the fact that we still had to pick up our numbers, check bags, etc.

^–Watching the sun come up, from the 7 train

As soon as we came above ground, and saw that the line wrapped around the corner and then went on for roughly 2 blocks, Reagan was ready to throw in the towel, right then. I have to admit that I was considering giving up, myself. 45 minutes later, we were finally at the front of the line. We were just kind of hoping that maybe they had delayed the start a bit, because of the bus debacle. Much to our dismay, after a short bus ride, we arrived at an impasse. I’m sure you can guess what it was. Yes, a solid pack of runners, blocking the roadway. We were like, whoa, that is a pretty thick field, maybe they did delay the start. Nope. It was just because they were already 3 miles into the race. Hahahaha. So we started hoofing it to the starting line, since the bus could go no further. I was basically dragging Reagan, at this point. She was so mad, and just wanted to go home and take a nap. It was going to be Mike’s first half-marathon, so I said it should be his decision.

We had walked for about 1 mile, and weren’t really seeing anymore runners at that point. Mike said that he didn’t really feel like doing it anymore, especially since they had probably shut off the mats. So we started walking back towards the 7, stop. We even tried to get a cab. Then we had a sudden change of heart. We turned around again, and walked back to the start area. Once we had finished our 3+ mile warm up, we were at the registration tent, where everyone was being totally cool, and trying to get us all suited up and ready to go, as quickly as possible. They even took our bags right there, so that we didn’t have to check them. As we were walking to the starting line, we paused to cheer on the winner of the race, as he made his way back into the park! Hahaha. The icing on the cake: the mats were still on. NYRR had totally redeemed themselves (in my eyes) from botching the transportation situation so badly.

As part of the deal to coax Reagan into not going home, I agreed to run the whole race with her and help pace her. It really turned out to be a lot of fun. For the first 8 miles, we were virtually alone, just chatting it up. Around that time, we started to pass some of the stragglers. It was really cool, the way that the course just wound through residential College Point and Whitestone. We saw all kinds of exotic birds that had become wild and nested under power transformers, on telephone poles. It was crazy! Reagan and I almost never get to run together, and I think that this is probably the longest that we ever have done it. I didn’t turn on my headphones once, during the whole race. I know that this story has become extremely long, so I’m wrapping it up.

^–Mike, making the victory call, after the race.

After the race, we picked up our bags and headed to the shuttle line. It was about as long as it was, before the race. You can see it in the background of the photo at the top of the post. I knew that our friend Greg was going to be working in the medical tent at the finish area. So, I had kind of been looking for him. But I didn’t see him. Then he and his friend came walking by as we were waiting in line. They offered us a ride back into Manhattan, which we accepted in a heartbeat. It turns out that Greg’s friend was actually headed back to CT, afterward too, so he offered to give Mike a lift. Holy crap. For a race that could not have started anymore chaotic for us, it certainly wrapped up nicely.

After eating lunch and taking a quick nap, we made a trip up to visit Piper, who was as cute as ever. The end.