January 7, 2007: Fred Lebow Classic
Racers: Mel, Shirley, Lyle, Alka, Mary
We couldn’t wait to start our “grand scheme” and signed up for the first qualifying race for 2007, the NYRR Fred Lebow Classic, a 5 miler in Central Park. As of January 1, we had 6 committed members: Lyle, Alka, Mary, Shirley, Mel and Nancy. Nancy wasn’t going to be able to make the first race.
Initially I thought that we would be able to do 9 races all together. But it became apparent early on that even with the large number of NYRR qualifying races to choose from, we were not going to be able to identify 9 races that we could all do together. Trying to coordinate this was a cross between herding cats and solving a Rubik’s cube.
The plan would need to loosen up in order to work. Individuals would each need to suggest specific races to do, see who wanted to join them, and plan the races in a slightly more spontaneous manner. Each person would be responsible to make sure they made it to 9 races in the upcoming year.
Another feature of “the plan” as I saw it, was to try to do this as frugally and time efficiently as possible. If we were each going to travel to NYC nine times in one year, this could be costly and time consuming. My vision was to do this “on the cheap,” with the philosophy that in a great city like New York you don’t have to spend a fortune to have a blast. We would drive down together, share moderately priced lodging, eat at fun, casual places, take the subway or walk, and just enjoy the sights and ambiance of the city.
Early on I had suggested that we stay in hostels, considering the price of hotel rooms in New York. When I mentioned this to Mary on one of our Sunday group runs, she gave me this look that implied, “Are you out of your frigging mind??” So Mary got very busy and found us a great deal on rooms at the Upper Eastside Marriott Courtyard for this first trip. Mary also appointed herself tour director, which was great.
The race was on Sunday. We left Saturday morning about 7:30 am. Mel was late, so we made her sit in the very back of my SUV. I was driving and decided to try a route through New Jersey. I know this decision was hard for Mary (as she is an expert on the fastest way to get to New York) but she was very gracious and flexible. We had a great drive down. The day was sunny and getting very warm as we traveled south. We had a little glitch as we actually tried to cross over from New Jersey into Manhattan. I had a GPS navigation system, directions from Mapquest, and ongoing verbal directions from Mary. An in spite of this (or perhaps because of this) I took a wrong turn and ended up where I really didn’t want to be—going through the Holland Tunnel. It was amazing. It seemed like it went from 20 lanes to 2 lanes in a span of about 100 feet, with this giant free-for-all sprawl of cars and trucks playing chicken with each other. Where we live there is no such thing as a traffic jam, so under usual circumstances I’m not a pushy or aggressive driver, and tend to be kind and accommodating to fellow drivers. I could see that this attitude wasn’t going to work if I wanted to make it through the tunnel! So I switched into NYC driving mode (yes, I am capable of this). We had a beautiful drive up along the Hudson, past the Chelsea Piers. It was over 70 degrees and everyone was outside. People were out rollerblading in shorts and tank tops. (Remember this was January 6!) We rolled down our windows and enjoyed the drive through the city.
We drove past the NYRR office and picked up our packets (we were delighted with the long-sleeved white t-shirts with the colorful design) and then headed to the hotel to check in. There was no time to waste. Mary had a plan. We took a subway down to midtown and she took us on a walking tour that included Trump Tower, shops along 5th Avenue (we could look in the windows, but she wouldn’t allow us to go in), Rockefeller Center (the Christmas tree and decorations were still there), and I’m sure other sights that I can’t remember now. The main challenge of this walk was to keep up with Mary without getting run over. We ended in Times Square, and headed up to The View. We enjoyed our drinks, the view, and the crowd.
We couldn’t wait to start our “grand scheme” and signed up for the first qualifying race for 2007, the NYRR Fred Lebow Classic, a 5 miler in Central Park. As of January 1, we had 6 committed members: Lyle, Alka, Mary, Shirley, Mel and Nancy. Nancy wasn’t going to be able to make the first race.
Initially I thought that we would be able to do 9 races all together. But it became apparent early on that even with the large number of NYRR qualifying races to choose from, we were not going to be able to identify 9 races that we could all do together. Trying to coordinate this was a cross between herding cats and solving a Rubik’s cube.
The plan would need to loosen up in order to work. Individuals would each need to suggest specific races to do, see who wanted to join them, and plan the races in a slightly more spontaneous manner. Each person would be responsible to make sure they made it to 9 races in the upcoming year.
Another feature of “the plan” as I saw it, was to try to do this as frugally and time efficiently as possible. If we were each going to travel to NYC nine times in one year, this could be costly and time consuming. My vision was to do this “on the cheap,” with the philosophy that in a great city like New York you don’t have to spend a fortune to have a blast. We would drive down together, share moderately priced lodging, eat at fun, casual places, take the subway or walk, and just enjoy the sights and ambiance of the city.
Early on I had suggested that we stay in hostels, considering the price of hotel rooms in New York. When I mentioned this to Mary on one of our Sunday group runs, she gave me this look that implied, “Are you out of your frigging mind??” So Mary got very busy and found us a great deal on rooms at the Upper Eastside Marriott Courtyard for this first trip. Mary also appointed herself tour director, which was great.
The race was on Sunday. We left Saturday morning about 7:30 am. Mel was late, so we made her sit in the very back of my SUV. I was driving and decided to try a route through New Jersey. I know this decision was hard for Mary (as she is an expert on the fastest way to get to New York) but she was very gracious and flexible. We had a great drive down. The day was sunny and getting very warm as we traveled south. We had a little glitch as we actually tried to cross over from New Jersey into Manhattan. I had a GPS navigation system, directions from Mapquest, and ongoing verbal directions from Mary. An in spite of this (or perhaps because of this) I took a wrong turn and ended up where I really didn’t want to be—going through the Holland Tunnel. It was amazing. It seemed like it went from 20 lanes to 2 lanes in a span of about 100 feet, with this giant free-for-all sprawl of cars and trucks playing chicken with each other. Where we live there is no such thing as a traffic jam, so under usual circumstances I’m not a pushy or aggressive driver, and tend to be kind and accommodating to fellow drivers. I could see that this attitude wasn’t going to work if I wanted to make it through the tunnel! So I switched into NYC driving mode (yes, I am capable of this). We had a beautiful drive up along the Hudson, past the Chelsea Piers. It was over 70 degrees and everyone was outside. People were out rollerblading in shorts and tank tops. (Remember this was January 6!) We rolled down our windows and enjoyed the drive through the city.
We drove past the NYRR office and picked up our packets (we were delighted with the long-sleeved white t-shirts with the colorful design) and then headed to the hotel to check in. There was no time to waste. Mary had a plan. We took a subway down to midtown and she took us on a walking tour that included Trump Tower, shops along 5th Avenue (we could look in the windows, but she wouldn’t allow us to go in), Rockefeller Center (the Christmas tree and decorations were still there), and I’m sure other sights that I can’t remember now. The main challenge of this walk was to keep up with Mary without getting run over. We ended in Times Square, and headed up to The View. We enjoyed our drinks, the view, and the crowd.
So then it was on to dinner at Virgil’s Barbecue. It was noisy, crowded and fun. This is the part where certain people who shall remain nameless began to run amok. I have edited out the details in the interest of decorum.
The next day was bright and cooler, and we all had a wonderful race in spite of the late night out. We had finished race number one!
We then packed up the car and headed back to the 'Burg. We were actually in the city only 19 hours, but we definitely packed it in.
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