Marathon Man

after Halloween, we headed off to my old stomping grounds...NEW YORK!

jack was running the marathon (the biggest in the world I learned) and our great friends the Culps, decided to come along and have a fun weekend with us!

 

I know, we just traveled, but these trips have both been planned for months and we haven't gone anywhere in 6 years - they just happened to be back to back.

hey, it didn't bother us! ;)

 

the weather was COLD and rainy when we got there Saturday morning. we ate and shopped and still had the best day. jack and royer went to the center to pick up all of his gear, while Katherine and I shopped some more ;)

 view from our hotel room

we stayed at the W in union square and had a drink before dinner.

yes, jack had a bourbon on the rocks....less than 24 hours before running 26.2 miles.

 the beautiful culps ;)

 we then went to dinner at EMPORIO and had the best time and a fantastic meal! and yes, jack drank 2 glasses of wine. he is a caveman. I don't know how he does it!

 the next morning, sunday, jack got up early and got ready and headed out to staten island. his start time was 10:30, but he had to be out there a few hours earlier. it actually was great that he started later - for all of us.

jack ran for his father, billy hall who has suffered from MS since he was in his late 20's. he is our hero and jack was so excited to raise money and do this for him.

 off he goes!! the weather that day was so windy and cold....BUT, beautiful

 since we had some time in the morning, we had signed up to try soul cycle which was just a few blocks from us. I do flywheel once a week and love it, so I knew this would be fun. I have seen it on Kelly and Michael and my good friend Kindra does it all the time.

 ummm....it was hard.

look at my face. we were soaking wet.

it was so much fun though but dang, you have to be coordinated - you stood and pedaled the whole time - maybe sat on the bike for 5 minutes out of the 45 and had to basically dance on it....I thought I was coordinated, but I was proven wrong.

the teacher was a itty thing and suuuuper ripped. the music was loud and fun and we had a good time and felt better that we had worked out too -

 once we were done, we headed back and got ready and went out to Brooklyn to catch jack.

royer was the bomb getting us around. I haven't lived there in 7 years, so to say I am rusty is an understatement. he knew everything and we got to see jack 3x perfectly because of him!

 

we told him to always stay on the left so we could find him.

he would be wearing a bright orange hat.

wellllllll, so was everyone and their mother. a sponser that year was dunkin donuts and all the caps given out were orange!

BUT, he had the MS jersey and his guns ;) so we found him easily

 

the first turn, we were screaming and he finally caught us after he passed us and retuned for a kiss ;)

 after that, we headed back into the city and caught him at 62nd/1st. (no pics of that)

then headed toward central park to mile 26

 each time we saw him, we were up at the front - we were so lucky!!!

here he is at mile 26 - only .2 left!

he was looking so strong and Katherine and I shed a tear or two. it was very inspirational

still not on my bucket list, but so fun watching all these runners from all over the world do this. 50,000 people!

 

he finished in 4:08 - his best time yet!! he was aiming for 4:15 - now, this man did NOT train.

the last time he ran was oct 18 and the most he ran was 14 miles.

again, a caveman.

 by this time, we were cold and our feet hurt, so we did all our complaining to each other (well, katherine and I did ;))before we saw jack ;)

it was a few hours before he joined us at the time warner center because he had to walk 3 miles out of the park after the race.

we had celebratory beers/champagne and made our way back to the hotel

 view from the bar

 happy man!!

jack raised over $6400 for MS - thank you all so much for donating and helping a cause very dear to our hearts!

 

we then headed to dinner at FREEMANS - another delicious restaurant

 jack was walking a bit slow and so was I.....I don't wear heels often and 2 nights in a row is a record for me! I am sure people thought I ran the marathon too by the way I was walking ;0

 

Monday we slept in and headed out for a little shopping and to see my old roommate and soul mate ;) kindra and her husband ngo.

she has lived in nyc for around 15 years and has been managing Peak Performance for over 10. she is amazing at her job and ngo, well, just got to his website and see for yourself.

2 very smart, successful and WONDERFUL people.

I feel so lucky that we lived together for years in nyc - she is truly like a sister to me. I love her like family!

 I then had lunch with Katherine and headed to the airport. jack was staying until Tuesday and Katherine and royer had a later flight.

I ran into one of my buddies from the Y at the gate! heather works for delta and flies all over the world! this is when she was just coming in from paris ;)

so fun to see her!

 this was hands down one of the best weekends I have ever had. ever.

so. much. fun.

a weekend that is good for the soul. seeing friends and being with friends that make your heart happy and make you realize how lucky you are.

watching my husband run for his father. with 50,000 others running for their mothers, family members, friends. it was inspiring.

and being in the city that was such a huge part of me growing into the woman I am today. it made my career to be there. it made me survive. it made me strong. it made me appreciate home. it made me friends for life.

nyc will always be a part of me.

who knew years later I would be back with new best friends that happened to live there after I moved away?

gotta love life!