Running Bébé Takes Manhattan: Days 2 & 3

Day 2:  Halloween

Halloween night in New York City we were, literally, the only people NOT dressed up in costumes.  Check out this group on the subway platform at 50th Street:

They were good sports, they even struck a pose

Naive as we were, we thought it would be easy to take the subway down to the East Village, where we were meeting our friends for dinner.  When we exited the train at West 4th, this is what we encountered:

Packed like sardines at the W.4th subway station

We were stuck in that crowd for a good 20 minutes, and then I realized we actually needt to TRANSFER, not exit.  So we had to go BACK through that mess (against the crowd)!

Day 3:  The New York Marathon

I got up pretty early to meet my friend (Fellow Runner, Jeannie) in Queens at Mile 14.  I got a HUGE thrill when I saw the lead women run by, especially my all-time-favourite runner, Paula Radcliffe.  She looked great!  And tough!  Click HERE for the video!

Later on we headed into Manhattan, and managed to see the elite men run down off the 59th Street Bridge onto 1st Avenue.  There was a lot of loud cheering going on there, and the runners were eating it up!

Next stop was Mile 26 on Central Park South.  The marathon was slower than I expected, so we were actually able to see the lead women AGAIN!  Paula had dropped back and she really looked like she was hurting.  Her face was the giveaway.  I cheered "GO PAULA" as loud as I could, hope it helped.

Next, we got to see the lead men, Meb Keflezighi was way out in front haulin' ass!  He looked quite relaxed and confident too!

Here's Meb in the lead with about 1/2 mile to go!

Amserican runner, Ryan Hall didn't look like he was lovin' life the last 1/2 mile

Here are Jeannie & I in our "Paual is NYC Marathon Royalty" crowns