Travel

New York City – Sex, Math, Zen and Books for Miles – Part 5

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Hello? Hellooooooo? Is this thing on? *TAP, TAP, TAP.* I’m baaaaaack! What a hard-fought battle it was, too. To over-simplify, in the last three years I’ve been up to my eyeballs in cat rescue, my mom died, I had a good, old-fashioned nervous breakdown (the real kind, not just the turn of phrase) and quit my job. All of that should get its own post. And hopefully it will.

Now, I want to finish what I started and cover the rest of our amazing trip to NYC aaaaaall the way back in 2018. It’ll mostly just be a photo dump since I’ve probably forgotten more than I’d like to admit.

The day after the Marathon we started the day with bagels from Pick A Bagel I’m not normally into bagels due to their often super chewy texture but these were very good, because, well, NEW YORK CITY.

We filled the late morning and early afternoon by taking in a couple of museums: SEX and MATH.

Photo by Kate Glicksberg

They must not have allowed pictures in the Museum of Sex because I don’t seem to have any but I do remember it being very interesting. Besides the Booby Bounce House (which we did not try because it was more money) and the art exhibits, I remember there was a room with a silent movie being projected on one wall. We were a good three to five minutes into watching a historic, silent sex film when we realized there were other people in the room and we were effectively watching porn with strangers. Yep. Moving on.

The National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) was something I threw on the itinerary for my number loving, super-nerd husband but it was actually very entertaining.

We went from there to Holy Cow for a late lunch/early dinner and wound down the day by visiting Namaste Bookshop and the legendary Strand Book Store. This bibliophile was in absolute awe of the Strand. A whole day could’ve been spent hanging out there, easily, with over 2.5 million books (18 miles worth) and a kick-ass apparel and gift department to explore.

The Strand

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Junior’s again, but this time for their renowned cheesecake. While lunch there had been kind of lackluster, they really delivered with the cheesecake. Definitely get the cheesecake if you’re there.

~L~

New York City – Part 1 – Why We Went

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New York City has always been one of those far-off, bucket list trips for me. Husband (Allen) and I talked about it numerous times when we discussed where we’d like to go on vacation down the road. But it remained a dream, an enigma of a city to a couple of folks who grew up among the cows, corn, and beans.

Manhattan and the Manhattan Bridge

We knew “of” each other in high school and I remembered him as “That guy who runs all the time.”  That’s how everyone seemed to know him.  Even in the years where he’d given it up, gained weight, and all but lost who he really was to a crummy marriage, people always asked him, “You still runnin’?” The answer was a reluctant “No.”

Allen circa 2011 and our recently departed “Princess” Onyx.

Then we got together and though it was definitely not overnight, he started to remember who he was, and what he was passionate about, and he began hitting the pavement again.

5King with friends is the best way to 5K.

 

 

 

2015

In his younger years of running, he had qualified for Boston, more than once, but he never went. So, that has become his goal: to qualify and actually run the race.

2015 YOLO Half-Marathon.

YOLO Half-Marathon 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With all the training, we talked of other Marathons that could be good to run to try to qualify for Boston. The New York City Marathon came up quite a bit, but in the end, we decided to wait another year before diving into that race and the immense culture shock we knew we were in for. I imagine that was mostly me, since I was going to have to mentally prepare my-super-mega-ultra-introverted-self like never before, as well as plan most of the trip.

YOLO Half-Marathon 2017

 

 

 

 

 

Then, *d* shared a link on Facebook that the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance was looking to fill some spots on its NYC Marathon team. If you’ve read any of the blogs she’s written here, you know that her youngest son has Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. We’ve always felt helpless when it comes to saying the right thing or offering the right help to her. Suddenly, there was a way to help the Alliance, draw attention to this terrible disease, and honor one tough little boy and his family.

YOLO Half-Marathon 2018, used as a “training race” for the impending NYC Marathon

So, Allen contacted the Alliance and got a place on the team. The Alliance set a goal of $5,000 to be raised by each runner and set up individual donation pages. I set up a Facebook page where his training progress could be followed by friends, family, and fellow athletes, and the donation page easily found.

 

After being interviewed by the local paper, multiple people sharing the donation link, contributing to the cause, rooting him on, and a year of diligent training, it was time to fly.

Literally. We took a plane to NYC.

On our way!

 

 

 

View of the city from the plane. (Photo courtesy of Ariana)

 

 

 

 

 

 

And our adventure began.

~L~