Race Report

New York City Marathon

Sunday, November 4, 2001

GETTING THERE:     

Rode Amtrak from Charlotte. Left at 1am Friday, saw a beautiful sunrise in Virginia, arrived NYC Port Authority Terminal at  2pm

A couple of subway rides and then checked in at Portland Square Hotel on 47th Street, just off Times Square. DON'T TELL ANYBODY - but this is a great deal. Right in the middle of the action, and the rates are GREAT!

After stashing stuff at Portland Square, went to Union Station to meet nephew Ryan who was coming in from West Point where he is a "Firstie" - in his fourth and last year. This is a BEAUTIFUL train station.

While waiting for Ryan's train to arrive, walked around Union Station. It was obvious this trip would be different - I saw my first "memorial wall" with pictures and bios of WTC victims. Some people hurried by, others stopped and read. 

FRIDAY NIGHT PENGUIN ENCOUNTER:     

By the time Ryan and I got back to the hotel, Doug Shearer had checked in. We all headed to the expo where Doug found this friend!

Getting in touch with Julia on her Blackberry, we finally all got together at the expo entrance. It was a short walk on 34th Street to Foro Italico. Good food, but I must admit some of us weren't quite cultured enough to figure out the graphic on the menu cover. 

UPDATE: 

According to one of our Penguins with Italian heritage, Violet in Ann Arbor: "The design on the restaurant logo is of Romulus & Remos, the twins raised by wolves who founded the city of Rome." So now you know!

Julia's table

Same table - but closeups of: Doug Shearer, Daniel Wellner, Milt and Cheryl Link, Harriet Kang, and Julia Kim

Julia lets Ryan and me join the picture!

On the left: The BEST SCREAM TEAMERS - Harriet's brother Shelton and his wife Linda. On the right: Ron Horton (that would be me) and nephew Ryan Townsend. Notice Ryan is wearing his MCM shirt. He ran that marathon the Saturday ONE WEEK before NYCM!

Doug in the Big Apple! All of us (guys) enjoyed the lights of Times Square, but were especially appreciative of the current Times Square Beautification Project (picture on right)