New York City Marathon

I went to NYC today to send an e-mail that I'd forgotten to send out on Friday, then while I was in the area, I decided to walk over to the bottom of Central Park in order to see some of the runners from The New York City Marathon. I was happy at the way some of the shots I took turned out today. I didn't think there'd be that many good shots to get, but it was a really good place to practice my technique. The same thing happened over and over, so I could just stand there and practice. It was nice that there was still something different about each runner. Looking back through the shots was neat. I was standing at about the 23/24th mile out of 25. It was interesting to see how people who had all run the same race and were at the same place, were still so individual. Some people were bounding, some were limping, some were smiling some were grimacing some people ran with stiff arms some people swung their arms back and forth etc.

From NYC Marathon

There were hundreds of people there lined up to cheer the runners on. These weren't people they knew, but people who just wanted to be supportive. Some people had their names written on their shirt so you could call out encouragement to them specifically. It was kind of a rush to see people at the end of their endurance and to shout out postive encouragement with the crowd. Some people even had phrases written that they wanted you to yell at them, and everyone did. it was a lot neater than I thought it would be. I'm glad I went.

From NYC Marathon

I also tried to take a picture from the platform of a bag lady who was surrounded by bags, gathering them up in an empty subway car. So as I had my back to her to set up the shot and turn around to take it, I saw a guy sleeping. Unfortunately he was waking up and the train was about to leave so I got a little flustered and it came out blurry, but it's definitely one of my favorite sleeping in public shots so far except for the blurriness. I was proud of the composition, I didn't have to crop it at all in the computer, at least I got that right.

From Sleeping in P...

Healthy

Today was the annual Health Fair at work. I go every year and have things checked out. I think I must use it in place of an annual doctor's visit, because I definitely get ever get a check-up. So even though I have a slight cold at the moment (Thanks Scott) I went on over to the fair. They gave me a semi-nice Sony backpack type bag thing, and some candy. I also got a massage which was pretty nice, and some information from all our insurance providers. Oh the exciting life of adults. Anyway, I was proud because this year when I got all my levels back I was finally in the "Average Risk" category as opposed to the "High Risk" category for HDL which is the good cholesterol. The past two years my HDL has been too low and the only way I can raise it apparently is through exercise. I still do my same walk to and from work and up the stairs at the subway station every day with a few team sports mixed in, the same as always. In general it looks like I should probably still exercise more to reach "Optimal" levels in all the categories. Maybe I should let Scott drag me to the gym more often. I am not a big fan of places like that, but apparently it's good for you. Go figure. Your body trivia for today is - You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television. Great! I think I'll take more naps.

P.S. I found a mosquito flying in my office today. Further proof that they're out to get me. That mosquito would have had to go through at least 5 doors to get in, there are no windows in my office or anywhere in the building that open to the outside.

5k - My First Race

I was in my very first "race" today. I put that in quotes because it was a 5k and I walked the first mile and slow jogged the last two. I also got a late start since I was waiting on my little. I volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters and my "little" and I sometimes find it hard to keep in touch. So I had hoped she was coming since she said she was, but we never got to confirm details, so once the race started we were standing there with our lovely sign waiting just in case my little or another person's little who was also MIA showed up. These kids are juniors in high school, so don't worry folks, I'm not waiting on a third grader to get themselves to the upper west side. It was a beautiful day, about 70 degrees and the race was along the water in a park so it was nice to get out and enjoy it. We all warmed up before the race. Mass calisthenics sure do look funny. Afterwards they had a lovely picnic for us and it was also part of Nickelodean's Day of Play so they had the slime truck out. Haha they played games to determine the winner, and the winner got to go sit on a seat to be slimed. Those kids acted like it was their life long dream to have that stuff ooze all over them. One girl in particular was extra excited and when the slime poured down on her it really drenched her. She didn't look quite as excited afterwards as she did before. I walked around the city some more afterwards because it was such a beautiful day, but unfortunately I couldn't find anyone available to hang out with so I headed home. On the way I saw one of the many street vendors with an exceptionally large pile of bananas. Usually they're 4 or 3 for a dollar so he must have gotten a particularly large shipment of bananas in. I can't wait until Scott comes back. The house is really just too empty, and I end up watching way too much tv. Haha the Nickelodean people announced their "Day of Play" as a day where kids get out and turn off the TV for 3 hours. I guess they didn't want their ratings to slump. Oh yeah, the girl in this picture is someone from my "little's" school. She was nice, and we were jogging partners. This is us at the finish line. I finished in just under 50 minutes. Not bad for walking the first mile, not having exercised in months and starting 10 minutes late.