Friday, October 31, 2008

Laugh It Up

MARATHON EXPO MADNESS!

We are a sum up of all experiences, and advices taken, are we not? So when I got a comment earlier today from a noted Triathlon Coach and Sports Scientist out in Vancouver, I read it, and I must admit, a lot of what he said made a lot of sense.
Particularly, the part about going out and having fun.


Kinda looks like last year's entrance, but it's grand all the same.

When I PR'd in Philly this past September, I was stoked. In fact, I was high-fiving Scott at the starting line even before the race had started. Being happy keeps you loose, and actually helps you to do well. I can either be that, or be tense and do poorly. Gee, seems like a tough choice, doesn't it? (sarcasm).

I got to leave my job early today (thanks boss! :-) ) and headed over to the Javitz. Thank God, because I needed the extra time. Coming home it was 2 hours and 40 minutes in bumper to bumper traffic on the LIE, Northern and Southern States. To make things a bit trickier, I had to pay for parking. One garage wanted to charge me, get this, $50 dollars for the first 2 hours! It was like over $70 for 3 hours!!!!

Let me point out to everyone that while NY is expensive, the going rate is half that. And it was at the Kinney Park system just a few blocks down. This place was a bunch of crooks. I did not pay them (at the robbery place) and left.

Now let me show you a picture of this garage for everyone to take a good look at it.
The address would be approximately 510 W. 34th Street, near the corner of 10th Avenue.

Stay Away from this garage!!!!!


The Marathon expo was in its usual mayhem. Many foreigners plunking over high sums of money (thanks to the weak dollar). I had vowed not to buy anything myself, but I caved and bought a couple of books for whom the authors were there in person. I got both books autographed and some funny stories to tell. But that's for later.

One bit of an emergency. I accidentally left my driver's license at home. Not a smart move. In order to get my race number, I needed a photo ID. Shit. It was just then when I realized I had my work photo ID tag, and everything went great thereafter.

Here's my numbahhhh:



After that episode had ended I made my way over to the Karhu athletic shoe kiosk that is being currently run by Jack Rabbit (great great place for runners, tri's and all athletes alike - http://www.blogger.com/www.jackrabbitsports.com - gotta check it out!)
where I saw Scott and we headed downstairs to the food court for some grubs.

I must admit that for $9.50 I got a very tasty Chicken Parmesan cutlet over a nice bed of pasta. Funny Moment: I was showing Scott, this new application that I had on my iPhone called "midomi" which I downloaded for free. In it, you sing or hum or even talk the words to a song, and it gives you back all of the information regarding that song. It's a great little app for when you are missing the name of a song.

Well anywho, Scott says, "So any song? Like "You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore", and shit like that" he says? And as I was saying yes, we started walking into the bathroom. Here comes the funny moment. He's going towards the urinal, and at that point I noticed there were other people there.

"Dude. There is no fucking way I am going to be singing that you don't bring me flowers anymore, especially with people in the stalls". At this point, Scott nearly lost it, and we were cracking up. I swear I might have missed the bowl, not even sure. And totally unprofessional for even bringing it up here, but I am more about honesty than anything else anyway.


So here is the other somewhat funny moment. I get to the booth where Liz Robbins is selling her book "A Race Like No Other" (see inset). And she says to me, "You look very familiar." The other girls say, "Oh boy, we should be getting his autograph, that's Mark Ruffalo...." Damn, I should have played the part. Perhaps she would have given me the book for free? Anyway, she mentioned that just like she mentioned in her interview on television, on how her knees were bad, and how she decided to "Run A Marathon" as opposed to "Run" one, I half-heartedly mentioned that perhaps she could get new knees from the proceeds of the book, to which she wrote in my book:

However, it was even funnier when I got home.

My father calls and after I mention about this incident, he goes....

"Did you pursue it?"
And I said, "Pursue what?"
He goes, "Did you try to flirt with them or get their number or something? After all, you should have since that sounded like a compliment to you."
I said, "Oh please, nothing could be further from my mind."
then he goes "oh yes I forgot ...you have a "girlfriend"..." and started to completely crack up as if he KNOWS that I have fabricated everything.

So i deliberately paused and said, "uh huh that's right i have a girlfriend already".

Once i said that he laughed in a way that only a true Sith Lord could laugh.

I have my father so fuckin' fooled, that it is hysterical!!! He really thinks I fabricated my girlfriend up out of thin air!!!!!

Speaking of which, I sent her this picture and she really liked that scarf for going sledding and stuff. $30? Too pricey.

A bunch of people I dont even know. Smile! You're on Blogrunner Camera!

German Silva (former NY marathoner and Olympian) talks to crowd with Liz Robbins, author of "A Race Like No Other" to his left. His big cautionary remarks were, a) break up the races in three parts, miles 0-10, miles 10-20, and the last 10k. He also mentioned not to try and do more than 10 seconds faster than your pace for the first 10 miles or you will struggle later on. All sage advice.


Additonally, I had the honor to meet Bart Yasso, who is a runner's icon, the "Mayor Of Running" as other have annointed him, and a funny writer too. He's had adventures in both running and cycling all around the world, and here he was today, standing a few feet away being interviewed on camera, and mentioning his love for the Dallas Cowboys. When his interview finished, I met the "Mayor", and he took my book and wrote the following words:




This was the Gatorade Display. It was of a man running inside a plastic bubble. Sort of like John Travolta in that made for TV movie, "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble"....but on steroids.


Time to get political. Hey John, this is what I think about your campaign. Eat it, buster!

And just to make sure I give equal playing time here, in McDonald's they interview people 3 times before they hand over the uniform to flip a burger. McCain only interviewed Sarah Palin once.


My perennial favorite booth....the Snickers Marathon Kiosk. Please repeat after me with the voice of Homer Simpson....."Mmmmmmm......Snick-ers......."

Finally some nice B&W artwork of various points along the race course.

Hope you like them as much as I did....



Well that's that. Going to bed soon, and will veg out all day long tomorrow.

......Here comes the fun again.....








2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad it was fun today at Javits. I enjoyed the real-time emails I got. :) And remind me to give your dad a hard time when I meet him eventually. First about me "not existing" but more importantly about him trying to convince you to flirt with random women! Don't get my irish up! You're mine! I called dibs on you a while ago. :P

Now get to bed. You need your rest. *smooch*

Love
Your Imaginary Girlfriend

DGA said...

If i said once I will say it again.....YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT! You don't have a girlfriend! Your mind is playing tricks with you! Youa re under the influence of Carpenter's Glue!(and that is quite impossible).
I also still say the Marathon writer looks pretty good to me...