Just got back from a whirlwind four day trip to NYC with friends and holy crap am I exhausted!

The idea behind this trip was hatched around the make up tables backstage at the theater while putting on the production of Rocky Horror Show last year. It was just in the dreaming stages and most times those things never actually see the light of day, but this one really did become a reality.

The players for this trip: Koly and her son Dustin as well as her father Brady, Allison, Andrea, myself and Heather.

The original plan was that we would all fly out on a Sunday to DC where we would stay with Heather for a few days to do some sightseeing there and then drive into NYC for the rest of the trip. While that plan worked for Koly & fam as well as Allison, I could only get three days off of work so I decided to just head into NY for the last part of the trip and meet everyone there. Andrea thought that worked best for her so we became traveling buddies. 🙂

Tuesday I went to work as usual since I would be taking the red eye out that night. After work Rob and I visited with his parents to kill some time and then it was off to Prunedale where Rob dropped me off with Andrea who drove us the rest of the way to the San Jose airport.

Check in was a breeze. We were there early so we passed the time getting ourselves familiar with the maps that Andrea had thought to print up of the streets of NYC as well as the subway system. I was scared of the fight because, we I’m a nervous flyer anyway, but it had been raining all day and I was afraid it was going to be a pretty bumpy ride. It turns out that all my worrying was for nothing because it was probably one of the smoothest flights I have ever been on.

I wasn’t able to sleep which kinda sucked but being in the middle seat on the plane is always awkward. Had I been with Rob, I just would have just raised the armrest and leaned against him but as it was I just kind of had to fold my arms and hunch forward a little so not to disturb either person on my sides. Didn’t make for comfortable sleeping quarters.

It was around seven thirty in the morning eastern time when we got to NYC. We gathered our luggage from baggage claim and cleaned up a little before heading out on the subway to get the trip started. Our first stop was a luggage storage place that Andrea had found online. For ten dollars a bag they would hold our bags until we could check into the apartment that we had rented at three o’clock.

After that it was off to Planet Hollywood to see about activating the hop on hop off bus passes we had gotten with our citypass cards. We stayed and had a very nice breakfast, taking some pictures of all the movie stuff they have around the restaurant afterwards.

With our belly’s full, we set out walking around Times Square.

We went off in search of the discount ticket place for shows but when we found it, the line was insanely long. A woman trying to give us tickets to a comedy show told us not to bother with the line, to head down the block and look for people in a red vest, they would give us discount tickets to the show we wanted to see(MEMPHIS). We never did find the people in the red vests but we did find the theater that was showing Memphis. We decided to head inside and see if he would honor the discount that was in our citypass guide.

The man at the ticket booth was a true old New Yorker. When I showed him the advert in the Citypass book and said there was a discount he just looked at me, shrugged and said: “Yeah, sure, what the hell do I care?” and gave us orchestra seats for 80 bucks.

With tickets in hand we headed back out. We had a couple hours to kill before the show so we decided to do the CSI experience that was right across the street. We had free admission with our citypass card so it would be a cool little thing to pass the time. Unfortunately, it had just closed earlier that month even though all the signs were still up. We were a little bit bummed, but we noticed that there was a Cake Boss Cafe in the same building so even though we were still full from breakfast we decided to check it out.

It was a tiny little bakery that had an exhibit where you could see Cake Boss stuff, but Andrea and I weren’t really interested in that. We grabbed a cannoli and sat down. I’d never had one before so I have nothing to compare it to but I have to say it was damn good! Not overly sweet, but just right.

They had a few other tasty treats but all we wanted was a small taste.

Once we were done we wandered around Times Square and took lots of pictures until it was time to go see Memphis. I picked the show initially because it starred Adam Pascal and if you know me at all, you know that I am a HUGE RENThead. Adam, Anthony and Idina are my favorites from the original play so to see Adam perform again was just a gigantic draw for me. The show itself was phenomenal!!! I mean, just great! I huge welcome to New York show that bowled me over with it’s awesomeness. I loved every single minute of it.

When we were done there we took the subway back to get our bags and then we were off to the apartment that Allison had rented for us. We met up there with the rest of our group and settled into our room. The pictures on the website tried to make the apartment look bigger than it was but you could tell it was pretty tiny. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms plus a couch that Brady slept on.

Once we were settled in and i grabbed a much needed shower, we all decided to go get something to eat before heading out to the Empire State Building. After much hemming and hawwing we decided on a Chipotle clone restaurant that I can’t remember the name of where we saw a guy freak out because he didn’t think they were honoring some sort of coupon that he had. Pretty funny.

I was extreeeeeeeemmmmly nervous about the Empire State Building because I am REALLY afraid of heights. I was almost ready to bow out but Koly convinced me to face my fears and do it. Of course I was fine once we got up there. Everything is fenced in so it’s perfectly safe. 🙂 I got a good number of pictures up there.

After we had our fill of the Empire State Building we hit the Walgreen’s that was connected to it to pick up some things for the apartment like coffee and sodas and snacks and then took the subway back to the apartment. Blessedly, I was finally able to sleep after being awake for over 40 hours.

The next morning I woke up as everyone was deciding what to do. Allison and Andrea were all ready and they headed off on their own in separate directions.
I got up, got dressed and joined Koly, Heather, Brady and Dustin for the bus tour from the Waldorf to downtown.
It was pretty fun. You basically sit in the open second level of a double decker bus so you get to see all the sights. It did start to rain for a little bit but the tour guide busted out some plastic ponchos and the tour went on.

We left Brady on the bus to continue on the uptown portion while we got off and grabbed a cab to the Shake Shack for a late lunch. Oh my God were their burgers fantastic!! I got a shack burger, cheese fries and a peanut butter shake.

We tried taking the subway back to the apartment but ended up grabbing a cab instead when there was some confusion as to which train to take.
When we got back home we found that the apartment was without power.
The original plan had been to come home, grab a shower, get all dressed up and then go out to a nice dinner before the show we were going to see that night.
Instead we spent much of the late afternoon on the phone with the property managers trying to figure out what was going on and how to fix it.
The property persons solution was for us to go to the show and if it wasn’t fixed by the time we got back she would move is to a new property.
We hurriedly got showered(still had hot water thank goodness!) and dressed and took a cab to the theater.

The show we were seeing was called “Other Desert Cities” starring Stockard Channing, Stacey Keach and Judith Light and it

was AMAZING!!

The acting was amazing.  Judith Light stole the show in my opinion but all the actors were phenomenal!
Catching a cab after a Broadway play lets out is not as easy as you would think.  Heh.  We walked down the street trying to hail several cabs but they were all full.  Mumbles were made about finding a subway entrance when I heard Koly saying: “Allison!  Kelly!  Get in!”
I turned around and faced a bicycle cab.  You know the kind with the rickety little carriage on wheels hooked up to a bicycle.  I laughed out loud but Koly was serious.
In we hopped and while Koly, Heather and Andrea grabbed another one behind us.  It was quite a ride, weaving in and out of traffic, almost getting run over by cab drivers.  I was fearing for my life but also having a pretty good time.

When we got back to the apartment we were shocked to find that they wanted 48 dollars PER PERSON for the ride.  Not much we could do at that point so we chalked it up to another New York lesson learned and paid up.
The power was still off at the apartment so Allison called and got the address for the new place they were going to move into and she and Heather took off to meet her there to get the keys.
Koly grabbed two cabs that were on the street and we ran upstairs to get our luggage that we had packed before the show and headed over as well.
Well, the new place was certainly an upgrade.  It was between Park and Madison and it was HUGE!  Three bedrooms and three baths with a giant living room. I think the other apartment we had stayed in could have easily fit into the living room of this one.

We were all pretty exhausted so we settled in and hit the sack.
I slept in a bit the next morning while Allison, Brady and Andrea all went their separate ways to sight-see.  Koly woke me up to see if I wanted to do the Ferry to go see the Statue of Liberty with her and Dustin.  I reluctantly hauled myself out of bed(I STILL haven’t caught up on my sleep yet) and jumped in the shower.
Heather opted to stay at the apartment and work so after a group trip to Starbucks to fuel up on food and caffeine we said goodbye to Heather and grabbed a cab to Battery Park.
We had our citypass cards with us and were told to go inside the bookstore to get our free passes.  The bookstore told us that if we only wanted the 1 hour tour rather than the three hour one that we had to go outside and get into a different line.
After about fifteen minutes of standing in said line the man running the line announced that the boat was leaving and if we hadn’t paid for our tickets yet that we would need to follow him and we could pay at the boat.
Off we went playing an extended game of follow the leader for I’d say a good half a mile to the dock.  There we lined up again and waited for the man to print out the tickets.
Koly and I pulled out our citypass cards to get them ready when a young chubby man walked by and said “Uh oh.” upon seeing them.
Not exactly what we wanted to hear.  He waived to the guy printing out the tickets on his hand held device and pointed to our cards, sparking a discussion about how they can’t honor those, we needed paper tickets or a voucher from the bookstore.
Koly inquired why the bookstore had told us to go get in other line if they were supposed to print us out a voucher.
The man thought for a second and then grabbed our passes, handed them to the chubby kid and told him to run back to the bookstore and get our tickets for us.
The chubby kid did not look happy but took off at a medium jog to complete his task.
When he got back he was so completely out of breath he handed us the tickets and slumped down to sit on the ground.
Koly asked about seeing if he could get us back in line where we had been and between huffing and puffing he said: “Give me your tickets.”  We handed them over and he waived us in to cut and bypass the ticket taking line so we could go straight onto the boat.
The weather was perfect for the boat ride.

We got lots of good pictures and were almost home when Koly got a text from Heather to call her ASAP.
Fearing the worst that someone had gotten hurt she called her back and Heather explained that the property person was there at the apartment telling her that we had to move back to the old apartment that now had the electricity working.  Koly took the number and excused herself to go call the property person.
I wasn’t privy to the conversation but the gist was that the lady insisted that she told us the move was only for one night.  Which is just ridiculous because why in the world would we move all the way across town just to go to sleep?  We had hot water and we had candles, if we had known we would have to move all the way across town just to sleep and then shlep all our stuff back we would have just stayed in the dark and gone to sleep.
A compromise was reached that she would meet us at the apartment at six thirty and she would pay for the cabs to move back.  A discount was requested and she told us that we would have to write to the management and detail what had gone on before a discount would be considered.
We called everyone and told them to be back at the apartment by five to pack up and get moved.  At that point it was around two or so and we were starving so we headed over to the location where the new twin towers were going up.  I had wanted to go to the 9/11 memorial but the lines were long and we didn’t have a whole lot of time.  We grabbed some lunch at a Paninni place and while we were eating we saw an Occupy Wall Street march form and then take place in the park next to the restaurant.  That was pretty interesting.
After lunch we grabbed a cab back to the apartment where we packed up our stuff and waited.
The move was pretty uneventful.  The old apartment was just the way we left it only with power this time.  Since we were leaving the next day I opted not to unpack just grabbed what I needed out of my suitcase and got ready for my third and final Broadway show of the trip.
Andrea had decided to stay in a hotel that night because she found a really good deal while sightseeing and she needed some alone time with a shower that was all hers.  It was just she and I that were seeing Pricilla, Queen of the desert so I got ready and then took a cab to meet her at the theater.
This show was a perfect show to round out the trip.  Fun and festive with the brightest most outrageous costumes!  It was just fabulous!!

After the show I said goodbye to Andrea and headed up a side street in hopes of getting to a less populated street to catch a cab.  While I was walking another block I stumbled on a Subway entrance that had the M train…Hey!  I knew that one!  That’s how I can get home!  Look at me riding the subway at 11 at night all by myself!  Heh.
I got back safe and sound after stopping on the corner for a few slices of pizza which turned out to be the best ever!!
The girls weren’t home yet from their shows so I got in my PJ’s and ate my pizza down in the kitchen.
Allison got home first so we compared notes on the shows and then I headed up to bed.  The rest of the group came back from seeing Mary Poppins and getting some dinner and we all retired to our respective bedrooms.  It was late and everyone but Allison and I had to get up early and catch a bus back to DC to spend the night at Heathers before flying out Sunday morning.
Koly woke me the next morning briefly to say goodbye and I fell right back asleep until around 10:00.  Allison and I had talked the night before about me completing my final thing I wanted to do and getting my picture taken on Carrie Bradshaw’s stoop.  She was still up for it so I jumped in the shower and off we went. A quick trip to Starbucks to recharge my batteries and then we grabbed a cab to Greenwich Village. We found what I thought was the correct address with relative ease.  Allison snapped two shots and off we went to go back to the apartment via subway.

It turns out that I had the address wrong for Carrie’s stoop so I ended up taking the pictures on the wrong doorstep.  When I got home I fixed this with the magic of Photoshop:

While we were waiting on our train I discovered that Sockmonkey had fallen out of my bag somewhere along the trip.  I always kept her in the back pocket that didn’t zip but she was tucked pretty far in so I felt she was safe.  Not so apparently.  I was pretty sad, almost started crying but there wasn’t anything I could do about it so I made up a story in my mind instead.  Sockmonkey decided she was a New York monkey at heart and needed to follow her dream of being the first Sock Monkey on Broadway!  She knew I would try and talk her out of it so instead of telling me and risking me not letting her go, she simply jumped out of my bag when I wasn’t looking and is now out there in the city making her dreams come true!  🙂
Back up to the apartment we packed up our final things and I got a text from Andrea saying that it took her two hours to get to the airport via the Subway.  They had shut down the M and the F train that we had planned to take back to the airport.  Allison and I made an executive decision to cab it instead.  The guy charged us a flat 50 dollar fee and got us there in no time.
At the airport we checked in and got through security before doing a little shopping and meeting Andrea at the terminal gate.  I was kind of hungry so Andrea told me about a sandwich place where you order on a digital touch screen.  You pick out your meat, cheese, bread, smear and veggies and they put it all together for you.
It’s a great system however the computer went down right after I placed my order and the people making the sandwiches never got it.  Cut to me finally giving them the order by hand and then getting a text from Andrea saying the plane was boarding.
When I finally got my food in hand I checked out and ran the distance to the gate to find only Allison and Andrea waiting there…everyone else had already boarded.  Almost missed the darn plane for food!  Heh.
The plane ride was an hour longer going home than it had been getting to NY.  There were a whole lot of tornado watches and warnings happening in the midwest that we had to fly around.  I was really scared that it was going to get REALLY bumpy when we got to the middle of the country so when the drink lady came around I ordered two vodkas just in case.
I didn’t end up drinking them because other than one major bump that lasted maybe two minutes the flight was relatively smooth.  There was almost a constant slow bump under us but it was so steady that you got used to it and I actually worried when it got completely smooth.  🙂
The only real worry on the flight was a young teenage boy that was walking up the aisle to the bathroom when we were almost home.  He started to waiver and then pitched forward and passed out.  I’m still not sure what happened but I’m guessing it was a blood sugar issue or maybe he got up to soon after sitting too long but he got up after about fifteen minutes and made it back to his seat.

Overall this trip was had some hiccups but it was amazing and well worth it.  I can’t wait to go back!!

I slept as late as I could on Sunday given that I didn’t get back to the hotel until two or so in the morning.

I woke up with an overall feeling of dread.  I wasn’t *that* tired but I just wasn’t feeling the race.  It was odd having been at the Expo two days before and then having the race at night.  I had nothing to get myself psyched up for it.  My back was tweaked from sleeping in the car on the way in and the last thing I wanted to do was walk/run 13.1 miles in the freezing cold.

I showered and got dressed and Rob dropped me off as near to the corrals as possible and I walked the rest of the way.  I was found my corral and texted Aimee but we never ended up finding each other.  I was cold and felt out of sorts.  I don’t know why but I felt more alone this year.  Even though I was by myself last year I didn’t feel the as lonely then as I did this year.  It was weird.

I was so glad Rob and I had decided to remember a pair of sweatpants of his that he didn’t mind me ditching by the side of the road because my legs would have been FREEZING while I was waiting the two hours for the start.  I’m also glad Rob talked me into buying a cheap pair of gloves because I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to feel my fingers either.

After what seemed like an eternity, the corrals started moving.  How it was supposed to happen was just like last year.  There were 40 corrals and they were all supposed to be released within a minute to a minute and a half of each other.  The theory behind it is that you sign up given the time you know you can finish in and that gives all the faster runners a chance to get out there and get a headstart that way no one is stuck behind someone that is slower than them.  That is how it worked last year and it was perfect.

Last year they also had the full marathoner’s run the strip and then they broke off to do side streets before completing the marathon.  That way there was little or no merging between the full and the half.

A lot had changed this year.  Last year, because of the staggering of the corrals, it took me an hour to even cross the start line.  I’m not sure when the staggering changed this year but it seemed like after corral 20 we were all just kind of let go to run as a massive lump of people.  There were no more countdowns and the ropes were taken down.

At first I was thrilled at crossing the start line a half an hour earlier this year but I quickly realized what a problem it was going to present.

As we all started out on the road it appeared to be going well.  There were these random orange cones along the left side of the road that didn’t appear to have a function as there were no signs so I didn’t think much of them.  The first mile passed like nothing and I ditched the sweatpants(note to self, next year either wear tear aways or cut a slit up the ankles for easy removal, I lost at least two minutes trying to pull these suckers over my sneakers).

The first water station I started to worry just a little.  The first few tables were empty and there were only volunteers dipping cups into what appeared to be a large plastic garbage can being filled with a hose.  I had a hydration belt on so I kept on trucking and eventually found tables full of water that I grabbed a cup from.

Around mile three I noticed there was finally a sign on one of the cones dividing the left side lane.  It said full to the left and half to the right.  I wonder why it took three miles for us to be able to actually see a sign, but from then on I stayed to the right.

Last year I didn’t start experiencing doubts until mile 11 and that was just because everything was hurting and hurting bad.  That year I had trained in an old pair shoes and wore a new pair with only like nine miles on them for the race.  That was a lesson learned let me tell you!

This year around mile five I started to doubt myself.  There is a small section near downtown where you have to go down a few side streets and because this was a night race there was one area that was pretty poorly lit.  To be fare, it was pretty much the only spot that wasn’t lit well but it started to freak me out a little.

I went through the thoughts of, even though I was walking amongst a lot of people that I was all alone in a seedy area in the dark.  I don’t know why, but all of a sudden I started to have a panic attack.  I got over it once we got back into better lighting but it freaked me out a little.

As I came up on mile six I sent my husband a text.  I was going to be running right by our hotel (El Cortez) and he and my best friend Paula were going to be outside cheering for me with the sign Rob made at the Expo on Friday.

I thought about texting him to have our room key ready so I could run up and pee.  I had to go fairly bad at that point and going up to our room would surely be quicker than waiting in line for the port a potty’s that weren’t as plentiful this year as they were last but I missed my chance.

As I ran passed my cheering husband and best friend it put some wind back in my sails.  Rob told me I was looking strong and took some video of me and Paula was shouting encouragement.  My doubt from earlier was turned around a bit and I felt that I could do it.  It was half over at that point after all.

Back up on the other side of the strip I discovered the same thing I had thought last year but had forgotten about.  There is a very slight incline going from downtown to the top of the strip.  Something you don’t notice when you are driving it, but when you are run/walking you can tell.  That also means there is a slight decline going towards downtown.  The reason I know this is because the 1st half of the race I kept the same pace as the second half(I run to a certain BPM on my Ipod to keep my pace even all the time) and I was not winded or sore the first half, but was the entire second half.  It is by no means a hill, but it was an interesting observation.

Another thing of note is that in the dark, running the strip was a little more nerve wracking for me.  I am horribly afraid of heights.  To the point where if there is no railing on a staircase I panic.  It also effects me when looking up at tall things.  In the daylight it didn’t bother me last year.  This year, with all the lights things flashing I kind of felt like I was on sensory overload and looking trying not to look up at the buildings wasn’t really helping.  It was kind of weird.

Another difference between having a race in Vegas at night instead of in the morning is the appearance of hecklers.  I saw nothing but support from the crowds last year and while that was mostly true this year there were the occasional belligerently drunk people walking the strip and shouting rude things at the people running.  They were few and far between but I thought that was worth mentioning as well.
I finally stopped to use a porta potty around mile nine.  That was the one time I wished I had brought the little head lamp thing that they gave us in our swag bags.  Trying to balance over a filthy porta john while holding onto your IPhone for some sort of light and doing your business was a bit of a struggle but I managed it.

Mile 11 brought some pretty gusty winds and a bit of rain but that quickly passed.

When I finally crossed the finish line I was handed a full marathon medal and the girl explained that they had run out of half marathon medals and they would mail me one.  The full medal was just so we didn’t walk away empty handed.  While I appreciated the gesture, I couldn’t help but wonder how the hell they ran out of medals.  I mean, you have to sign up and pay to run this race.  You know EXACTLY how many people will be running both the half and the full so unless you started handing out medals to people with no bib numbers on, you shouldn’t run out of medals!  And why was there such an overabundance of full medals but not enough half?

I later heard a rumor that a lot of people changed their minds and ran the half instead of the full at the last minute but I don’t know if that is true or not.

I didn’t waste too much time thinking about, I was tired and cold.  I grabbed a mylar blanket and a bagel but I couldn’t make myself choke any food down.  With no one picking me up I was confused as to wear to go.  People around me were angry and yelling and there were ambulances trying to weave in and out of the people walking.

I stopped to stretch briefly and then made my way into Mandalay Bay.  I recognized the way as the same route we used to get to the parking garage last year.  The difference this time was there were twice as many people and not a lot of forward movement.

We all bottle-necked about 500 feet from the door we had come in and moving forward was a slow and painful(literally) process.

Eventually we got to the casino entrance only to be rerouted through the convention center.  Apparently people were going into shock from hypothermia and dropping like flies.  I’m sure it must have been an absolute nightmare to try and get medics through the massive crowds of people and that is why they redirected us(or so I was told).

Downstairs we went, back outside into the freezing temps, around the building and in through the spa entrance I followed the crowd.  Finally spotting hotel registration I ran towards the taxi stand only to find a literally never ending line.  I could not see an end to the line, it just went on for days.

That is when I burst into tears.

I found an empty slot machine and sat down to bawl my eyes out.

I checked my phone and found a text from Rob asking how it went.  I can’t remember what I wrote back but I think it was something like “Clusterfuck, giant wait for a taxi, going to sit here for a minute.”
He immediately called me and asked how he could help.  Did I want him to come pick me up?  At that point the only thing I could think of is that he’d never be able to get through the throngs of taxi’s that were flooding the entire entrance to the hotel.

After a few more tears and much frustration we decided that he would meet me in the parking garage.

I hung up and went off in search of the parking garage.  There were no signs where I was indicating which direction to go in and I couldn’t find one single staff member to help me.  Not even at one of the bars, the bartender just ignored me and continued chatting up two attractive females.

Like I wasn’t frustrated enough!!  Finally I sat down and dug my phone back out.  Thank God for smartphones!  I was able to pull up a map of the casino, determine where I was on said map and get my ass to the parking structure.

Rob said just to go all the way to the top so I did and there was my knight in shining soccer mom van.  I was so relieved to see him I got in the car and dissolved into huge wracking sobs.

Rob let me cry and then when I was better we headed out.  He wasn’t sure which way was the right way to get back to our hotel but at that point he just wanted to get on the road and moving.  Because he didn’t know where we were he was driving a little slower than normal and irritated that there was a cop on tailing us that didn’t seem to want to pass us.

Sure enough a few seconds later his blue lights came on and we were pulled over.  It turns out Rob didn’t have the headlights on.  Which isn’t totally true.  On our van we have automatic lights but they only work in front, so Rob thought his lights were on, but they weren’t in the back where the cop was.

Anyway Rob explained that he had just picked me up from the marathon and the cop went on and on about what a good thing that was and aren’t I proud of myself and so on and so forth.  Then he told Rob that because his wife did such a good job he was going to let us go without a ticket.  Heh.  He was really nice.

We finally made it back to the hotel where I took the best shower of my life and checked out the online world on my phone.  The reviews were in on the race and they weren’t good.  There was so much complaining about the way the race was organized this year but what I was shocked to learn about was how many people had gotten sick during the actual race.  Rumors were flying about tainted water or possibly bad samples given out at the Expo.  The other main complaint was that the full marathon runners got stuck behind the half marathon walkers and lost a lot of time and energy getting around them.

Overall I had to say I had a pretty good race.  I didn’t sick with whatever was going around.  My feet only had a couple of blisters, compared to almost having half of both of my feet covered like last year.  I wasn’t that sore, and I didn’t get hypothermia.  🙂  I ended up finishing seven seconds later than I did last year (darn those sweatpants taking minutes off my time!) but I am still pretty proud of my accomplishment.  My training actually paid off this year.

To Be Continued…