11/5 - Day before the big day

Since I'm sitting here the night before the marathon and would like to hit the sack as soon as possible, I'll make this post relatively quick and without the interview format I had been using.

Today was a relatively slow day, as it should be, leading up to a marathon. I did a lot more walking than I probably should have, but we'll see how that plays tomorrow. I started the day with a walk to Barney Green's on Amsterdam Ave in the upper west side of Manhatten. I was looking for a good breakfast spot and this place was recommended by a NY website. Remember how I said that I've been noticing a lot of diversity while in New York? Well, that changes quite a bit when you go to the upper west side of Manhatten. That area seemed very white to me. But anyway, the breakfast spot was this little hole in the wall that seemed to be filled with locals, which is exactly the kind of place I want. I have to admit though that the menu was a bit intimidating to me, not in price, but in some unusual items like a "Toungue Omlette" and handfull of meals with chopped liver being one of the items. I saw a fair amount of pickled foods as well. Yes indeed, I was a kosher diner and my appetite wasn't exactly inspired by what they had to offer. Still, I rallied and came up with an order of a pastrami and swiss omlette, which wasn't all that bad, though I really liked the toasted bagel with cream cheese that came with it. Those New Yorkers really know how to bagel. I was impressed with the service at the place, when I asked, "Do you have orange juice", the guy said, "Just for you we do. " Very friendly place and I'm glad that I made the visit.

I walked back to my hotel, coming through Central Park, which reminds me of the way my morning really started. Bright and early for me, at 8 AM, I heard some noises outside of window and looked out onto the street. There was a race going on. No, it wasn't the marathon (ha ha). I think they had some sort of 5K or 10K going on that brought in more participants to the marathon weekend. I saw people running with flags from their home countries, I saw Brazil, France, Italy to name a few. It was a nice sight and I was able to see a lot more people as I made my way to breakfast.

So after I rested in the hotel, I made my way to the Gershwin Theater on W 51st street, the current home of Wicked, the other musical I had purchased a ticket for. It's a nice little theater, I think even a little better in terms of seating than the Shubert. I was smack dab in the middle of the theater, a very nice seat to be in, though I was regretting during the first act to some extent. Towards the end of the first act, my knees started to ache. It seems that theaters of this type are not really designed so that you stretch your legs a bit, they're designed for maximum capacity, and I was payin' for it. What's weird is that I started to sweat a little bit, which I wonder if that may have been a little bit of claustraphobia, which I don't think I've experienced, but I guess I did feel a bit trapped and uncomfortable. But enough of that, I should focus on the show. The first act itself was decent, though I'd say that the second act much, much better and it would have been a shame had I decided to skip out on it, which I was actually contemplating doing, given the way I felt in the first act. But some stretching helped a lot and again I was able to tough through it. Imagine, having to "tough through" a musical (ha ha). Wicked is a show that's playing in several cities and is essential a prequel and a variation on the Wizard of Oz story. I thought it was pretty creative and a fun story to follow. I had a hard time hearing some of the musicals when they had multiple people singing. I'm not sure what my problem was, but I had to strain at times to figure out what they were singing. The solos were much clearer.

After the show, I raced back to the hotel to watch my Badgers get sacked by Penn St. I then went for a walk to get some breakfast food for tomorrow and now I'm ready to turn in. My shuttle leaves at around 6 AM tomorrow, so I had best get to bed early. I'm having trouble believing that I'll be doing another 26.2 miles, but am looking forward to the run., which I'm hoping to write positively on tomorrow...til then