Attempting the Summit in less than 24hrs.

I just completed watching “Spirit of the Marathon”.  It was about 3 years ago when I watched this movie in the theaters with former Nazareth teammates Brad and Chris (all marathon virgins at the time) and I said “I will run a marathon” as I left.

Since then I have been through my share of ups (here and here) and downs and encountered difficulties that ground my training to a halt.  I pieced together a breakdown of the ultimate goal of running a marathon calling it my Mount Everest.

All week I have been anxious and filled with energy because tomorrow I make my attempt at the summit.

Chris, 2 time marathoner, will be there cheering and encouraging.  He’s waiting to see if he can run Boston a second time.  Brad will be running the half marathon (not sure what number this is for him). Kiel, a fourth teammate with 2 marathons under his belt and regular runner with us last year, will be unable to make it due to illness.  He’s working on training for a third marathon.

I will have my wife, parents, in-laws and friends I made with the Fleet Feet Distance Training program all rooting me on.  On top of that, in my mind there will be the encouragement of my fundraising donors, the readers of these blog posts and everyone who has encouraged me on Facebook.

I’m psyched!

The begining of something special...

Instead of writing at length about this big event in my life, I will just let the photos do all of the talking.



On May 21, 2011, Emily and I celebrated our Marriage at St. Catherines of Sienna in Mendon.
(This coincidentally was also the date of "The Rapture"... which made for plenty of good jokes.)

My beautiful bride.

Us on the altar.

The wedding party at Honeoye Falls.

What a stunning dress!

A kiss shared at the falls.

An adoring look into each others eyes.

Behave now!

At the covered walkway at Nazareth College.

Time to PARTY!

The wedding reception held at The Burgundy Basin had wine themed favors and decorations. After all, we did get engaged while traveling around Keuka Lake on a wine tasting weekend trip.

Stemless wine glasses as favors.

The COOLEST nerdiest cake in the world incorporating our love of both mathematics and chemistry.

Look familiar? ;-)

Day 2 of my recovery

If you have followed my twitter and facebook updates you already have noted that I achieved my goal of running my first half marathon. Given that it was my first race at this distance, I could not be more thrilled with my performance.

Sunday morning was rather chilly, cloudy and in the upper 50's. The race began (at 7:45AM) with Chris, Brad and my self running about the first 4 miles in a pack. The fact that we were very chatty and animated during that time helped put my mind at ease. I kind of forgot that I was embarking on a 13.1 mile journey! My pacing was fantastic despite it being my first half marathon race. In the first 5 miles, I was between 8:20 and 8:30 pace. In the remaining miles, I dropped to a pace between 8:00 and 8:15. With every mile split I was pleasantly surprised each time I looked at my watch! I even managed to hit near 8:05 for miles 12 and 13.

When all was said and done:

• I crossed the finish line with a time of 1 hour, 48 minutes and 42 seconds, an overall pace of 8 minutes 18 seconds per mile. This was enough to earn me my Silver Medal Goal. I placed 323 out of 1838 half marathon finishers and 37 out of 110 in my age group (Male 25-29).
• Chris ran nearly the entire half marathon with me (12 miles) before breaking away and finishing ahead of me. This was after he ran about 8 or 9 miles before the race. He had to get in about 23 miles of training for his first marathon scheduled for October.
• Brad crossed the line with a time near 2 hours and 7 minutes... this was only after running through some significant pain in the last 5 miles. He believes he somehow sprained his foot. The medics were quick to elevate and ice his foot shortly after his finish. He's back home in New Hampshire reporting a swollen and sore foot... but hopes to return to training once swelling drops down.
• And of course... Kiel, the runner in our group with prior marathon experience ran the full marathon and crossed the line in a time of 3 hours and 24 minutes.
  

Two days later I can report that I am sore EVERYWHERE on my body... not just legs, but arms, back, abs and hips. It is all muscle soreness as far as I can tell. The type that will eventually go away allowing me to (hopefully soon) run some more.

There you have it. I have summited my Mount Rainier.
Cheers to that!

The final moments before facing the BIG race.

At this time tomorrow I should be recovering from my 13.1 mile journey around the greater Rochester metropolitan area and hopefully will be cheering in Kiel who will be working to completing a 26.2 mile journey.

I am of course referring to the Rochester Half Marathon which takes place tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM. Today will be a day of picking up my packet, touching base with my friends who are running it, planning and packing my bag, some Advil and ice for a troublesome foot and of course... lots of carbs, anxiousness and nerves!

For those of you familiar with my previous posts on the topic, you might recall how I equated running the marathon with climbing Mount Everest and scaled distances of shorter runs to various mountains of proportional size. (see this post) So in terms of running, I summit Mount Rainier (or the Matterhorn for those of you in Switzerland). I don't take this challenge lightly either because my performance tomorrow is going to be a gauge and milestone for my fitness and ability to progress further towards running in the full marathon next fall at this time.

I don't know why I should be nervous because I have been working towards this goal for almost a year. I ran a 12 mile run without any issues 2 weeks ago. I felt completely comfortable doing so. I have put about 400 miles into training and ran various races over the past year! If you look at my training patterns (generated on www.logyourrun.com) they are probably FAR from ideal... as I have had good weeks and bad weeks where my discipline broke down and I missed some runs.
All I know is that about 2 years ago due to some significant stomach problems, my running dropped off to nearly nothing. I could not even eat breakfast without feeling nauseous! It's hard to run when you can't fuel the engine. I have come quite a ways since then... and I have no plans of stopping.

Goals for tomorrow:
Gold: time of 1:45:00 (~8:00 min/mile pace) --> A lofty goal, but I'm setting the bar high.
Silver: time of 1:51:00 (~8:30 min/mile pace)
Bronze: time of 1:58:00 (~9:00 min/mile pace)
Honorable mention: Complete the race without taking significant (>3-5 minutes) walk breaks.

Happy Labor Day Weekend.

Labor day weekend 2010 was spent ironically doing just that... laboring! For some odd reason I felt the desire to clean, organize and de-clutter much of the apartment. To pile some more work into my weekend, I had the opportunity to play with a new toy that Emily bought me, a canning starter kit.

Yeah, I know, it sounds pretty lame but when Emily and I went to the Rochester Public Market (recently awarded title of "Best Market in the Nation"), I had this crazy idea that I could take some if this fresh inexpensive produce and preserve it for future enjoyment during the winter. I watched my father and grandparents do this... how hard could it be? Surprisingly, not that difficult at all.

Basically: 1) Cut up stuff, 2) Cook stuff, 3) Put stuff in jars, 4) process in boiling water
DONE!

I made a pretty kick-ass salsa, a marinara sauce (which turned out OK) and just today got even more fresh tomatoes and jars from my dad. I'll keep seeing what I can whip up with this new found skill!

It was not all work this weekend though. Just today Emily and I traveled out to Buffalo to celebrate my grandfather's 80th birthday. Yesterday we attended a welcome back party for a friend of ours who recently returned from the Peace Corps. And of course, most importantly, I drafted my fantasy football team on Saturday night. Let the fun begin!

I also fit in an 8 mile run this morning... Rochester Half Marathon in less than a week.

Don't blink... Summer is almost ov... oh, there it goes!

Summer 2010 is now over (albeit, unofficially) and I have done a poor job of blogging about it.

I will take an opportunity right now to touch on my progress with running this summer and where I stand with that. I'd also like to post some pictures of my recent trip to New York City as well.

July 11 was a big milestone for me in that I ran the Utica Boilermaker 15k (9.3 miles) race for the first time. This happened after years of forgetting to register on time, and having one excuse after another. I wish I had done it sooner! Not only was this the first time I ran this particular race but it was also the first race at a distance over 10k (6.2 miles). About 7 miles in, a feeling of "Yes, I am actually doing this!" set in. That was followed up after the finish by an adrenaline fueled feeling of "Yeah... I feel like I could push my body a little further." That's a great thing considering I am running the Rochester Half marathon in 9 days.

With about 13,000 runners, it was also the largest race I have ever participated in. It goes without saying that the post race party was a great time. Got to meet up with several fellow runners from Nazareth and Coach Love.

I ran a time of 1:22:31, which is fine since I really have no particular frame of reference for what to expect as I run races of such a distance. I experienced some tightness of my Achilles tendons during the 7-8th miles but pushed through it. My legs stood up quite well to the race but in the weeks following I did experience some pain in my foot that kept me from doing much running in the week after. With rigorous ankle and foot strengthening exercises, icing, careful cross training and slowly resuming running, I bounced back pretty well.

Stay tuned, the big one... Rochester Half Marathon is looming on the horizon!

Reason # 2371 Why I Love My Fiance.

Yesterday morning, a group of my friends (Brad, Chris and Kiel) met up at our apartment for our weekly long run. Normally when you return from a long run you feel rather famished and lethargic to the point where it may be tough to be motivated enough to put together a decent breakfast.

Upon our return though, we were greeted with a nice spread of bagels, orange juice, cereal, oatmeal, cantaloupe and bananas thanks to Emily who took a trip to Wegman's for us while we were out. We were more than happy to devour everything until we were replenished.

And that's one of the many reasons why I love my fiance. :-)

2010 JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge

RIT is commonly known as "The Brick City", but at least once every year RIT becomes "Tent City" as companies from the Rochester area move in for the 3.5 mile JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge Race. I of course was there.

The massive tiered starting line to accomodate the estimated 9,100 runners.

Our company getting ready for our team picture before the race.

The race its self was a perfect culmination of conditions. It was near 70 degrees, cloudy and just as the race began, it started to rain. The rain tapered off and gave way to sun at the exact moment I crossed the finish line. This was the fourth time I ran this particular race, so I knew what to expect. I was thoroughly acquainted with the course having run the RIT loop dozens of times while in graduate school. I did everything right during the race (lifted knees, kept head up, good splits, etc.) It all came together for a great race time (by my standards) of 25:53.

I have been very happy with my results all day today.

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 Recap

Started off the weekend with an evening walk around the Erie Canal to enjoy the sun set.

We continued with a lot of good food and wine.

Lots of visiting with family and friends and their several dogs. All together a total of 5 were at the house.

Jon finally came out of hiding after a couple of months!

And of course... our new nephew Tyler was making the rounds, mostly in Emily's arms.

“Please sir, may I have some Moore?”

So Brad and I saw the most recent Michael Moore movie on Friday night. I saw this movie of my own free will, which I think warrants a pat on my back for open mindedness on my part! As with most Michael Moor movies, I am confident that it will be widely accepted as dogmatic truth without anyone doing their homework and looking into the claims he is making. That's not how I roll though. Severe fact checking will follow on my part.

What I liked (yes, there were things I liked!):

1. He pointed out how many high ranking members (including Tim Geithner) of the U.S. Dept. of Treasury in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations were high ranking executives at many of the banks that failed and/or were bailed out. Hmm… Work for a huge bank, run it into the ground, get hired by the U.S. Treasury then make policy to prop up the bank you ran like crap… can you say "conflict of interest"?
   
2. Moore brings attention to the "Friends of Angelo", people who received special rates on mortgages from Angelo Mozilo (CEO – Countrywide), among them, Sen. Christopher Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad. Moore calls for the Dept. of Justice investigation of people "… in BOTH the Clinton and Bush administration who benefited from this." (Emphasis added) His lack of partisanship in looking at some of these issues in the movie is actually quite refreshing!
   
3. He interviewed Democrat representatives who complained about how the very first bailout package from Sec. Paulson was was so forcefully rushed through the voting process. There was much more apprehension and opposition from the Democratic party towards this bailout than I thought.
   

What I didn't like:

1. Moore's use of the Flight 3407 Plane crash that occurred near Buffalo as an example of Capitalism gone wrong. Flight tapes indicate that among other things, the pilots were discussing how they were not paid much and had to work second jobs. Moore's claim, if the pilots were better paid they would not be so tired from working second jobs and would not have lost control of the plane. Exploiting the loss of innocent life in an accident to promote one's anti-capitalist agenda disgusted me almost to the point where I left the theater.
   
2. Throughout the movie, Moore shows footage of people being evicted from their foreclosed homes, sometimes by law enforcement. Though it is sad and somewhat disturbing to watch, there is no explanation as to how those people got to that point. Did they have emergency savings accounts? Were they living beyond their means? Were they greedy/irresponsible with credit card debt, borrowing against the equity of their home or sub-prime mortgages they could not pay back? Believe it or not banks don't just decide to take your house for shits and giggles… you have to give them a good reason for them to do so!
   
3. His use of the "promote the general welfare" clause of the Constitution to call for such things as universal housing, healthcare, etc. This meaning is COMPLETELY contrary to what The Father of the Constitution James Madison has stated. Think of how this Madison quote fits in today! Chilling huh?
   
4. Moore closes the movie by suggesting that the solution to the problem is to replace capitalism with democracy. What? This makes no sense. The last time I checked, democracy is a system of government while capitalism is an economic system. Categorically, two completely different (though not totally unrelated) things.
   

What I need to learn more about:

1. The Carter and Regan administrations. I was not alive for Carter and I was 6 when Regan left office… forgive me if my history of that era is a little blurred!
   
2. "Dead peasant" life insurance policies taken out by companies to cover the death of their employees.

Where the hell have I been the past couple of months?

I feel I owe the reader some explanation of where I have been over the past couple of months. Well, things have gotten pretty busy following the engagement as one would imagine. The planning has already begun despite the wedding date being set for close to 2 years from now. Guest lists, engagement photos, picking a date. If you review my recent book book list you will see that I have already sought advice from wedding books written for grooms to be.

I have also been indulging my self in a bit of a video game addiction. I purchased "Call of Duty: World at War" as the most recent addition to my PS3 library of games. I decided to take up video gaming as an activity about a year ago with the idea that there will be a time when I will have to play the role of "responsible adult" telling my children to stop playing games and do their homework. Before that happens... I'm going to go through the childish video game playing phase.

Currently I have attained the rank of P1-L32 (Second Lieutenant III) with a Kill:Death ratio of 0.58. I have already attained one Prestige... which is where you reach level 65... the highest level, then for some crazy reason decide to turn in all the unlocked weapons, perks and points to start all over again. It's been lots of fun as Jon and I have talked Brad into getting the game. We are now organizing a clan in the hopes of dominating in the field of battle. 8-)

I'm likin' a lot of things right now.

I'm likin' the fact that the football season is upon us. I also like the fact that for the first time since 2005 the Bills have opened their season 2-0. NICE!

I'm likin' the beautiful mid-September weather. The weather has been very nice here in Rochester. It has been a very humid, almost tropical day today. Certainly a tough day to run a marathon or half marathon. Chris, my roommate, competed in the half marathon and said the conditions were pretty difficult with a relatively high humidity. Again, I felt rather dissappointed that my body has fallen apart halfway through my training. I have already set my sights on next year. I'm not giving up.

The weather for next weekend is looking good as well. Hopefully it will remain good enough for some golf and wine touring.

I am also likin' that for the second time in 2 weekends I went out on both Friday and Saturday night. Friday night it was to "The Old Toad" for some drinks in celebration of Tim defending his MS thesis. Since Tim was in town (he lives near Boston at the moment) we went out again on Saturday night to "Oxfords". I guess it is nice when you have a job, money and time to actually go out at night on the weekends.

I'm likin' it all right now. :-)

Time to get back to reality... even if I have to be dragged kicking and screaming!

Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be for me to get in the car tomorrow morning? It's not the long drive that will be discouraging me. Rich will be joining me to help out with a portion of it.

Can you guess why I don't want to jump in that car tomorrow morning?

Could it be the sun... the sand... the salty spray of the sea...
The crashing waves... the new friends I made?

I have a feeling it is a little bit of all of those things.
:-)
Nonetheless, back to reality.

Kickin it in the OBX!

I am sitting here in the third floor living room of our incredibly luxurious beach house in the Outer banks of North Carolina. I look to my left out the window and see the waters of the Pamlico Sound separating the North Carolina mainland from Hatteras Island. I look to my right and see the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. (!!!) I promise pictures of this will soon follow. :-)

I am counting my blessings that I am here because my stomach has not been cooperative in the least. With no apparent reason (other than perhaps a fair amount of stress), I woke up Tuesday morning with some nasty stomach pains (again!) just below my sternum. The same thing happened again yesterday and to a lesser extent today. But it's OK because it is only preventing me from getting a full night of sleep, running, eating properly and enjoying any sort of beer with my friends here. But who needs those things to enjoy life!

I may end up having to cut this trip short if these symptoms persist. I hope not though because I kind of like it here. Any doctors out there please feel free to interject with diagnoses and suggestions.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday to... this blog! (Note the counter at the bottom of the page! ;-)

I know it sounds lame but it is a big deal for me as I have been particularly lazy with things like this in the past. So let's look at my stats:

66 posts in the past year
Averaging out to 1.27 posts per week...
Which is about one post every 5.5 days.
577 total page views with...
66% unique views
34% repeat views
Averaging 1.6 views a day.

Not too much comments and feedback though. I still encourage my readers to do so as the feedback will keep me engaged. I promise my readers that I will do what I can to improve my stats in the coming year! For now here's a picture of my blog on it's first birthday.

Right now I am at a minimum for time as I am preparing for a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina during the second half of the week. (!!!) I have never been there. Due to some unexpected twists and turns in my life (which I may or may not disclose at a later date), I will be departing for my trip tomorow night instead of waiting until Wednesday morning. If all goes according to plan, I will be on the beach by early afternoon on Wednesday.

I will keep you posted.

I have survived... and made it to D-Day +4.

I SURVIVED! I am referring of course to my thesis defense. I succeeded in delivering a great talk that my committee enjoyed (though I thought it was lackluster at best). I faired well in the 2 hours of cross examination and critiquing that followed. I received a large mass of recommended thesis revisions and now have until April 21 to get it all in order. The whole ordeal was very exhausting and I am glad it is over.

I may have won that "battle", but the "war" still wages on. in the days that followed my defense I took Wednesday off (completely... leaving all paperwork at my office and going no where near it) and then I hastily prepared to present my research findings at the ACS national conference in New Orleans... which is where I am writing this!

Here's a picture of me on the River Walk in New Orleans by the Mississippi River. It's the first time I have seen it... and she's a mighty river I tell ya!

This is a picture of "The Spanish Plaza" (Sidd admiring the fountain). A few minutes before I took that picture we witnessed a guy go down on one knee and propose to his girlfriend... no joke! (She said yes and received applause from the passers by.)And of course, what would New Orleans be without a trip down Bourbon Street. Pretty damn cool how they let you walk right down the middle of the street (all car traffic is blocked off at night) from bar to bar with open alcoholic beverages! Sidd and I are fitting in very nicely.

This is going to be a fun week! Hopefully I will be able to keep you all posted as to what's going on. Wish me luck for my talk on Thursday!

BART: ...this is exactly what Dad said would happen. LISA: Yeah, Dad was right... HOMER: I know, kids. I'm scared too!

O.K. When I make crazy off the wall predictions like this... THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO COME TRUE! I am a little scared.

But I have to wish Eli mad props for the complete upset victory. Way to be an inspiration to underdogs everywhere. How in the hell did Eli Manning escape the Patriots linebackers closing in the pocket to unleash that throw to David Tyree... and even more so, how did Tyree even catch that!?! My jaw literally dropped when I witnessed that play.

While this was all going down, Tim was sure to stuff all of our faces with our own body weight worth of deep fried chicken wing goodness. With the big group of friends from RIT's chemistry department that was there, I barely even paid any attention to the stupid commercials because we were all socializing so much.

And the half time show... as I previously mentioned, we replaced that with an intense "Dr. Mario" tournament. So unfortunately *sarcasm* we all did not hear a single note uttered from Tom Petty's mouth. No one seemed disappointed. The Dr. Mario tournament bracket was set up, started at half time and we finished it off after the game came to an end. I managed to come out of the first round with a solid victory. I proceeded to defeat Matt in the second round to move on to the final round. There I found my self down 2 matches to 0 in a best of 5. So I hung in there and kept at it... won 2 more matches to bring it down to one final winer takes all match. I was just about to pull an Eli Manning like come from behind upset... when Max finished me off!

Truly I have been bested by a Dr. Mario great.

All of that together shaped up to make, in my mind, the best Super Bowl ever!

The spirit is still alive in me (and my legs).

Last night I saw one of the most inspirational movies I can recall (with Chris and Brad - fellow runners). It is called "Spirit of the Marathon" (IMDb profile here) and is a documentary that looks at the stories of 6 runners preparing for and running the Chicago Marathon. The runners involved include elite Olympians like Deena Kastor - 2004 Olympic Bronze Medalist - and first time marathoners running for charity like Lori O'Connor. There is even a man in his late 60's who has ran multiple marathons!

I was incredibly moved by this movie. I know it sounds cliché to say but, you can really see what the spirit and determination of the human mind and body is capable of. It is stories like this that inspire me to work hard not only in training but in every other aspect in my life. For that reason I recommend this movie to anyone in need of a feeling of inspiration and not just to runners.

I plan on buying this movie as soon as it is released on DVD. I also plan on buying some new shoes tonight and easing my way back into running next week. My foot is continually feeling better and I have races to run!

8-)

Happy Friday... oh yeah, and happy 2008!

So, one of my New Years resolutions should have been to post more thoughts to my blog! My apologies for not putting anything here for so long.

My last three posts have been a brief recap of my adventures I had in New York City. I did so much there that even those three posts did not divulge all of the minute details, stories, and experiences I had while on that journey. I hope you enjoy reading it. I will enjoy having those details written down before I forget them.

Since that last post, Emily has returned home from her study abroad program in Wales. :-) I am grinning ear to ear over it. Life has been wonderful since her return as I now have my "partner in crime" back. We have been spending a lot of time with each other and catching up.

Emily and I spent some time with each other before Christmas. I traveled to Buffalo to visit my parents for Christmas ans see my family. I spent New Years with Emily as we visited a few of her friends. Her friends Bethany and Stephanie are loads of fun! I rang in the New Year at their apartment, drank a little too much and was seriously hung over the following day. Not a good experience the day after! I think I will avoid drinking like that again for a LONG time (I'm serious this time).

In other news on the academic front, during mid-December, I wrote and presented my interim seminar to my committee for my Masters Thesis. It went very well. I presented and was simultaneously questioned and cross-examined for about an hour and 45 minutes! It was very grueling, but my committee was quite impressed with my work. I have been given the go-ahead to finish up my research and start writing my thesis. EXCITING!

Additionally, the paper that I wrote and submitted to the American Chemical Society national conference (mentioned here) has been accepted for an oral presentation! So, I will be traveling to New Orleans this April to give a talk on it. Once again... EXCITING!

There's more to talk about, but at the moment my time is needed else ware. I promise, I will write more in due time.

Glen Meets Manhattan - Part III: Including the chapters "Viewing Works of the Great Painters" and "Paying a Visit to Ground Zero"

Previously on “Glen Meets Manhattan”…

Glen recovered (albeit painfully and slowly) from his hangover. Witnessed the neighborhood of Harlem, Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History. Glen also witnessed the beautiful wonder that is the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

The question now is weather or not Glen can survive venturing out into Manhattan on all by him self!

You see, on Sunday, December 9, Andy had to head up to Albany for his brother’s graduation and I was left on my own to venture through the bustling borough of Manhattan. So, was I up to the challenge?

You better believe it!

I started the day early (around 9ish) by taking the N train and transferring to the 7 train at Queensborough plaza. I managed all that by my self without getting lost! I arrived in Manhattan… at the Grand Central Terminal. Absolutely beautiful! There were so many train and subway tracks and platforms. The large interior space inside was truly an amazing sight. It was still busy even on a Sunday morning. I took a moment to have breakfast there mimicking Holden Caulfield in “The Catcher in the Rye”.

From there I walked uptown on Park Avenue… and then I turned around and began to walk uptown for real when I realized the streets were declining in numbers rather than increasing (!)… one of the few times I got disoriented that day. I worked my way back over to the Rockefeller Center to look at the big Christmas tree again. This time I got a little bit more “up-close” and got some pictures of the Prometheus Sculpture and Ice Rink.

I then headed a few more blocks uptown to the Museum of Modern Art. This place was an incredible experience. I saw several impressionist and post-impressionist paintings that have become famous. Beautiful! A special exhibit of Seurat’s drawings, including a series of paintings that he made before completing his famous “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” were on display. I saw my first Picasso! I saw many works from Monet and Matisse. And the big one for me… I viewed Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. Such a beautiful painting! I did not spend too much time viewing the other 2 floors of works (there’s about 6 all together). I wanted to continue and see more of the city.

With that done, since I was in the neighborhood I headed back over to the Bryant Park Christmas Village to do some Christmas shipping. After that I got on a subway and headed downtown to the Financial District, getting off at Wall Street. I wanted to get a feel for what it would be like to be walking through the “concrete canyons” of the city where there is concrete, glass and steel sky scrapers of hundreds of feet on both sides of you as you walk at the bottom on a concrete and pavement covered street. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. I located the New York Stock Exchange and Trinity Church. I headed cross town to the former World Trade Center site.

As you emerge from the financial district towards Ground Zero you suddenly see this wide expanse of skyline in front of you that is completely empty and seems rather out of place. This is where the towers would have been. My interest in the events of September 11 is very extensive so being there to see it first hand and up-close was a noteworthy experience for me. It just hits me very hard to see the large scale of the damage. There is not much of a memorial yet, but the whole area is a construction site at this point. I took the time to navigate around the entire area and take pictures when ever I could. I can not imagine being there on those streets on that dreadful day. A particularly good viewing area (as suggested by our tour guide on Friday’s cruse) was the Winter Gardens at the World Financial Center.

After viewing Ground Zero, I headed down to Battery Park. There I found the sculpture that was previously located in the courtyard between the Twin Towers. The sculpture was recovered from the ruble in badly damaged condition and put on display in Battery Park with an eternal flame as a part of a memorial. From the park I was also able to view the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

By this time I was feeling cold, tired and a little sick. I headed back uptown towards the Christmas village in Columbus Circle to do some more shopping. With a headache and an increasing feeling of sickness… I grabbed dinner and headed back to Queens. I collapsed on the couch and watched football for the evening!

So that concludes my 3 part series on my experiences in New York City. Awesome experience! I want to go back and do all the things I missed and do some things all over again!