13.1 to Battery Park.

Yesterday, Mike and I (along with many other Columbia folk) ran the NYC half marathon. I had been concerned about running it since I am sick and haven't really been training properly (I did run two long runs, one 12miles and one 13miles). In any case I was really excited to run my first half marathon. After having gotten about 4 hours of sleep (due to excessive coughing), we got up and headed over to the start on E87th in Central Park. Thankfully, Mike and I qualified for one of the starting corrals which put us closer to the start. With over 10,000 people running this race, it was an advantage to not be packed in. We had to be in the starting corral no later than 6:30am. The race starts at 7am which means you really can't get out of the corral to go to the bathroom for about half an hour before the race. Well, one man climbed over the barrier and relieved himself over by the bushes by the reservoir. This bold act opened the flood gates and soon many people followed his example, including several bold women who did not hide in the bushes and bared it for all to see. Then there was that one person who went a bit too far. All I saw was a bare bottom of a person with very short hair. Mike exclaimed that it was a man and that he was very much relieving his intestines. Sure enough he let it all go and cleaned himself off with a T-shirt. I think about 200 people got a full view of him. It was so gross. He looked all shocked when people were giving him odd looks. He then lined up behind me. He smelled. This is the company I run with. Great.

Anyway, it was nice to see familiar faces at the start and during the race. Mike and I lined up with Brent (fellow Columbian) and when the start went off, we all started together but soon parted ways (I being the slowest of the three). I don't pace myself very well and certainly did not for this race. I ran my fastest 5k ever (at 7:40 pace) for the beginning and then of course started to slow down. It was great to run in the park with so many people (surprisingly the race was never crowded) and at the end of 7 miles, as we were exiting the park to get on 42nd and 7th Ave, they were blasting "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" on the speakers. It was great. As I ran down 42nd Street and Times Sq, I realized for the first time how huge the city is. I know that sounds silly, but usually I scramble through Times Sq, trying to get through the tourist crowds. But during the race, it was all mine to take in, admire and run. It began to pour, but it was fine and it prevented me from over heating. It was great; lots of live music, tons of cheering spectators. As we approached West Side Highway, I thought I was hitting mile 10. I kept telling myself, "only a 5k from that point." To my surprise, I had remembered wrong during my running-dementia and the sign said Mile 9. I almost lost it. 4 stinking miles! 4 miles! what! WHAT! Man I was so angry that I started coughing, and couldn't stop. I had to pull over and use my inhaler to prevent the oncoming asthma attack. I was so mad. So mad and I ran and tried to run fast. But fast at this point was about a 9.30 pace at best.

At the mile 12 sign I saw Leah and ran with her until I saw the 400m sign. That's when all of a sudden I broke down. It took so much effort to finish. In the end, my clock time was under 2hours and my net time was 1:57:56. I ran a 9min pace. Mike beat his Philly half marathon time, running at a 8:08 pace. I was very proud since I hadn't expected to do that well. Had I paced myself properly, I would have done better. At the end, I couldn't feel my hands and my right foot was hurting. I took one bathroom break and stopped at all but one water station for Gatorade (which I stopped to drink then waited to burp). It was really amazing to run the course. It was a privilege to run through a great city and my home. It was amazing to finish just under 2hours. What was even more amazing and inspiring are the elite athletes. Thomas Nyariki won, finishing in 1:01:22. Amazing.

We caught a cab back home and took baths, ate, took a nap and wore our medals around the apt. With the exception of a sore foot, I am suprisingly unsore. Also, the half marathon was my 9th race which means I am now qualified to run the NYC marathon in 2007. I will not be doing so, but it's nice to know that I have the option. Overall, it was a great experience and the course was so awesome. I think I will do it again.

There are some event pics and a video on the site if you would like to see what it was like.

Beauty.

There is a sense of beauty, grace, rawness and richness that is captured in Walker Evans photographs. I have been a huge fan of his work for years and remember the first time I saw his work in the Met. It left a big impression on me and of course the famous photograph of Allie Mae Burroughs left me in awe. There is a great article in the NYTimes about his work and new technology used, which creates a variation or new interpretation on his collection. They are the interpretations by John Hill and Sven Martsen, both of whom worked with Evans in the past.

Anyway, there is an exhibit, "Walker Evans: Carbon and Silver" through Nov. 17 at the UBS Art Gallery (1285 Avenue of the Americas, at 51st Street). Check it out the website to see some of his work. It really is amazing.

What Half-Marathon?

Recently, I went to CA for Alison's wedding (pics to soon follow) and for a short visit with my West Coast family. The wedding was beautiful and of course the dancing was fantastic. I was getting over a cold of some sort when I went out there and well, I caught something else and now I have a chest infection. That's right. I'm on the z-pack, which is reeking havoc on my digestive system. All in all it isn't that bad, but the half marathon is this Sunday. My training has been mediocre but at least I knew I could finish. My long run was 13miles and I ran it comfortably in 9min and 16 sec pace. I was happy with that. At this point, well, as long as my urges to be close to a bathroom subside, I think I will be okay but I won't c ome close to running my training pace. And it is suppose to be hot and humid on Sunday. Great.

But I will do the race, even if it takes bathroom breaks and walking to finish it. For those of you interested, the race will be televised on abc at 7am on Sunday. Watch it! I'll be wearing my bright orange shorts and a bid that has "Hyunmi & Hama" written on it. Maybe you'll see me running off to the porta-potties. Wish me luck.

Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday Mike! I'll be making birthday pies tonight if anyone wants to stop in and have some.

CA

Greetings from the West Coast. I flew out here on Wednesday for Alison's wedding (which is on Saturday) and decided to spend some time with Melissa, Kelvin and Abigail. Their house in Pasadena is fantastic and I have been consuming so much fruit (mostly nectarines from Melissa's tree). It's super relaxing and great to spend time with them. I even got up this morning to go for a run (all around CalTech), intending to do about 10 miles. Well, I guess sitting on the plane for 6 hours was bad for my hips because I couldn't make it past 4. Other plans? Well, I hope to go to In and Out for burgers (I love that place) with Mike (who flies out on Friday) and a little shopping. Man, I always forget how things are so different out here. It's beautiful, but the highways are gi-normous! It's really amazing to see the mountains from Melissa's street. That is something you can't get in NYC.

That's about it. Oh. I saw a rat fight while waiting at 3am for the Super Shuttle. There were about 15 rats all huddled by the garbage put out on the street by Cafe Mozart. They seemed to really like the Jetta there and kept running over the hood and I heard lots of squealing from under the car. They never left the vicinity of the car. I have marked that spot a bad parking spot and will never let visitors park there.

Sorry for the randomness of the post. I think the nectarines are getting to me.

Is that a hard boiled egg in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

I stepped out to get a snack/second dinner a bit ago and saw the strangest thing. I was looking around the deli buffet to see if anything appealed to me and while standing by the salad bar, a man in a suit talking on his Razor cell phone walks in. He stands fairly close to me and right in front of the slices of hard boiled eggs. He looks furtively and grabs a fist full of hard boiled egg slices and shoves them in his pocket. He then takes another handful and eats it. I think my mouth dropped and I started to make a strange noise. The man speed walks out. I quickly tell the owner [primarily because I think it's unsanitary, though I was offended by his stealing] and then I did something, maybe not so smart. I followed him. What did I think I was going to do? I don't know. Yell at him. Tell him he has no home training. Anyway, once he saw me follow him out and to the corner, he ran. RAN. Broadway is pretty crowded, so I lost him.

But really, what was that all about? What was he going to do with that egg? He certainly looked well groomed (sans egg crumbs around his mouth) and had a nice suit, so he didn't look like he was hurting for a meal. How weird.

Heat.

It's really hot. Right now in lab there is no AC because there is a problem providing power to the Washington Heights area. The hospital is doing a fairly good job conserving power (fewer elevators running, raising the thermostat, no AC in my lab...) however, it is causing me great discomfort because in lab (labs in general) there is a great deal of equiptment generating heat. As result, I was sweating as I pipetted my samples into the gel.

Anyway, in this terrible heat we moved. We are now fully moved in (sans few boxes with crap in them and a bursting laundry bag) and mostly organized. The movers were great and because our lease didn't start until the 1st, we had them hold our stuff for one night. Mike and I were homeless for one night and even though Josh was generous enough to give us the keys to his place, we slept in lab (we worked late and it was air conditioned). The movers moved everything in to the backyard except furniture because Zibby, our super, was painting during the move. Crazy. Mike's parents were gracious enough to come up in this heat and help us unpack. We got so much done and it was great to see them.

The apt. is great. Small, but a very good layout. A few inventive strategies had to be used to make everything fit. Unfortunately it is too hot to use the backyard, but that didn't stop me from ripping out all the weeds and trimming some ivy.

However, there was a mishap that has traumatized me. Yesterday at about 8am, I stepped out to the cage to make sure everything looked okay in the backyard. I noticed that the key to the padlock was inside and as I turned around I, I stubbed my toes and fell forward, pulling the backyard door shut. This door locks automatically. Mike and I had joked around that someone would get stuck in the cage one day. Well, this was my day. I was locked in the cage. In a white dress. I started to freak out and decided that I would climb out. So now I am hanging upside down showing all of the UWS my underpants. No escape. Then I decide that I can squeeze through the bars. Mind you they are about 3-4 inches apart. I get my knee in and it get stuck. I can't get it out and now my knee is turning purple. I start whimpering. I get it out. I start yelling, "SOMEBODY. PLEASE. IT'S NOT AN EMERGENCY. I'M STUCK IN MY BACKYARD" over and over. I can hear two workers somewhere near by and they are tittering at my misfortune. Bastards. I see the fold out IBM chair and sit in it...in the cage. I am sad. I will have to wait until Mike gets home. I will die. It's so hot...so hungry.

I yell some more and finally my upstairs neighbor hears me and calls the super. Zibby comes over in like 30min and saves me. He is laughing at me because I have the saddest face ever. I apologize for being a bad new tenant. I call Mike to tell him the mishap and he says that around the time I got stuck outside, he had a mild panic attack because he thought that I was stuck in the cage. Strange. Then as I am leaving the apt., I trip as I am checking my bag for keys and fall forward. The door slams behind me. I have no keys. I called Mike who in an exasperated voice tells me it's ok. I then had to go to the Eastside to pick up his, make copies and then go to work. Man. It was a bad day. Then that night I hit my face on the Christmas tree stand getting a nice red welt complete with ridges from the screw. And it's hot. Really hot.

Welcome to the Upper West Side. Come visit sometime. I promise I won't let you get locked in the cage. It's scary there.