Countdown to Triathlon - 260 Days, 37..14 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 20 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

 THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?  It came without ribbons.  It came without tags.  It came without packages, boxes or bags.  And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.  Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.  What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.  ~Dr Seuss


I spent the afternoon helping my Mom decorate her tree and other parts of her house.  It always feels so good when the tree gets up and decorataed.  Today I'll do my own decorating so check back on Tuesday morning for more of New York, New York with photos.





The Journey - Installment Twenty

Going to New York for the running of the New York Marathon

(Side note – I have asked Cindy, Patti and Lynda to help me remember these three days so I will put their comments into the story. Patti is another sister and you'll learn who Lynda is soon.)

            Saturday, November 3, 2001, Cindy and her husband Sandy, her three sons, Kanyon, Ryan and Corey and I took the train from Union Station, Washington D.C.   I had never been on a train before and the trip to New York City was viewed from an interesting perspective because the tracks run through different parts of cities than you don’t see when you’re in a car on the freeway.  It was an exciting experience and I had never been through Baltimore, Maryland; Wilmington, Delaware; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Trenton or Newark, NJ.  From Newark it was a short ride to Penn Station in New York City.  We arrived at Penn Station and I remember that when we walked out the door onto the street, Madison Square Garden was next to the station.  I had never been to New York City before but I’d heard of Madison Square Garden so often because my Dad always watched the Saturday Night Fights sponsored by Gillette Blue Blades.

 Every Saturday night when my sisters and I were in the middle of watching Rawhide, with Clint Eastwood, our Dad would come into the room and switch channels and we’d hear, “The Saturday Night Fights are on the air” followed by “To look sharp every time you shave, to feel sharp and be on the ball, to be sharp use Gillette Blue Blades, for the quickest, slickest shaves of all.”  How about that piece of trivia?  I can still hear them singing the song in my mind.  I just remember that my sisters and I pouted as we left the room because we only got to see half of Rawhide. There was no TiVo in those days and only one television in the house.   Many times I remember hearing that the fight was taking place in Madison Square Garden so when I was actually standing in front of the Garden that day, the Gillette song started playing in my brain.  All this trivia is not just for you dear readers, but also as  additional information for my children to know about some of the things we experienced when we were young (Oh, so many years ago!  I’m going to turn 67 in two weeks – how did that happen?)