Wave Start 2 plus miscellany

Few notes for a Thursday morning:

• I got wave start #2 for the New York City Marathon.  Means I’ll be starting at 10am.  Also implied is that it won’t take 25 minutes to cross the start line again – that was miserable last year!  They have not yet posted our actual numbers, so don’t know which color start I got just yet.  Was in the green start last year which goes through the lower level of the bridge, and also spends a mile on the Gowanus Expressway before you hit the streets of Brooklyn.  Yuch.  My least favorite of the 3 start options.
• Looking forward to the Staten Island Half Marathon on Sunday.  Forecast is amended to upper 60’s, not lower 70’s.  This is a very good thing!    Since the day will be nice, I’m looking forward to the ferry ride, and the views of the harbor from the start area.  Last year I was amazed at all the boat traffic in the harbor – cruise ships, giant shipping boats, etc.  Even though our fair city is completely surrounded by water, the water is just not part of our everyday life – it is so easy to forget that it is there and how much it is used.
• Saw this post from Pigtails Flying and signed up for the Worldwide Festival of Races.  Why not!  I had skipped the Nike Human Race thing because it was (in part) just a marketing scam to buy their Nike+ stuff, but this one has no strings attached.  To be fair to Nike, I was out of town for that weekend and couldn’t run in the Randall’s Island race.  I wanted to participate on my own, but couldn’t (or should I say wouldn’t) get past the ‘buy the equipment’ requirement on the website.
• I’ve not actually mentioned it here yet, but I’ve signed up for the Austin Marathon, which is Feb 15.  Going to make a nice weekend getaway with my wife – no kids!  We’ve been to Texas once before, in 1998 I think, and absolutely loved it – I’ve always wanted to go back.  The weather was perfect (we had gone in November), the BBQ food is amazing, and the sites were fun.  Was looking for a spring marathon, and thought Austin would be perfect.  Since winter and spring are my strongest running seasons, I fully expect to PR that race!

Have a great weekend!