We found out in April that Rich qualified for the NYC marathon in November 2018. He was so excited as this has been a lifetime (or at least recent) goal of his. He also made the goal of breaking 3 hours at this race so there has been a lot of training, dedication and preparation leading up to this race. When we first found out that he qualified there was talk about our entire family going, but as the date got closer we decided that just the two of us would go and make a long weekend out of it! A huge thank you to Nani and Poppa for making this happen-it was such an awesome trip and we were so thankful to leave the kids in such amazing hands! The trip was a perfect combination of us time, family time and friend time, and, an incredible race that made it all that much sweeter.
We left early on Friday morning out of San Diego and it felt so strange traveling without our crew...but a nice sort of strange ;). I read an entire book on the trip to NY. An entire book!! I haven't read an entire book since I don't know when, so, that in itself was awesome. We landed in Newark and Moon was there waiting with a rental car and we headed to Aunt Ginny and Uncle Tony's house on Staten Island. They were nice enough to open up their home to us for two nights which was perfect, since the race started on Staten Island. We spent the first night catching up with them and Moon and eating Aunt Ginny's delicious homemade pizza!
On Saturday morning Moon, Rich and I drove into the city to get Rich's race packet. The race expo was at the convention center which just so happened to also be hosting America's Got Talent auditions. "Talent" as Rich lovingly refers to it, is one of his favorite shows so we had to snap a picture.
After picking up his packet we made our way to meet the Byers for lunch. We tried for a fun NYC lunch spot but it was super crowded and not worth the wait so we ended up at a Subway which was a perfect spot to catch up with the Byers crew. So great to see all of them!!!
After lunch, the Byers made their way to meet up with another Sanfilippo family and we made our way back to Staten Island for a family get together at Aunt Patti's. It was so fun to see all of the Faiella family and we shared lots of laughs and good food. I left a little early to meet up with some of the GEneseo girls. Liz lives on Staten Island, Tress is about an hour away and Allison made the trip from Albany to see me, which was so nice of her!!, so it was SO great to get togheter with them all. We laughed for hours and just caught up and it was as if we had seen each other the week before. Love these girls and our friendships that has lasted for almost 20 years!
Race Day!!! We were up bright and early the next morning ready for Rich's favorite day of the year! :) He was pumped and feeling great. We loaded up in Aunt Ginny's car and we dropped him off at the start line-being in Staten Island worked out so well as we saw so many people taking the ferry in from the city who said it was like a 4 hour event! After dropping him off, Aunt Ginny dropped Moon and I off at the ferry landing and we took the ferry the opposite way and ended up in the city! I was so excited for a fun day in the city! We ended booking a hotel on the upper west side at the last minute and I'm so glad we did. The Lucerne Hotel was perfect as it was a perfect location and made everything on race day so much easier. After the ferry ride and a subway ride, Moon and I ended up a block from the hotel and we brought our luggage there where they stored it until later that day when we were ready to check in. I was so thankful to be with Moon-not only was he helpful with the luggage and my directionally challenged issues but he is also just such a joy to be around. It was a nice morning with him!
After dropping our luggage off we walked 2 blocks and were in Central Park. It was the most gorgeous fall day! We walked A LOT but I didn't mind one step of it. Moon and I walked across the entire Central Park to get to the west side where we were meeting the Byers at mile 16.
We found a perfect cheering spot and Sam and I kept busy checking out the NYC sights while waiting for Rich.
And then we saw him and he saw us, too!!! He rarely notices us cheering during a race so it was so awesome for him to see us and to be so excited. He looked awesome and was right on track for breaking 3 hours.
We then walked back to Central Park and caught him again at mile 24. He didn't see us this time but he still looked strong and was still on time. That is his running buddy, Mike, in the blue visor in front of him.
Sam and I continued to keep ourselves entertained in between cheering on runners. After we saw him at mile 24 we all walked back through Central Park to meet him at the finish line. We had a meeting place on one of the side streets off of Central Park which worked out perfect.
He did it!!! So happy for him and he was so thrilled! We all were!
We all walked back to the hotel where we said goodbye to Moon and then let Rich shower while we all relaxed a little.
All smiles from these two!! Will, you are an inspiration to us all and we hope that we are bringing awareness for Sanfilippo and lots of love to your life.
After hanging in the hotel for a bit, our plan was to go and grab some lunch and then make it back to Central Park to let the kids play for a bit before we had to say goodbye. Well, we grabbed lunch to go at Chipotle but then had no such luck getting back into the park. After walked FOREVER down a very crowded 34th street we ended up findihgin an open corner of the sidewalk and enjoyed our somewhat cold Chipotle people watching and just hanging out. The city was so busy and alive that it was definitely a neat scene. Sam and Will were amazing and such great troopers for such a long day. And, we loved every moment with them.
After we said our goodbyes to the Byers Rich and I hopped on a Subway (so New York like!) and made our way to Greenwich Village to meet up with the San Diego running crew for dinner. By this time it was getting chilly so we stopped to grab a coffee and I had to take a picture of the heart...my first heart coffee, well actually it was Rich's but still! So fun!
We had a little bit of time to kill before dinner so we roamed around and stumbled upon Washington Square Park which was a neat little park with painters and lots of people still out and about on a Sunday night.
We had a fun dinner with the San Diego running crew and then I was able to convince Rich to not go to bed, even though he had been up since 5 a.m., ran 26.2 miles, and probably walked another 5 so we went to grab dessert and then head to the Empire State Building!
A massive peanut butter cup cookie ice cream sandwich for him! Well deserved.
On our way in the uber to the Empire State building.
At the top! It was beautiful and so awesome to see!
So thankful for this experience with him!
The next morning we slept in and then woke up to rain which was a bummer but a good sign that it was time to leave and head back to sunny San Diego. We walked to get bagels for breakfast and to pick up "the best cookies in NY", according to Linz and Paul, from Levain Bakery to bring back home for everyone (it just so happened it was a block from our hotel!) We ubered it to the airport in the rain so were so thankful for amazing weather the past two days because race day would have had such a different feel if the weather had been bad. The flight home was uneventful, and I couldn't get into the book that I bought at the airport, which was a bummer, but we made it home safe and sound and arrived to Rich's car with it looking like this! Laura and the kids had too much fun with post it notes and it was such a fun surprise!
We were back home in time for dinner which was great and a busy night ahead of us since movers were coming the following day! Eeeek!! This definitely was a trip to remember though and we are so grateful for Nani and Poppa for staying with the kids to let it happen and we are so thankful for an amazing race and weekend! Now, to see what his next goal is...
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