Medal Winner :)

I am delighted to report that I finished my third consecutive marathon yesterday in the fine city of New York!  I have to be honest and say, for a variety of reasons it was one of the toughest I have done yet.  Sadly, Sheena suffered very bad blistering in the first half of the race, and although she continued bravely she was forced to withdraw, when even medical assistance could not ease the pain.

It was partly her withdrawal that held me up, as we had to locate a way for her to get back to the hotel from the middle of Brooklyn (with local Police being less than helpful in their directions to a subway station) and led to me having a two hour delay with an extra five miles walking off track in the middle of the race.  Despite this, I managed to gee myself up and continue the event and crawled over the line in Central Park with darkness falling around me.  Chuffed to bits at making it to the finish line.

I can’t seem to upload photo’s just now so please bear with me on that one.

Thanks to all my sponsors on my online page (currently @ £205) and remember you can still visit www.justgiving.com/the10grandcharitychallengenyc to donate to The Prostate Cancer Charity.

I will return with more stories of my marathon in due course.

Tomorrow…

This is it, marathon day is tomorrow, so I thought I would pop on with a quick entry before heading to bed to get an early night.  Wake up call booked for 4.20am, so when you guys are crawling out of bed (remember you are 5 hours ahead of me) on Sunday, remember what I will be doing by that time!!

I’d like to take this chance to thank those who put money into my Just Giving Page today… www.justgiving.com/the10grandcharitychallengenyc for the record … taking my online donations to £165 – its very much appreciated folks.

Anyone else kind enough to drop by and donate anything (even £1) would be gratefully thanked.

Had a relaxing day today, brunch in town at our new ‘local’ EJ’s on 3rd and 73rd before having a wander through the park and doing some shopping for odds and ends.  Stumbled upon a really quiet wedding taking place at the Alice in Wonderland statue in the Park, a more amazing sight you could not hope to see.  That’s the joys of Central Park, you never know what you’re going to see.

Anyways, I should sign off, I’ll give a full report post race, but do remember I might be in a bit of pain.

Zoo Days in Queens

Wow! If I come down to the lobby (well right now I am being a pain in the ass in the breakfast area, taking up a table when the punters want it for eating) then miraculously the internet signal is brilliant… funny that when I am just yards from the main office in the hotel, yet they claim to not know why it doesn’t work in the far corner where I am!!  Ahem.

Anyways, we went to the zoo at Queen’s yesterday, on what was a stunningly good day weather wise.  With all the awesome animals on show, its rather amusing that I ended up following a squirrel around, but as you can see from below, I managed to get pretty close to it.

 

The feeding of the Sea Lions was pretty cool as well, and we got to regress to childhood by heading to the domesticated animals section and feeding the goats and Llamas and sheep etc.  I will post some more photo’s shortly as right now I need to head back up to the room and get ready to head into the Expo to get our running numbers.

PS – Good to see people bidding on my auctions while I am away

Someone on the Subway Licked My Neck, Licked My Neck

The horrendous weather since we arrived in NYC, its been raining since we got in more or less, culminated in a downpour in Manhattan shortly after we arrived forced us into an early lunch at the magnificent EJ’s Luncheonette for the second day on the trot…not so bad to be honest, their Sweet Potato fries are magnificence itself.

So what’s been happening?  We managed to spend some time in Central Park last night while the rain was at its lightest, and tried and failed to get some brilliant photo’s of NYC shrouded in mist.   I did get a brilliant photo of a raccoon following us about the park which I was rather proud of.  Just as we left the park, we got lured back inside with the offer of a dirt cheap trip around the park by horse drawn cart which was an amazing experience.

Tomorrow’s weather is set to pick up so we are planning to head in early and go to Queen’s Zoo.  I’m also keen to head up to The Bronx and see some of the furore surrounding the World Series but that’s time and weather dependent through the course of the day.  Friday will see a trip to the Expo to sort out our running numbers etc.

Anyways, I hear a jacuzzi calling my name, its been a cold day due to the rain so I think I will go and soak there for a while

By the way no one on the subway licked my neck, I just borrowed that phrase from one Chandler M Bing to show how crowded and mad it can be in the subway… and how invisible I must be judging by the people run through me on them.  Gah.

New Boots

While Sheena is sleeping off the the effects of 24 hours travelling, I am working hard at the charity work I can get done from here (when the net is working of course… seems to be the worst wireless connection ever but at least it is free).

Adding to yesterday’s opportune meeting with James McCarthy, I have now secured boots from Celtic star (currently on a short term loan with Swindon Town) Simon Ferry.  Thanks Simon!!

Things NOT To Do When Travelling to NYC

So yeah, I have my moments… moments of sheer forgetfulness, but this one surpasses the lot… yeah I left my VISA card at home which guaranteed the hotel room… got to love to sheer stupidity of it.   Fortunately the parents came to my rescue, but man that was a hairy night while it was being sorted out.  Still… they had my passport they had my card details, all ready to charge, its got to be stupid that they won’t charge it just because I forgot the card.

Anyways, coming to you live from New York City… its ME!!  It’s raining, so I feel right at home and we are currently recovering from the hellishly long trip over, and several gin and tonics on the way.  Unbelievably, sharing the 6.30am train out of Glasgow was Wigan Athletic player James McCarthy, who has kindly agreed to donate a pair of boots later in the season for auction.  Convenient, but brilliant.  Thanks James, not least for putting up with my interruptions of your time so early in the morning.

Anyways, must dash, just thought I would check in and let you all know the madness that is arriving in the Big Apple.

Nearly There

Its now 1.13am Monday morning, with the taxi due in about five and a half hours and I am still up and about.  Mainly because I have done precisely no packing yet, but hey, isn’t that part of the fun?

I’ve just wandered down to the post box at the bottom of the street to pop in a massive amount of letters to try and get more signed stuff coming in.  For those of you wondering how many letters I send out to get items for auction, have a look at this pic

…as you can see, not a small amount of mail there.

Right… packing to do!

t-2 days

Ok, I have got a little bit slack with my posting again, but I am taking the laptop with me to NYC on Monday, so you can expect nightly updates and pics on the joys of my time over there.

I have just sent out every item that was paid for in time today (and indeed a couple paid late by making a second trip to the Post Office) so keep an eye out for your items this week.  Remember there are delays caused by the backlog of mail on the back of the strike action, and there is of course more striking planned for later this week (Thanks Royal Mail)

I am also sifting through a pile of items to photograph and list on ten day auctions over the rest of the weekend so keep an eye out for them

For All Those Visiting For Auctions

Hey Everyone

This message is meant for those of you who have come to the site today in response to an advert on your blog/site/forum/anything.

First of all thanks for checking out my site, if you leave a comment on the site, I will add your site link to my page later this week.

In the meantime, do check out the CHARITY AUCTIONS link at the top of the page to see the awesome items up for grabs at the moment.

Elsewhere, you can donate funds to The Prostate Cancer Charity through my Just Giving Page @ www.justgiving.com/the10grandcharitychallengenyc

Thanks Everyone

More Boots :)

Three players added to the Matchworn Items page today – Billy Gibson (Ayr United), Steven McDougall (Dunfermline Athletic) and Bryan Hodge (Partick Thistle) all donating boots for auction.  Billy’s are already in my possession, and will be auctioned in due course along with some of the ones from last season which I haven’t got round to auctioning yet.

26 auctions online tonight, to end in three days, while I will be putting a bundle online tomorrow for a mere 24 hours as the final round of auctions before travelling to NYC for the big event … the marathon!!

Was a bit under the weather today, but beginning to feel better and tomorrow will be having the fun task of working hell for leather on my Classics essay on Homer.  The joys.