# 4/10 Staten Island Half Marathon - Sunday, October 11th, 2009

For my 4th race, I drove up to Seacaucus, NJ, to pay a long overdue visit with Ronc and Christine. I arrived Saturday Morning, we caught up for a few minutes, and then Christine dropped Ronc and I off at the train station and we headed into the city for packet pick-up and some catching up.....

Ronc and Christine at thier place in Secaucus, NJ



Just an 8 minute train ride to Penn Station, right under the Garden.

Subway Uptown.....

to packet pick up at the New York Road Runners Building on East 89th street just a block away from Central Park.

The Met. Ronc and I are big fans of post modern art, but unfortunately we had a busy afternoon ahead of us and didn't have a chance to stop in.

One of the Upper East Side's finest establishments.





Stuffed Burger. Delicious.

Beer Pong on Saturday = Slow Half Marathon Time on Sundee.

Brother Jimmy's BBQ. This place was awesome.



They had a Ski-Ball Machine.

I couldn't believe Mister Softee was driving around the middle of New York City.



Empire State Building....

We took the trains back to NJ, where Christine picked us up, and we went out for a delicous pasta dinner at Lorenzo's.

I had to wake up bright and early in order to catch the train from NJ to Penn Station once again... and took the subway to South Ferry Avenue in order to get the 7:30 Ferry to Staten Island.








A good view of the Statue of Liberty from the Ferry. I know my camera doesnt take the best landscape pictures... but if you look really hard in the background, you can see Liberty State Park and the bridge I ran over in the Liberty Half just 14 days before I took this picture. Check out the blog entry from that race to see the picture I took from the other side of this view.




Wait, what I am doing in New York Again? That's right, the Staten Island Half. The run was well organized and we had great weather. It starts at the Richmond County Minor League ballpark... and is nice and flat as it goes along the water and heads toward the Verrazano Bridge, where the hills start to sneak up on you a bit. It loops around through the neighborhoods of Staten Island before heading back to the ballpark.

A view of the Verrazono bridge from Mile 3. We still need to run all the way to this bridge, a few miles past, and then all the way back. BYM was going to run over it this November for the NYC Marathon but that's ok she'll be back for it next year....

I told you we had to run all the way to this thing... here's a view right before we run under it and head back to the Stadium.

Almost home... a view of the finish area from the walkway above.

The Staten Island September 11th Memorial with the NYC skyline behind it.

Check out this Police Dog working at the Ferry Station! BYM says we can't pet dogs while they are on the clock so I didnt stop to say hi I just waved and took a quick picture.

A view of the bridges on the Ferry ride back...

Thanks to Ronc and Christine for a great weekend. Although its been a ton of fun so far, I'm Looking foward to my first non-overnight weekend in a few weeks with the Seaside Half this Sunday.