NYC marathon

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." -2 timothy 4:7

the first weekend of november, i flew to new york city with the winters family to support everyone in the NYC marathon. ricky & matt lee were running the marathon, and ricky's mom & aunt were walking. as soon as we arrived on thursday, our first stop was the best pizza shop on the upper west side: sal and carmines!

(note: many of these pictures were taken by ricky's dad, uncle or matt lee, and so this blog post is more a recollection of my weekend experience - not so much to show you my picture-taking skills) :)











after lunch we stopped by the famous tom's restaurant for a quick picture of the whole crew, or well, almost everyone.


later that day, we met up at the marathon headquarters to check in.

here are the runners!



and the walkers! woo woo!

after visiting the marathon expo, we met up with the rest of the group at the 9/11 memorial.

it was such a gorgeous day. how cool is it that the top of the new tower looks like it has a cross on it? except its really just under construction.



photo by LW





that night, we all went to see "spiderman" on broadway! what an amazing production. i can't say it was my favorite singing/acting-wise, but ridiculous special effects and set design.



photo by ML

the next day we started off at B & H photography - pretty much my camera heaven. the rest of the day was spent down on canal street and in china town. that night, the whole crew headed to peter luger for dinner.





the food was delicious, and the company made it that much better! YUM STEAK SAUCE.

photo by ML

after dinner, we stopped by the empire state building. it was absolutely gorgeous seeing all the lights of the city from the very top floor.

this is definitely larry's photo - isnt it gorgeous??

photo by LW

the next morning, all the girls got together and went to breakfast-

photo by LW

-at one of my favorite restaurants: alice's tea cup!!

it was so much fun hanging out with the girls and drinking tea and eating scones - pinkies up!

photo by LW





later that afternoon, ricky, matt, karen and i made a trip to laduree to pick up some macaroons.





they were SO yummy. i guess they should be for $2.50 a cookie.

that night, ricky and i went with his dad and brandon & dena west to see "million dollar quartet" - and once again, it was an amazing musical experience. i even got to meet elvis afterward! (sadly i dont have that picture..) after the show, we all crashed at the hotel knowing there was an early morning coming up.

and then sunday was MARATHON DAY! here they are before heading to staten island to begin the race.

photo by LW

photo by LW

it was so exciting to sit in the grandstand seating and see the male and female winners of the marathon!



there was even one man running the marathon with prosthetic legs! so awesome.



after watching the pros finish in about 2 hours, we headed to the brooklyn bridge to catch ricky and matt running by! we were following them on our marathon app all day, and im pretty sure i walked about 8 miles myself trying to find them!

unfortunately, it was so crowded that we had to stand above the portajohns to catch a glimpse. thats dedication right there.

photo by PS

there he is!!!!

photo by LW

here are the finishers after the race with their medals! YAY congrats! yall are such an inspiration!

photo by LW

that night we all carbed up on some more pizza after a long day of racing ;) - good times with awesome people.

photo by ML

then we went for a stroll by radio city music hall and did a few high kicks in honor of the rockettes!

photo by LW

photo by LW

that night was a great ending to a GREAT great trip. im so thankful for amazing opportunities and to the winters family for bringing me along!