MOVE IT! 1/3 Complete

Today was the New York marathon, and TOH and I ambled up to Clinton Hill, between the mile 8 and mile 9 markers, to see if we could spot our friend, Al, who was running. Despite frantically checking his progress on the handy website tracker, we somehow missed him; we had failed to tell him where we'd be or check what he'd be wearing. Suddenly, having gone through a sparse patch of runners, there were hundreds of them, everywhere, and we failed to find him. But he finished in a fantastic 3:43:57, and I am immensely proud of that achievement. I still don't want to run a marathon, but am absolutely awed by everyone who does. It's rare that we get to cheer on an everyday person - someone with a day job, and maybe not that much natural athletic ability - doing something absolutely physically remarkable. Which is, I think, one of the reasons why I love the marathon.

The place to watch it is definitely Fort Greene/Clinton Hill. As we wandered west toward the Q train for our football match, we went through that neighbourhood and heard funk bands, drummers, an awesome school band, and an amazing gospel choir outside a church. All there to entertain the runners and everyone there, and it was a fantastic New York day. It didn't hurt that the sun was shining, the sky was blue and clear, the leaves on the trees were yellow and red and orange, and it was fun to be wandering around.

Then came our game. Hard work, today. I got winded after a giant collision with a dude who while not large, is a lot bigger than me; there is also a guy on the team we played today who plays rough and I do not like, but I tried not to get too enraged. Well, not too often. My hip twinged a lot, but I don't tend to mind that as it takes my mind off my aching knee. We drew, 2-2; not a great result, but a hard fought, tough game. And three pieces of exercise complete. Which means I absolutely have to work out tomorrow, and that conveniently means I might finally use my groupon which expires this week...