It takes a triathlon...to get all four sisters and respective significiant others in the same place at the same time!

Post-race celebration

What better way to celebrate after a race than indulging in some delicious FOOD? We started off with a lovely picnic on Pier 46, where we pot-lucked some Balducci's and deli samplings with the Flynns, Mario and Bubba, the 'rents, and Karl and Bec for some much-needed sustenance. A few hours later, Leezie and Speed hosted us for a gourmet BBQ--delicious burgers and grilled veggies plus homemade sangria! The weather was perfect for this al fresco meal, and we stayed until all of our eyes (not just Bec's!) got very heavy...

What a day!

We had an awesome day out there yesterday in the New York City Triathlon! Despite the early-morning wakeup call (4:30...ugh!) and stress in getting up to the start amidst bumper-to-bumper traffic, all was fabulous once I dove into the swift-moving Hudson at 6:23. Two hours, 33 minutes later, I crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face...I was so happy to be DONE!

Some highlights:

• Bec once again claimed a spot on the podium with an awesome third-place performance in the professional race. I saw her on the bike as I was making my way out and she was careening towards transition. I cheered and got a little smile from her, even though she was definitely all-bidness!
• Karl also got a taste of the podium with her third-place finish in the elite amateur division!
  She even beat some of the pros--unbelieveable!
• John had a great day; his bike split was among the men's fastest!
• Mark did AMAZING, dropping five minutes from his 2006 finish time, including a huge improvement on his run! He looked great crossing the finish line, like he could've gone another mile or two!
• And finally, I was convinced my race was ruined when I made the biggest rookie mistake EVER (grabbing the wrong bike--i.e., not MINE--out of transition, I didn't realize my faux pas until I tried to get on and ride. I then had to scramble back to my transition area, get my bike, mount the other one, and get going!). But I held on for a faster bike ride and a run than last year to improve my time by just under three minutes. Of course, I would have loved to go faster, but I was hurting out there and just told myself that I was in it to finish...and that, I did.
  

Thanks to all of the support we had along the course...Mr. & Mrs. Flynn, our 'rents, Bubba & Mario, Leezie, Keren, Annick, Joanne, and more! They got up super-early to watch us out there, and it definitely made a difference. (And thanks to Leezie for all of these pics!)

Early Bird Gets the Bagels!

I managed to join Karl for a lovely bike ride in the park this morning. While my natural waking up time is generally 9 a.m. (pathetic, I know), this morning I re-wired my brain to rise at 5:10. (OK, so I hit snooze a couple of times and didn’t actually get out of bed until 5:25). Granted, Karl did have to call a few times before I got my butt in gear, but the point is, I did it. Perhaps she can train me to be an early bird after all—it does feel great to be so accomplished before 7:30 a.m.!

We rode together for most of the time, then somehow managed to separate on the ride home as we practiced the somewhat scary steep hill right after the transition area in Riverside Park. 25 miles later, I was home with fresh bagels for a sleepy Mark, plus a nice big iced coffee for me!

Thanks to Karl for motivating me...she is going to ROCK the elite age-group race this weekend!

Steve & BIGGIES

Mark and I ended up in Manhattan Mall last night (don't ask me how...I usually shudder just thinking about stepping foot in the midtown abyss!), where I finally checked out Sarah Jessica Parker's newish clothing line, Bitten. The line's sold exclusively at Steve & Barry's, which I'm told is a big deal on midwestern college campuses as they sell cheap T's. As I found out last night, they also sell cheap pants, shorts, skirts, shoes, bathing suits, and bags--all tenderly designed, or at least selected (supposedly) by Miss Carrie Bradshaw herself. While the merchandise itself is definitely not lacking (there are racks and racks of the stuff), the sizes are. In a very un-SJP-style, everything--I mean EVERYTHING--in the store is HUGE. I'm talking sizes XXL and 24. At first I thought I was in the plus size department, but then I figured all of the tourists must've snapped up the smaller sizes because there was nary a small ANYTHING in the entire store. Steve & Barry's? More like Steve & BIGGIES!

Cycling Spectating

 

Keren and I embarked on a somewhat random adventure on Sunday--we travelled up to Northern Jersey to watch a cycling meet (I assume that's the right terminology, as it was a series of events as opposed to one race). Her friend Reed was racing, so we slugged it up to Ramsey Route 17, picked up the car, and drove to Park Ridge to watch the show go down (Reed finished fourth). I'd never been to a cycling event before, so I was excited to note the differences between this sport and say, track or triathlon. In truth: There aren't many. But it's harder to keep track of who's who in a cycling race because the athletes are so bunched together, and you can't really tell one face from another with the helmets and sunglasses. I did discover that Rite Aid has a great professional team (who knew?), and that the sport--or at least this particular event--is not as up on gender equity as most tris or road races. There wasn't even a women's division; and the one woman in the men's race had to drop out after falling back too far from the leaders! Not really fair...

 

A Day with the McGarrs

 

It's not every day we get a chance to hang out with all of the McGarr men--but on Saturday we got a chance to do just that. Mike and Chuck zipped up Saturday morning from DC, to spend the day with us and their dad and step-mom, Suzanne, down from Cape Cod. Suzanne has a series of paintings on display at the Blue Mountain Gallery in Chelsea, so aAfter checking out her amazing work (which'll be up for another three weeks--if you're a New Yorker, I highly recommend stopping by), we strolled around our favorite haunts: Chelsea Market, Chelsea Piers, Bleecker Street, and Washington Square Park. We capped the evening with a pitcher of sangria and a delicious meal at Ciao Stella on Sullivan Street. Despite our pleas for them to stay, Mike & Chuck left around 9, and Mark and I settled in to watch The History Boys. A great--albeit slightly disturbing--film. I have a new crush on Dominic Cooper, who plays Dakin. Can't wait to see him in the movie version of Mama Mia (who knew they were making that?)

The McGarr men in Washington Square Park

Suzanne poses in front of her artwork at the Blue Mountain Gallery

Picnic in the Park

The National Geographic girls (plus Mark!) got together on Friday for a lovely picnic along the banks of the Hudson. We toasted the end of the week with some good eats (burgers & fries from Bubbys, pasta salad, Dancing Deer cookies, plus strawberries & angel food cake), some sips of wine, and an amazing sunset...

Some shameless sister promotion

We're athletes of the week!

L'Arte Del Gelato

Discovered last night during a walk with Keren: the new L'Arte Del Gelato
on 7th Avenue. I've sampled some of their goods in Chelsea Market before, and was pleased to see they've expanded just in time for summer, when my ice cream cravings go into mega-overload.

My creamy coconut and dark chocolate confection put Cold Stone's coffee-peanut butter-fudge-oreo speciality--yep, that's what I ordred when Karl and I hit up the 'Boken Cold Stone on Tuesady--to shame. While I love me some Cold Stone, there's just something about Gelato...I see many return trips to L'Arte Del Gelato in the near future. (Tonight, maybe?)

York for the Day

Given my more flexible schedule these days, I'm trying to do the things I always wished I had time to do when I was toiling away in the office. One of these things is to go down and visit Aleta and the kids in York, which i did yesterday. I got up extra early, loaded up six hours worth of Sports Junkies podcasts (Mark's got me totally hooked on them; it's such a boy show, but for some reason I like it!) and coasted down to PA, making it there by noon. We had a lovely afternoon, including a picnic outside (in the shade!) provided by Aleta, and soccer with Ella. She's a natural--at 3, I think she already has more hand-eye coordination than I do!

Philip III, as always, was a perfect little guy, smiling and playing, scooting along on the ground and...most importantly...not crying! He is the happiest baby!

Despite running into the dreaded stoppage on RT 78 (They've seriously been doing road work for decades), I made it home by 9. Another great day trip!

Hudson by Kayak

On Saturday, Mark and I hit up the Downtown Boathouse for a little kayak excursion (which, amazingly, is totally free and open to the public!). During our 60-minute run on Friday, we passed by the 59th Street boathouse, where kayakers dipped their paddles in the green-tinged Hudson as the firey sun set behind Hoboken. Despite our huffing and puffing on that very hot run, we managed to exchange a few grunts which amounted to a decision that we'd try it out ourselves the next day. So the following afternoon, we stepped outside of our building and walked to the put-in closest to our building, on a pier off Houston Street. No more than 20 minutes later, we were strapped into life jackets and sitting atop the choppy Hudson in a tandem kayak. The Walkill River it was not, but as we raced around the inlet, I couldn't help but think about next year's Shawanthon--watch out Karl and Bec, we're good!

Cover Girls!

About a month ago, Karl and I went to an early-morning photo shoot for a story about the New York City Triathlon. At one point the photographer asked five of us to get together and put on our "game faces"--you know, the glare we give our competitors as we eye them up at the starting line. And whattya know, that shot made it on the COVER of MetroSports New York Magazine! Check out Karl's death glare--and those guns!

The story is basically a collection of surveys from about 12 triathletes from the tri-state area who are competing in the NYC Tri. The point is to pit the "pros" against the "joes" in terms of training, sleep patterns, eating habits, etc. This included me, Karl and Bec, who missed the shoot as she was returning from a race in Hawaii. I'll try to nail down a pdf of the story for any of you who want to read it, as these pictures aren't so clear.

Day Trippin'

Funny how you can take off from Manhattan, drive just a couple hours in opposite directions, and land upon such disparate geography. Go one way and see stunning mountain ranges with craggy cliffs and dense forests (see: Shawanthon). Go another direction and come upon flat roads hugging endless shorelines overlooking a glassy Atlantic Ocean. That's just what Mark and I happened upon when we visited the Hamptons on Tuesday. Taking advantage of his day off (and my flexible schedule!) we loaded up the X and headed east, eventually settling on an isolated stretch of sand in Southampton Village. There, we saw how the fabulous live--elaborate multi-chimneyed estates with finely manicured lawns, each with the ubiquitous Lexus, Benz, BMW, or Jag parked out front. In back: finely-appointed patios--with pools, of course!--plus unbeatable views of the ocean. Hard to believe that these are, for the most part, just vacation homes. (Although I think one of the homes belonged to Christie Brinkley, who happens to be a fulltime Southampton resident).

After an afternoon of sun-soaking, we drove east through Bridgehampton and Easthampton (catching a quick sighting of George Stephanopoulos, on a run, along the route) before settling on Lobster Roll for dinner. There, we satiated our cravings for seafood with delicious pecan-crusted flounder and crabcakes. Then we continued our journey all the way to the end of the island in Montauk (where Karl famously won a triathlon last month) where we watched the sun set over the Long Island Sound. After a quick ice cream run at Cold Stone, we enjoyed a traffic-free trip back into the city and returned to Christopher Street by 10:45 p.m.

Heppolette claims victory in first-ever Shawanathon

GARDINER, NEW YORK, JUNE 30--The first-ever Shawanathon adventure race proved to be an international affair as two of the top three spots were claimed by foreign-born athletes. After a grueling four-leg race involving 7 miles of kayaking on the Walkill River, 5 miles of cycling, a 4.5-mile run, and a final ten-mile cycle leg, John Heppolette, hailing from New York City by way of Toronto, emerged the victor. Showing remarkable resolve after a harrowing bike crash in Central Park less than one week ago, Heppolette used his leg speed on the uphill 4.5 mile run in the Shawangunks Mountain to take over the lead from eventual runner-up Steve Linaweaver of Oakland, CA, who finished about three minutes back. British born Mark Williams, currently living in Washington, DC, took the final spot on the podium on this pleasantly warm and breezy afternoon.

An unfortunate turn of events on the water took twins Laurel and Rebeccah Wassner, of Hoboken, NJ and New York City respectively, out of medal contention very early on. Choosing to race tandem, the Wassner sisters were tossed into the river after their kayak capsized. Fellow competitor Jordan Erenrich, of New York City, selflessly halted his own race to aid the struggling team. Later dubbed a "hero" by race organizers, Erenrich was able to turn over the capsized boat and get the Wassners back on their way. At that point, however, the top three competitors had a lead of more than 40 minutes going into the run--a gap too large for either female competitor to bridge--shattering any hopes of an overall victory (Rebeccah finished in fourth followed by Laurel, then Erenrich).

Topping the podium to the strains of "Oh, Canada" as his country's flag flew behind him, Heppolette celebrated his victory with a champagne toast, vowing to return next year to defend his title--and his newly-established course record (3:01). "This win was amazing," said an elated Heppolette. "Long live the Shawanathon!"

Complete photo album