Barcelona: 6 weeks to go!

I finally got my groove back on and got out on both Saturday and Sunday for a 7 and 17 mile run respectively. Keep this up and I'll be fine on the big day! A miracle a may still be required though!!

Barcelona: 7 weeks to go!

This is last week of pathetic excuses... needless to say not a single run this week BUT starting Monday I'll be running before dawn every morning. With 7 weeks to go it's going to be tough but with a minor miracle all will be well!

DC to NY Part 3

I slept really well and woke late on Sunday morning, missing breakfast yet again. I planned to spend the day in Manhattan but had nothing particular in mind. Walking to the subway station in the light of day revealed a neglected neighbourhood with abandoned warehouses, building sites and a lot of car repair shops that were hidden in the dark of night.

Manhattan was a lot of fun, I pottered all day and took in as much of the city as I could. As the evening drew in it started to rain and I occasionally dived into a few dodgy Irish bars to dry off. They were quite an experience, all owned by my compatriots but little reminded me of a pub at home apart from maybe bodhrán, tricolour or picture of the "old country" hanging on the wall. All of them had multiple TVs showing sport, any sport... something we're unfortunately adopting at home.

After another good nights sleep I woke late on Monday morning and yet again missed breakfast. Glad to find my car with wheels intact I drove towards the airport through as much of Queens as I could find to see what the rest of it looked like. It's a mixed bag, I probably stayed in the least populated part of the borough as I drove past sprawling housing projects which sat next to tree lined suburban streets next to industrial and retail complexes.

I stopped for a light lunch and spent a couple of hours in Queens Mall before heading for JFK. I was early for my flight and took the scenic route to the airport. When I finally got there I needed to fill the tank before bringing the car back to the hire company.

The petrol station in the airport was manic, cars everywhere and by the look of it most of them were limousines with bored, angry looking drivers hanging around waiting to be called for a fare. I looped the station a couple of times, negotiating narrow gaps left by the sprawl of ever moving limousines to got to a free pump. Finally I positioned the car in front of a pump and got out to fill the car.

The pump wanted my credit card so I obliged. Just as the pump started to complain about a zip code another car drew up its with stereo thumping at full blast. The owner ensured that his driver door was left open for maximum effect and leaving the car pulsating with its engine running he seemed to disappear into the petrol station shop. The pump was not accepting my card and I was getting frustrated, combined with the fact that I was getting very hungry and I could barely think over the noise from that car, the strop factor was increasing exponentially!

I decided to bail to find another, less manic, petrol station, Just to the east of the airport I came across a small, quite town that looked like the kind of place you'd get a bit of attention, unfortunately I wasn't paying much attention as I drove right through a red light. Luckily there were no blue lights around as I cruised through the intersection whee I found exactly what I was looking for, a quite petrol station with a man happy to help.

As I paid for a tank of gas I asked my new friend if there there was a good place to eat in this town, he smiled and said only if you like Chinese. Unsure if I should take that at face value or if there was a hidden message I decided to move on and get this car back to the rental lot and get to the airport.

I had checked in online for my flight and I just had to pickup a boarding card. The check-in lady asked me if I wanted to upgrade to an emergency exit seat and as she did she winked at me... I thought "hello!!"... however that initial wink was quickly followed by a series of winks & blinks culminating with an almighty sneeze... oh well!!

The flight home was bliss. There was one man sitting next to me as we boarded but as soon as the doors closed he took advantage of an empty row behind us leaving me with a row of emergency seats to myself. Happy days!!

Barcelona: 8 weeks to go!

Finally I'm back to some kind of training. I'm in the US this week and making use of hotel gym facilities. This week started with a pathetic 2 miler, not my fault... the treadmill was rubbish and packed in after 2 miles. Later in the week I managed 11 miles, all on a treadmill which was soul destroying but it was far too cold and icy to run outside. I am so far behind schedule for this marathon but there is time for a miracle recovery...

DC to NY Part 2

This afternoon, just before I left DC, I had lunch with good company and got a lift to Washington National (Reagan) airport to pickup my car. Getting to the car hire office proved to be challenging. On our third tour of the airport the comedy had to stop and I was dropped off at the airports main entrance where the ground transportation service looked after me.

Unlike the ride to the airport, my hire car was basic but functional but unfortunately its functionality did not stretch to a GPS, comedy moments to follow! The lady that served me was impressed with my accent, she said it reminded her of a British TV show but couldn't recall its name. I was impressed with her gold and sliver teeth, reminded me of a US TV show I could recall the name of... the Jerry Springer show.

My first stop was the south West side of Philadelphia to visit some relations, and then onto New York City. My hotel was in Queens and it looked like a great location on the map, the ground level view was significantly different. Entering Queens was a scary experience, the environment took on an industrial, run down look. By the time I found my hotel I could swear I had slipped into a 1970's film set... the low budget and dirty kind!

I parked the car and as I was getting my bags a man, or something close to it, stumbled up to me and tried to sell me a mobile phone. That confirmed my worst suspicions! Needless to say we didn't chat for too long and I hurried into the relative safety of the hotel.

The staff were very friendly and quickly put me at ease. Once settled a staff member drove me to the subway station. It wasn't far, about half a mile, and a straight run down the main street so if I had to walk back I couldn't go far wrong. The subway runs a frequent all night service and I was admiring the cathedral-like grandeur of Grand Central station within 20 minutes.

After a wander around Times Square and Broadway I headed back to Queens on the subway. I exited the station and had to take a few moments to get my bearings, the streets looked unfamiliar but I soon found the street that lead to my hotel and started to walk. There were very few people around, there were very few residences that I could see and most of the buildings were either warehouses, factories or abandoned. I passed one correctional facility and was glad to know that several hundred people who probably would like to kill me were on the other side of those bars, it never occurred to me that there may be a few left on this side.

I passed a few open petrol or gas stations but little other evidence of people apart from what I thought was street art... chalk marks on the street, some vaguely resembling a person. When I got back to my hotel the thought occurred to me that perhaps it wasn't art but the remains of a several sticky ends...

DC to NY Part 1

It's been a busy week. I've been working in Washington DC for the last 4 days and plan to drive to New York for a couple of days before I fly home. The work bit was a sales conference; a seemingly endless tunnel of PowerPoint slides occasionally fractured by food. My arrival at the hotel was the first of many comedy moments. I checked-in and got my room card but as I walked away from the reception desk the clerk called me back. There was a problem with my credit card! She tried a few times but it was rejected every time. Luckily a colleague was checking in at the same time and he had room for two on his card.

This hotel has an excellent fitness centre and as I expected to be wide awake at 4am every morning I was really looking forward to getting back into a training routine. Tuesday morning arrived and as expected I was bright as a button at 4am. I got my running gear on and made my way to the gym only to be redirected to reception to be given the bad news that the gym was closed for refurbishment. But, there was an alternative! They had picked one of each machine type and stuffed them into a spare meeting room. As the only one up at that ridiculous time of the morning there the treadmill was all mine.

The comedy continued... The treadmill display warned of an error, something to do with "speed system", of course I rebooted in the hope that the problem would fix itself. It seemed to so I cranked up the machine to start my 8 mile run.

Not long into the run it seemed as if the belt was slipping. Initially I thought it was me, after all it was stupid-o-clock in the morning but as I ran I realised that it was the belt and as I approached 2 miles the treadmill gave up and returned to the error that I had started with. It was far too cold to run outside so I spent an hour on a bike to make up the time.

The remainder of my stay was uneventful and on Thursday evening my short vacation began and I transferred to a hotel closer to the city. After a few drinks in a bar close to the office I got a lift to my new hotel, or so I thought. I was totally distracted by gadgets in the car; I loved the reversing camera, I wanted to reverse all the way there but apparently the Police frown on that kind of thing. And the GPS voice was a lot of fun - we changed it to French and it sounded fantastic... we had no idea where we were going but we didn't get there in style. Speaking of not getting there I was dropped off at a Marriott hotel on the right street, shame it was the wrong Marriott! The receptionist asked me to spell my name three times, that's always trouble. Luckily the real hotel was less than half a mile away.

Today was DC day. The highlight was listening to a survivor recall his experiences in Germany during the WW2 at the Holocaust museum. It was a very moving experience and I think everyone in the room felt privileged to be there and inspired by his courage, and his capacity to forgive and for keeping his faith in mankind through it all. The rest of the museum was fascinating and thought provoking, well worth a visit but it did put me right off my lunch!

Tomorrow I leave DC for Philadelphia, New York and then home!

Barcelona: 9 weeks to go!

Yikes... nothing doing this week either! I'm way beyond Christmas/New Year excuses and it's too early for Easter.

Barcelona: 10 weeks to go!

Happy New Year!! Again, that's all I've got... I better get back to it soon, the clock is ticking...