How to spend a weekend without cracking a book

Surprisingly, I'm able to get by an entire weekend without studying. Most recently this consisted of...

• Home fellowship group at Andy & Anna's on Friday night. Andy was back in town from Abu Dhabi.
• Running with Ezer in the park Saturday morning. We waited for Andy to join us for about ten minutes at the 72nd Street entrance, but unfortunately he was kept up at night by Montezuma's Revenge.
• Visiting the small but quaint Inwood Farmer's Market with Adrian and Wendy. We let Max play in the nearby dog run in Inwood Hill Park afterward.


• Visiting the new Greek and Roman exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum with my mistress home fellowship group--Dustin, Mavis, Mauricio, Carrie, and Cindy.
• My first trip to the Metropolitan Opera to see Puccini's Turandot with Hansen and his friend Bori. I've seen a number of operas, but have never seen so many "stops" pulled out for a finale! (I suppose when The Met wants to wow its guests, it has the ability and the know-how to do so!) The highlight of the opera was the haunting voice of Liping Zhang, singing the part of Liu. Her arias, though not as intrinsically magical as Nessun Dorma, were exquisitely sung. So much so, that when I considered buying one or two on iTunes, I was disappointed by the recorded arias themselves. I think it was simply her voice that infused the music with energy and crystalline beauty.

• Church and nursery duty on Sunday.
• Blind date Sunday afternoon. I thought meeting for lunch would be a casual first date, but unfortunately that didn't work out because of our schedules. So we met at 5:00 at Columbus Circle. I'd brought some things for a picnic in the park, and was later told by some of my lady friends that a picnic in the park is not a casual, low-pressure first date. Oops.

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This post is sponsored by the words Montezuma and crystalline, and the number 72.

Marathon update

I ran ~13 miles (a half marathon!) with Ezer today in Central Park. Goal D4 is accomplished.

We ran about 1.2 miles to the park, and then two big loops of 6.2 miles each. The hardest part of the run was about 7.4 miles into it, just as we were beginning the second big loop. A number of factors converged to make this stretch remarkably painful, primarily in a respiratory sort of way:

• Psychologically, I realized I was only at a half-way point and still had a large loop left to run.
• This stretch is one of the steepest uphill parts of the loop in Central Park.
• I had a little remaining upper airway congestion from the week before.
• Being half-way, I decided to eat the high-carb chocolate gel packet Ezer had given me, making breathing very difficult.

The end of the run, however, was marked by a sense of exhilaration that comes naturally after a run (endorphins?) as well as being happy to have run farther than ever before.

Death of a cellist

Mstislav Rostropovich

1927--2007

New York Times article here.

Spring has arrived

I looked out my window yesterday and was surprised to see tiny green leaves on the trees in Fort Tryon Park. Within just a few days, spring has come. No longer will I see bare wintry branches in the park. Even down in the courtyard, the grass suddenly seems greener, and the daffodils have been joined by a host of smal leafy plants. (Some of that is probably attributable to the lady who gardens here, and not just the recent arrival of Spring.)

After work today, I went home and changed before heading down to Columbus Circle to begin another tour of Central Park. 6.2 miles, 52 minutes. The park today, Thursday, April 26, was amazing. I hesitate to describe it because I know my words won't be sufficient. It was like taking a jog through a beautiful postcard. The weather, of course, was close to sixty degrees, and the afternoon sunbeams slanted in over the rooftops along Central Park West. The redbud, cherry, and dogwood trees were blooming. Faint floral scents were in the air (except for in the southeast corner where I smelled the horses). Yellow daffodils were still blooming, as were the tulips and yellow shrubs. A short detour up on the Reservoir path granted me sweeping views of the skyline over the still blue water. In short, it's hard to imagine a more perfect running path. Today, perhaps as never before, I appreciated this jewel in the heart of the urban jungle of New York City.


(I found these photos of the park on the internet. They capture a bit of what the run was like, only it was beautiful scene followed by beautiful scene for nearly an hour!)

Marathon Milestones

Speed Goals
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S1 4 miles in 32 minutes (done)
S2 4 miles in 30 minutes (done today with a time of 29:17! Granted, it was on a treadmill)
S3 4 miles in 28 minutes
S4 6 miles in 45 minutes
S5 8 miles in 60 minutes

Distance Goals
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D1 4 miles (done)
D2 6 miles (done 4-19-2007)
D3 8 miles
D4 10 miles
D5 14 miles
D6 18 miles
D7 22 miles
D8 marathon