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November 06, 2016 - 10:33 p.m.
"marathon party" or "eileen from ronkonkoma"

Hey Journal!

Today was all about the TCS New York City Marathon presented by TATA Consultancy Services. Yes, it was completely necessary to include the full name of the event.

Dan and I got up around 8:30 and we were very happy to have gotten that extra hour of sleep last night! We got to FALL BACK and we haven't yet had a chance to go around and change all of the clocks in the house. I feel good about it, though, because ideally I'd like to stay up later. I'm much more of a night person than a morning person. So now, it feels to me like 11:30 but it's really 10:30 and I'll still get a full night's sleep.

So, 9:30am, we get up, get ready, and then head out of the house at 9:05. We stopped at the bagel place along the way and picked up something to eat for me, Dan, Linda, and Dan. We got to the Deer Park train station around 9:30 and we had plenty of time to spare before our train arrived. That turned out to be great because we needed it.

The station has three ticket machines. One red and two grey. I needed to use one of the grey machines because I needed to add a MetroCard option and red machines can't do that. The one outside was being serviced -- they were taking the money out. Ugh. Inside there was a long line. It took about 15 minutes to get up to the machine and get our tickets.

When we were done, we parked the car and then headed up to the platform.

The train arrived at 9:55 and off we went. Linda was at the Hicksville station and we told her what car we were in and they met us on the train! We saved seats for everyone and they got on just in the nick of time because just at that station, the train was getting much busier.

We arrived at Penn Station and Linda wanted to get coffee and also had to pick up some items at KMart in Penn. After we finished there, we headed out to the street and had to walk across town to get the 4-5-6 Train uptown to where Christine's apartment is. The walk was a little longer than I expected it to be but it wasn't bad. It wasn't too cold, either, so we made our way there and then got on the subway!

It was pretty crowded so we all had to stand -- except for Connor. He got a seat and was watching the kid next to him play a game on his DS or Wii or something.

We got off at 86th Street and had to walk about 5 blocks to Christine's Apartment on 91st and 1st. It was a really nice building -- had a doorman and everything. Fancy. Her apartment is on the 4th floor and overlooks First Avenue. It was the perfect vantage point to watch the race. You could see everyone so clearly and you didn't have to deal with the crowds down on the street or the cold!

We had a nice time there, hung out, and enjoyed the day. Someone who used to work at the golf course was running in the race and she was the first to pass by. Linda and I went down to the street to look for her but weren't able to spot her. We came back upstairs, and next to pass by was Frank.

Dan and I went down to the street and we told Frank we would be on the left side. He spotted us and we got a selfie with him. We also made a sign for him - it said, "GO FRANK GO" in big letters and we put a few more inspirational messages around the sign like, "Only 8.2 Miles to go," "Don't trip!," and finally -- a message we copied from a sign we saw on the train, "You are about to finish a marathon, we are so proud of you." A bit wordy, but yeah.

Dan knew two people from work who were running so he went down to the street to say hello as they passed by. One saw him and one didn't. It was such a great way to watch/experience the marathon!

As the day went on the runners dwindled and, as they started removing the barriers and sending in the street sweepers there were still some people powering on! We decided to go down to the street and cheer some of them on but when we got down there, they all stopped!

We had seen one person go by, slowly jogging, with three people following him with signs cheering him on. His own personal cheering squad!

Anyway, Frank finished the marathon in 4:31:41. That's a great time. He was shooting for 4:30 so I could see that being a little frustrating to be so close but he did beat his previous record. As it was nearing the end and I saw his time getting closer and closer to 4:30, I was worried that stopping to say hi to me and Dan might be the thing that put him over his goal! As it turns out, he only stopped for about 20 seconds with us, so that wasn't the difference! Phew... I don't have to feel guilty!

Dan and I left the party around 5:00 and headed to meet up with Frank for pizza. We met him at his hotel near Times Square and then walked to a pizza place. I got a plain slice, Dan got a white slice, and we split a meatball hero.

We decided to take the 7:12 train home and we got to Penn at about 7:00. Linda was on her way to Penn also, but they weren't there in time for the train we got on. If we had waited, our next train would have been 8:12, but for them -- they had more options because they could get on any train going to either Ronkonkoma or the Port Jeff line.

Just our luck, the train we got on was supposed to go all the way to Ronkonkoma but there had been an accident on the tracks near Central Islip and they suspends service after Farmingdale. So, our train took us to Farmingdale. They kept making announcements saying that bus service to stations east was being arranged but wasn't running just yet. They announced that at almost every stop and said they would keep us updated but it never happened.

So, we were stranded at Farmingdale and it was a lot harder to get someone to come pick us up than we expected. Linda offered to drive us but it would have been about an hour and a half out of her way and we didn't want to make her drive all that way! My mom was going to do it but she didn't know how to get to the station and didn't have gas in her car. I was trying to give her directions when a woman approaches us asking where we needed to go.

We told her we needed to get to Deer Park. She said that she lived in Ronkonkoma and her husband was coming to pick her up. She offered to drive us to our car so we accepted her offer!

Her name was Eileen and she was very nice. She was getting mad at her husband because she couldn't find him. He kept saying he was at the parking lot but he was nowhere to be found! Finally, we figured out that he was on the other side of the tracks. He was a very loud and wild man. His first words when we got in the car was "all these fucking cars are in the way! I just parked my carcass here and waited!" He seemed like the complete opposite of Eileen. They were both super-nice. They're in their seventies and have a daughter who just moved from Massapequa to Seattle. They are currently watching her dog while she gets settled in and looks for a house. Their other daughter lives in Deer Park. They have a 19 year old grandson and a 21 year old granddaughter who goes to SUNY Purchase and is studying gender studies. Eileen wants her to go to law school but she doesn't want to do any more school after she graduates next semester.

Eileen was in the city today for a women's empowerment conference and, as luck would have it, her homework for the month (before next class) is to do 30 random acts of kindness! Dan told her that she's already started and she said she's counting this as two since there were two of us! She seemed very happy to have crossed two RAKs off so quickly!

Eileen used to have a sea-green Prius but totalled it a few months ago. She rear-ended a car and her airbags deployed. They had total replacement coverage on their insurance and in its place, for just a few thousand dollars more, she purchased a Nissan Rogue. She really likes it, especially the navigation and backup camera. Her husband likes that it's up higher, much like the mini-van he used to drive.

They have a friend who lives around the corner from us.

We arrived at Deer Park and they drove us right to our car. We bid each other farewell and headed on home!

We don't know their names, other than Eileen, and so we will always cherish our memories with our new friends for the evening.

When we got home, we showered up and now it's time for bed. Tomorrow should be a quiet day at work and then on Tuesday it's Election Day! I'll be at the polls from the crack of dawn and I'll be up all night at our in-home Election Headquarters calling the states as the results come in as soon as the polls close!

Now I have to get to bed and get some sleep!

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)