Monday, November 06, 2006

marathon sunday and the mets

On Marathon Sunday, we are virtual prisoners of Greenpoint, as we live between the marathon route and the river. There are some ways around it but it’s such a bother and Greenpoint is so ebullient that there’s no point in going anywhere. Last year I watched the marathon on Bedford Ave., which is slighly cool in that every band in the zip code sets up to play along the route. I mentioned this to TBF, and his horrified response was, “If i was a marathon runner, I would be all, ‘Dude, I do not want to hear your sad bastard music. Play ‘Eye Of The Tiger.’”

TBF was very into the marathon this year and was full of maps and time points and was awake at 9:15 so we could go watch the wheelchairs come through right before mile 12. This a stretch of the course where the runners turn off Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg and head into Greenpoint. Aside from the water/medical tent/bathroom stop, it’s not a particularly populated section of the route, which is what we like about it.

I am struggling into polar fleece and warm socks while TBF purposefully dons his Mets sweatshirt and the traditional hat, pointing out that he was wearing those particular items of clothing because many out of towners participate in the marathon. I wanted to hug him for being so adorable.

So we spent three hours cheering ourselves hoarse and having a great time. And, we did, in fact, see about half a dozen runners wearing Mets paraphernalia, who earned a hearty “Let’s Go Mets!” cheer from us. We also got some independent chants aimed at TBF’s sweatshirt from runners sans team shirt but avec team spirit.

However, I had to admonish TBF several times from being slightly less polite to anyone wearing paraphernalia from the other New York team.
The section of course we were standing at was a corner bordering a park, and as there were no spectators, hundreds of runners decided this was the place to shave the course down from 26.2 miles to 26.1. Hundreds, of course, did not, and there were cries of “Cheaters!” from the runners.
“Wow, look at the guy with the Yankees jersey - he’s CHEATING, what a surprise,” TBF felt the need to broadcast.
*kick*
“No, look.”
*kick*

As for me, I modified my comments to “Yankees suck - but you’re beautiful, keep running!” which got a smile and a thumbs-up from the woman wearing the Jeter t-shirt.

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I know things have been quiet around here. A little bit of a breather as I ease into the new job. Not going anywhere, I promise. And I am planning on a massive redesign this winter.

In the mail today: a book entitled FLORIDA SPRING TRAINING: YOUR GUIDE TO TOURING THE GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE

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