Pouring Rain

I woke a few times during the night and early morning. Around 6am I got up and took three Advil. Holy smoke, I drank only two beers over the span of 3 hours and still had a headache. All totaled, I slept for 9.5 hours not waking for good until 930am, and even then, I was still a tad groggy. It didn’t take long to wake up, though. Felt great a few minutes after.

It was more than nice to have an entire day ahead of me with no where I had to be. The only thing on my mind was doing my run. I looked out the window and could tell it was raining, but just how much or how hard I couldn’t tell. Over the next 30 minutes I got into my running clothes and prepared to head out for a run, hopefully up to and through Central Park.

I pulled up the running map supplied by the hotel’s website and headed down to the lobby to make my exit. It was pouring rain like nobody’s business.  I stared out the door for a minute or two then decided it a far better option to run on the treadmill. Maybe next Sunday. For one,  I had no means of drying my shoes if they got soaked.

I worried just a little that the fitness center might be full, the treadmills anyway. Up to the fitness center. There was a large contingent of patrons, but still a few treadmills available. I nabbed one and kicked into high gear in a hurry. I was anxious to get my run done.

Took about 30 minutes to run the 5K. I worked up one heck of a sweat.  In fact, it was flying off me. I think it soaked the guy next to me too. He hopped off his treadmill abruptly. I wondered if it was my sweat or my odor. After all, I’d been wearing the same running clothes all week.

Back to the room I grabbed my wallet then headed down to get some coffee. The lobby was chalked full of patrons whom I assumed were checking out. It was that time of day. As busy as I’ve seen it. I didn’t bother asking for my weekly receipt as I had planned. I figured I could do that anytime.

Back in the room I turned on the TV, logged onto the internet, and eventually took a shower. I talked with Mindy at some point to let her know that I was alive. She and the kids were going to dinner with her family to celebrate niece Julie’s b-day, her 29^th. Got a text from Pat Shultz sharing that there flight home from NYC was delayed quite a while. Apparently the rain was more significant than even I thought. There was localized flooding all over Brooklyn. They got as much as 6 inches overnight and early AM. LaGuardia, which is due east of midtown Manhattan, got about 4 inches.

I’m thinking it was near 2pm when I ventured out of the room to tour the hotel and then Grand Central Terminal. I knew there was a market in there, spotted it the other night from

Lexington Avenue

. I toured the small Grand Central  museum as well as the market with all sorts of yummy looking fresh food. I also walked through the main terminal taking pictures here and there. Very cool! I noticed a lower level called the ‘dining concourse’. Headed down there to get lunch. After checking out all my options I opted for some Greek – a gyro. After picking up a gyro I headed back to the market bakery and bought two giant cookies. On my way back to my room I stopped at the front desk to get the receipt for my first week’s stay. No problem.

Back to my room. It was still raining hard. I tuned the TV to the local NYC channel then turned the sound down low. I enjoyed my gyro while logging onto the internet and updating my blog complete with pics through Friday. Once I finished playing on my blog, I spent some time working on my expense report. Before I knew it, it was early evening. Where had the day gone? I took a nap around 445pm and slept for about 30 minutes.

I woke around 530pm and spent more time on the internet. Before I knew it, it was getting dark. My belly was still plenty full. It didn’t make sense to go out for dinner even though I was hoping to get a formal steak dinner.

I watched TV as the evening ticked away. Around 8pm I tuned into the Discovery program, Curiosity. The episode was about what would really happen if aliens attacked our planet. They explored how we might respond as well as what might be their motives. Interesting perspective.

Around 9pm I talked with Mindy, who was now home from dinner with the family .Said they had a good time. Talked for about 45 minutes, including two conversations with Bella, and brief chat with Eiknarf.  Said our goodbyes around 945pm. I was hoping for sleep shortly after 10pm. Good night monsoon.