By now everyone has heard that the New York City marathon was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy.  Yes, it sucks to train your ass off only to have your goal race kiboshed at the last minute.  But I suppose it would suck a lot more to have your house destroyed or a friend killed, so I can’t complain.

I’ve been waiting to post this until I could say what I would do for 2013.  I loved New York and definitely want to go back.  I’d like to know if I get an entry into the ’13 race since this one was called off.  But it seems that quick decision making is not a strength of the New York Road Runners.  Race day was three weeks ago and nobody is sure what’s going on.  Runners seem fairly pissed off, not so much at the race being cancelled, but by the timing of everything.  The race was not cancelled until Friday evening, so everyone from all over the globe had already arrived in the Big Apple.  I was at a bar when ESPN announced the race had been cancelled, and I immediately ran over to the race expo to pick up my schwag.  I was in line right ahead of two women who had just arrived from Ireland.  They were so excited to be there, talking about how hard they had trained for the past six months and how much loot they had dropped to get to the race.  I politely informed them that the race was cancelled.  They both started crying immediately, and one of them actually fainted.

But our little Colorado contingent still made the most of the trip.  Toured Manhattan, which was not the mess that Staten Island was.  Took a boat ride on the Hudson River.  Rented bikes and rode over to Brooklyn.  Checked out lots and of local pubs.   And we really feel like we got the total Sandy experience, since our hotel had neither power nor hot water the entire time we were there.  I tried to sell Katie on the idea that things were romantic since everything was lit via candle, but the cold showers killed that idea.

So now it’s my least favorite season, and I’ll try to stay somewhat in shape during the Colorado winter by doing a bunch of local races.  The Rock Canyon Half, the Super Half, the Rescue Run, the PPRR Winter Series, the Front Range Fat Ass series.  Need to do something to keep me from getting too fat before taking on Mt. Mitchell in February.