If nothing else, I’m one to plan ahead, although my mom might have disagreed when I was little and called me Wait A Minute Debbie. With plans to travel to New Jersey to visit our son and daughter-in-law for a long weekend, I moved my workouts up to earlier in the week so we’d be able to hit the road as soon as I finished up with my 5:45 AM client on Friday, and I wouldn’t have to worry about my run on Saturday morning getting in the way with a visit to the Italian bakery. 😀
Spoiler alert, we didn’t go to the Italian bakery, instead we got avocado toast at Short Grain in Jersey City on our way into New York City for the day.
Back to my workouts – I started all three of my runs this week at 5 AM so it was pretty much still dark when I finished. On Wednesday, I snapped this picture foam rolling, something I now do after every run and my body thanks me.
On Thursday, I was able to capture the sunrise and a jet’s contrail at the end of my slightly longer run. I’d texted with a friend to see if she wanted to do a long run (8-10 miles) on Thursday morning with me, but she’d done a super fast run Wednesday morning and decided it wouldn’t be the best idea. While setting my alarm to get up at 4 AM to get in an 8-miler, I realized that I don’t have any long races definitively scheduled on my race calendar, so why should I get up so early if not an absolute necessity…
We arrived in New Jersey just in time for a late lunch on Friday. If you follow me on Instagram, you saw the picture of the delicious salad I ordered. It was too much food and I couldn’t eat the focaccia bread so I gave it to Bill. I did sneak a taste and it was amazing!
Friday evening we went out to an Italian restaurant with Bill’s cousin and his wife who live near by and it was great to catch up with them. After a night of heavy rain and long-lasting storms we awoke to a decent day on Saturday morning. It was hot and humid, but aren’t most August days on the east coast?
Our day started with the avocado toast I mentioned earlier and was followed by eight miles worth of a walking tour planned by our son. Our sightseeing included:
- The New York skyline from Jersey City
- The World Trade Center Memorial
- Wall Street and an overcrowded bull statue
- Grand Central Station
- St. Patrick’s Cathedral
- Rockefeller Center
- Central Park
- The M&M Store 😉
- Times Square
We didn’t stop to eat lunch/dinner until around 4 PM at Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria where we got one of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten! The salad was pretty amazing in itself, and I will be making it at home.
In addition to working and working out, I spent quite a bit of time again this week going through pictures from our June vacation. I wrote another recap and ended up breaking it into two parts because I had so much material and two separate stories to tell.
Sooooo in case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…
- Sunday – A Run, Some Functional Training, And A Little Yoga
- Tuesday – Scouting Out Dead Horse Point State Park
- Wednesday – Sunset At Dead Horse Point State Park And Our Delightful Encounter With Kamran On Bike
Looking ahead to this coming week, I’ll be sharing the following posts…
- Tuesday – Mountain biking lessons with Sylvie
- Thursday – Let’s talk arms
In addition to the exercise I mentioned above, here’s a complete run-down of my workouts from this past week (completed mostly in our home gym)…
- Questions:
- Have you been to NYC? ~ I’d only been three times previously. Once with Bill when we were first married and we went to the top of the World Trade Center, and twice for business.
- What are your favorite pizza toppings? ~ I love mushrooms and onions.
- Did you race this weekend?
And that’s a wrap… Have a great week!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.
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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Wendy from Taking The Long Way Home for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!
We once went on a walking pizza tour of NYC now that is my kind of walking tour. Your avocado toast looks amazing!
Now that’s funny! I could only do it if they sold the pizza by the slice or I’d need to find a good place to nap.
Fun times! When I was in NYC for the half last year we walked from Wall Street back up to Central Park. I was on a mission to find the Chobani cafe and just enjoyed the city so much!
Sounds fun!
I’ve been to NYC twice–I think it might be time for a return trip and a run/race!
Keep me posted! If we couldn’t make it work to meet up when these two lived in Chicago, perhaps we can make it work while they’re in New Jersey. Of course, you did say you might be coming to DC…
So fun that you were able to visit NYC and see so many things! I was born in Queens, NY and lived there until I was 12 and I fondly remember walking and exploring so many things with my family. I now live in CT but I’m only a 45 minute training ride away from Grand Central Station so I still visit the city from time to time.
That’s great that you make the trip into the city. It’s a 45-minute drive into DC for me and hardly ever make the trip… 🙁
THat’s quite the walking tour! I’ve been to NYC a few times, my favorite was for the marathon in 2016 🙂
How fun that you ran the NYC Marathon! I’m bummed that I never ran the marathon back in my marathoning years…
What a fun post, thanks for sharing! I love reading about the walking tour, and the food all looks so delicious!
Awww, thanks! Yes, the food was amazing – all of it!
I’ve only been to NYC once, many years ago when our oldest was barely 4 months old (she just turned 24 last month LOL). My absolute favorite pizza toppings are pepperoni and sausage, and I love thick crust pizza 😉
I haven’t had thick crust pizza in forever. In fact, I’d forgotten all about it, but I do remember really liking it.
I’ve never been to NYC, though I’ve been to the US a few times. Not to get political, but I can’t go there at the moment until everyone I know is able to fly there, so will miss out on trying to get into one of the big marathons for a while yet. I really want to run New York, though.
My favourite pizza toppings are avocado, ham, pineapple, mushroom and sweetcorn. Because I’m odd.
Mmmm, avocado on pizza sounds amazing!
Your son planned a great day for you in NYC! And I agree, Grimaldi’s is great pizza 😉
You’ve been to Grimaldi’s?
NYC is our absolute favorite US city to visit! We’ve been at least half a dozen times and were just talking the other day about making another trip up soon. John’s Pizzeria in the theatre district is our fav pizza place. Sounds like you guys had a great trip!
I’m sure we’ll be visiting NYC a lot more often now that our son lives in NJ and it’s a relatively easy trip into the city. We’ll have to check our John’s Pizzeria on a future trip.
What a fun time! I love going to NYC. I was schedule to be there today actually but now have to reschedule! Your food looked good too!
We did eat well on our trip. Perhaps a little too well? 😉
I have been to NYC twice; both times in November. One of my favorite memories is running in Central Park with my sister. A spinach salad is about the only salad I’ll order. That one looks delicious. Thanks for linking!
Running in Central Park is on my bucket list for a future trip!
Love NYC days. Looks like you made the most of yours. Isn’t the 9/11 Museum powerful? Wow!
We only went to the outdoor 9/11 Memorial and will do the museum on another visit.
It is worth a visit!
[…] Sunday – An Eight-Mile Self-Guided Tour Through New Your City […]
You saw and did a lot! We need an NYC meetup when you & Darlene are here. Can round up the local folks from the linkup.
Anchovies!
That would be great! I’ll let you know when I’m heading up for more than a whirlwind trip.