What a lovely balmy morning it was yesterday! It was above freezing when I left the house at 7:15am and only got warmer….I think we hit low 40s by 10am! It felt great! Oh, and the running felt great too!

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took this backpack with warm dry clothes to change into post running. I wore it while running and it didn’t even bother me. #miracle. Duncan wanted me to put him in that backpack so bad. Sorry buddy…next time…

With all the Superbowl shenanigans going on in the city I opted to do a multi-transport approach…drove my car to the bus, took the bus into the city and met my peeps downtown right by the Freedom Tower.

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Hi Roger. Welcome to NYC! photo: E. Negron Perez

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Roger (at left) came in from Boston just to run with us because he won a video contest and scored tickets to the Superbowl! Elizabeth joined and while she lives in the city we haven’t run together in a while. Nice to catch up with her too. And then two of my favorites. The Brooklyn duo: Lisa and Mike.

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And that’s Elvia on her phone to the right. Probably posting a FB status or a pic. =)

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still hard for me to accept that the Twin Towers are gone (along with so many innocent lives). This new Freedom Tower just makes me think of the biggest headstone ever. I can’t help but take a deep breath an a moment of silence each and every time I pass it.

In usual Sally fashion I realized I forgot something. It was my Garmin this time! Not really a big deal since we had a plotted map of the course we were running. The rest of the group had already run close to 6 miles before I joined them so while they ended up with 11.5 miles I was just shy of 6.

We headed north along the West Side up to 59th Street and then over to Columbus Circle where we had a yummy breakfast thanks to Whole Foods.

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we ran past the Intrepid…

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and saw lots of the Hudson “Friver” (frozen river)

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The 555-ers reunited.

It was great to have Roger in town for the run so that the 5 of us who ran the Center of the Nation Series (5 marathons/half marathons in 5 days in 5 states) could be reunited. If you are new to my blog you can read my recaps of all 5 marathons/half marathons here:

Center of the Nation Series Marathon/Half Marathon Day 1 North Dakota

Center of the Nation Series Marathon/Half Marathon Day 1 South Dakota

Center of the Nation Series Marathon/Half Marathon Day 1 Wyoming

Center of the Nation Series Marathon/Half Marathon Day 1 Montana

Center of the Nation Series Marathon/Half Marathon Day 1 Nebraska

After parting ways, I took the subway downtown, caught my bus back to my car and drove home. The entire excursion was about 4 1/2 hours. Worth it!

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journey home begins in the subway station

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subway reflection selfie

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great morning! well worth the trip!

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do i stink or something?

Today I’m scheduled for 12 miles. I’m on the fence. I think I’ll head out late afternoon and just play it by ear. It’s a long slow distance run so maybe I’ll get in my zone. But I’m giving myself the option to bail early if I’m not feeling it.

I can’t believe how fast my calendar is filling up with races. I better go update my races page…

Happy Superbowl Sunday! Happy Groundhog’s Day.