Quarter century.

In my first week of being 25, I got called "ma'am" by an NYU student. In my second week of being 25, I'm going to see this.

So I guess you could say it's basically a wash so far.


Birthday week kicked off with a ladies' brunch followed by mani-pedis. It also featured some lovely gifts and cards, as well as listening to small children shout at me on the telephone. Another highlight was the church speed dating activity, in which I managed to talk to at least two guys about Lord of the Rings, and told another one about the Titanic website I had when I was 13. One guy was in grad school for Mapmaking, so be aware that that is still apparently a thing.

The next weekend, Birthdaypalooza was rounded out with a joint party with my roommates, who are also November babies. It was really fun and we got to spend the rest of the weekend eating leftover chips and dip. It was a birthday miracle!


Getting older is kind of a fire hazard.

Central Park in Fall.

Last weekend my friend Zach and I went to watch the New York Marathon. I'd kept hearing about how cool it was, and how it was such an event--it goes through all the boroughs, and people in every neighborhood come out to the streets to watch. Apparently in Brooklyn, people start getting drunk at like 10am and then go cheer on the runners.

Also, I really liked the ad campaign that ran in the weeks leading up to it:




We had a great spot on Fifth Avenue, right at the Mile 23 marker. Since there are 40,000 people who run the marathon, they break it into several waves of runners. The wheelchair racers start first, followed by the professional women, then the professional men, and then three waves of regular runners. No spectators are even allowed at the start because there are so many people, but I can't imagine how much energy and adrenaline there must be there.


We got there in time to see some of the lead runners come through, including the two first place men (pictured above), who were neck and neck at mile 23. The American guy (on the left) ended up winning. USA! By the way, these guys are running 5-minute miles. For 26 MILES. I doubt I could have kept up with them for ONE if I'd just started running alongside them.

My fave.

At first, the runners were sparse, so Zach and I used the lag time in between to wax poetic about athleticism and the triumph of the human spirit. We were also amused by the people who had brought Red Vines to hand out to the runners.

The masses.

Lots of people had their names and/or countries on their shirts, so we had fun shouting things like "Way to be, Tom!" and "Jennifer, you are very good-looking!" to random strangers. Anyway, it was awesome, and this is definitely a new tradition I want to keep. We've already got big plans for next year, including camp chairs, snacks, and a boom box playing "The Final Countdown" to get the runners through the home stretch.

Afterwards, I wandered through Central Park for a while, enjoying the fall colors.




I can't say it was an entirely terrible way to spend a Sunday morning.