New York City II

New York City I

city.ballet

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I love watching anything about ballet. Breaking Pointe ended their second season a few months ago. Now there is another series that I'm watching is city.ballet.

city.ballet is a behind-the-scenes docudrama about the New York City Ballet. The show is produced by Sarah Jessica Parker. The episodes are five to eight minutes long. I wish they were longer, but even though they are short, they are very good.

From the city.ballet About page: "Imagine a city unto itself- a place where 16 year olds are professionals, 18 year olds are revered and many 30 year olds are retirees. Imagine a world so insular that nearly every one of these virtuosos has trained together in an academy since childhood, their lives forever intertwined by work, play, competition, friendship and love. Imagine a world in which the bottom line standard is to be, simply, the best on the planet, and where each night, an empty stage, in front of thousands, beckons with a challenge. This enclave has a name- New York City Ballet- and you are invited into this world, one that has never opened up to the outside before. A documentary series brought to you by Sarah Jessica Parker Pretty Matches Productions and the Emmy award winning Zero Point Zero Production for Aol On Originals."

Below is Episode 1 of city.ballet.

ING NYC Marathon

ING NYC Marathon

The ING New York City Marathon returned Sunday after canceling last year's race due to Hurricane Sandy.

The women's race had a breakaway of two runners from the start of the race. 
Buzunesh Deba and Tigist Tufa ran away from the pack in the beginning and built a three minute lead. Around 16 miles, Priscah Jeptoo started to pick up her pace and broke away from the chase pack. In six miles, Jeptoo was only 38 seconds behind the leader Deba, who dropped Tufa. A couple of minutes later, Jeptoo caught second place runner Tufa and passed her.  Around the 24th mile, Jeptoo pulled up to Deba and passed her. Jeptoo ran away and won the ING New York City Marathon in 2:25.07. Deba placed second in 2:25.56 and Jelena Prokopcuka was third in 2:27.14. The highest placing American woman was Adriana Nelson in 13th (2:35.05).

ING NYC Marathon

On the men's side, Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya won his second ING New York City Marathon. Mutai won the marathon in 2:08.24. Finishing in second was Tsegaye Kebede in 2:09.16. By finishing second, Kebede won the 2012-2013 World Marathon Major title. Lusapho April was third in 2:09.45.

In the first half of the race, Americans Meb Keflezighi and Jason Hartmann were in the lead pack. Keflezighi fell back from the lead pack because of an injury to his knee. Keflezighi finished the race in 20th place (2:23.47). Hartmann ended up dropping out of the race at 20 miles. Ryan Vail was the highest placing American. Vail finished the marathon in 13th place in 2:13:23. Jeffrey Eggleston, another American, finished behind Vail in 14th place (2:16.35).

Associated Press/Kathy Willens

In the women's wheelchair race history was made when 24-year-old American Tatyana McFadden won the grand slam of marathon titles. McFadden won the ING New York City Marathon in 1:59.13. McFadden won her fourth marathon title of the year. She won London, Boston and Chicago earlier this year. McFadden finished over three minutes ahead of second place finisher Wakako Tsuchida (2:02.54) and third place finisher Manuela Schar (2:03.53).

Marcel Hug was the winner of the close men's wheelchair race in 1:40.14. Second place finisher Ernst Van Dyk had the same time as Hug. Kurt Fearnley placed third in 1:40.15.

adidas Grand Prix track meet

Associated Press/John Minchillo

The adidas Grand Prix took place Saturday at Icahn Stadium in New York. The weather was less then ideal. It was cold, windy and rainy. Even in those conditions, American athletes still had a good day.

In the field events, Janay Deloach Soukup was the winner of the long jump with a new meet record of 21-5.75 feet. With the win Deloach Soukup is now leading the long jump in Diamond League standings. Over at the shot put, Americans took the first four places. Ryan Whiting won the event with a put of 69-9.50 feet over Reese Hoffa (67-10.75). Cory Martin and Joe Kovacs finished third and fourth. Jenn Suhr won the pole vault. Suhr cleared 15-2.25 feet.

On the track, Michael Tinsley won the 400m Hurdles in a tight race. Tinsley's winning time was 48.83. Tinsley passed the leader, Javier Culson, to claim the win. Tyson Gay pulled away from the field to win the 100m in 10.02.

My Oiselle teammate ran the 1500m. The race was won by Abeba Aregawi of Sweden in 4:03.69. Hellen Obiri of Kenya was second (4:04.84) and American Brenda Martinez was third in 4:06.25. Grace placed eighth in 4:08.92.

The next stop on the IAAF Diamond League tour is Eugene, Oregon. The Prefontaine Classic will take place Friday and Saturday. The Prefontaine Classic will on broadcasted live on NBC Sports Network on Saturday from 3:30-4:30 p.m. and on NBC from 4:30-6 p.m.

NYC Half Marathon and Los Angeles Marathon

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The NYC Half Marathon took place Sunday in New York City. The race started in Central Park. Over on the west coast, the Los Angeles Marathon took place

So many elite American runners participated in the the NYC Half Marathon. Olympians Dathan Ritzenhein, Abdi Abdirahaman, Janet Bawcom and debuting in his first half marathon, Bernard Lagat. The half marathon started at 7:30 a.m. in Central Park. The temperature at the start was 30 degrees. With the temperature being so low, the men's and women's field went off slower then last year's pace.

Wilson Kispsang of Kenya won the men's race in 1:01:02. Daniele Meucci of Italy was second in 1:01:06 and American Ritzenhein was third in 1:01:10. US runners Leonard Korir was fourth (1:01:19), Jason Hartmann was ninth (1:01:52), Lagat finished 12th (1:02:33) and Abdirahaman was 15th in 1:03:20.

Caroline Rotich of Kenya won the women's race in 1:08:52, Diane Nukuri-Johnson of Burundi was second in 1:09:12 and Croatia's Lisa Stublic was third in 1:09:18. Top US finishers were Stephanie Rothstein Bruce with a 9th place finish in 1:10:53, Adriana Nelson in 11th (1:11:09), Janet Bawcom in 12th (1:11:13) and Serena Burla was 13th in 1:11:25.

Sterling Davis Photo

On the west coast, the Los Angeles Marathon was won by Aleksandra Duliba of Belarus in 2:26:08. The elite women's field started before the men. Duliba was the first to cross the finish line and earned $50,000 in the gender challenge. With her win, she set a Belarus national record. Coming in second was Ethiopia's Zemzem Ahmed in 2:30:33 and American Deena Kastor finished third in 2:32:38. Fellow Americans Colleen De Reuck was fifth in 2:41:23 and Joanna Zeiger sixth in 2:44:48.

Erick Mose of Kenya was the winner of the men's marathon in 2:09:43. Julius Keter of Kenya was second in 2:10:30 and Nicholas Chemlimo was third in 2:10:42. Nick Arciniaga was the first of two US finishers in 7th in 2:17:04 and Chris Chavez was 8th in 2:19:20.

Fifth Avenue Mile

The Fifth Avenue Mile was held in New York City on Saturday. The men's race was won by Matthew Centrowitz in 3:52.4. Centrowitz edged out defending Fifth Avenue Mile champion Bernard Lagat (3:52.9). Leo Manzano finished in third place with a time of 3:53:1.

In the women's race, Brenda Martinez won in 4:24.2. Coming in second was Anna Pierce in 4:24.9 and third was Hannah England in 4:26.0. The 2011 winner Jenny Simpson finished in 10th place.

Photo Credit: (Top) Matthew Centrowitz, center, crossed the finish line in the men's professional division in the Fifth Avenue Mile race on September 22, in New York. (Associated Press/Mary Altaffer) 

(Bottom) Brenda Martinez crossed the finish line in first place in the women's professional division in the Fifth Avenue Mile Saturday, September 22 in New York. (Associated Press/Mary Altaffer)

5Pointz

I was reading Graffiti New York last week while in between books. I received the art book at Christmas because I love creative graffiti. The book has a chapter named the Five Boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and State Island.

While I was on a page about Queens, it had a photo of 5Pointz. I've heard about it and seen it on TV only recently. 5Pointz is an outdoor space where graffiti artists can legally paint on the walls of a factory building. Artists from all around the world come to Queens to paint on the walls.

In October, I will be running a 50 mile race in Pennsylvania. My husband and I are planning to travel to New Jersey after the race to visit his uncle. While in New Jersey, we usually take the train to New York City to visit. I figured while visiting the area, we could make a stop at 5Pointz. The last time we visited NYC, I only took photos of graffiti while we were riding tour buses. Tour buses do not stop. There was so much graffiti that I wanted to get closer to and photograph.

When I was looking up information about 5Pointz online, I came across an New York Times article about it. The building owner, that the artists paint on, decided to raze the structure and replace it with two residential towers. According to an article from The Guardian, 5Pointz is unlikely to continue far beyond 2013. Good thing we are going to New York this fall. I will be able to see all of the graffiti before the buildings are torn down.

Photo Credit: wikipedia.org

Models

I have been watching some candid reality shows about modeling. These reality shows give an inside look to the world of modeling.

When I was growing up, my first love was drawing. I would look forward to looking at the Sunday paper because of the models. The ads I really liked looking at were the drawings of the models wearing the items on sale. The company that ran the clothes ads, used drawings instead of photographs. I would love to draw pictures all of the pretty models.

Fast forward to the present, instead of drawing models, I would like to photograph them. A couple of years back, I had a session with a model. It was fun. We had several clothes and location changes. Since I don't have models banging down my doors for me to photograph them. These reality shows are the closest I'll get to models.

The first show that I watch is Scouted. This show follows girls that are scouted by model scouts and are sent to New York City to try to break into the modeling world. The model scouts that are a part of the show are from California, Texas, Virginia and Utah. Once the girls are scouted, they are sent to One Management in New York City. They then meet with a team consisting of a creative director, director of scouting, an image and style consultant and a model mentor. First there is a meet and greet, trying on a wardrobe, hair, makeup and then the photo session. The girls then meet back with the team and the president of One Management to find out if they will be signed to the company.

The other show I watch is Remodeled. The show follows Paul Fisher as he travels to different agencies that are in The Network, which are small-town model agencies that Fisher controls, to help them find more talent and make more money. In the first episode, Fisher was able to help turn around an agency in Minnesota and sign some models. Besides Fisher working with the modeling agency, employees of Fisher's took a group of four models to New York to book them for Fashion Week. We get to watch as they go on castings. What was really refreshing was one of the models was a male. Usually on model shows, you never see a male model. They do exist.

I don't know if the show will always split time between Fisher and the working models. It may just stick with Fisher working on the small town agencies. But I find it interesting. Besides the working models, it is nice to see the model scouts do a little bit of work also. The show just premiered on Tuesday. So I will have to keep watching to see what happens.

ING New York City Marathon

I was up really early Sunday morning. I couldn't sleep because of the time change. Since I couldn't sleep, I decided to start my morning run around 3 :15 am. My run finished sometime after 6:20 am. That gave me plenty of time to shower, eat and do some homework before sitting down to watch the ING New York City Marathon.

The start of the women's race was crazy. Mary Keitany of Kenya, took off. Keitany had a lead of over two minutes for most of the race. She was caught by Ethiopian Firehiwot Dado and Buzunesh Deba. Dado was the women's winner in 2:23:15. Deba was second; 2:23:18 and Keitany was third in 2:23:38. It was the closest women's finish in seven years.

On the men's side, winner Geoffrey Mutai stayed with the pack until the 20th mile when he accelerated away from the others. Mutai won the marathon in 2:05:06 and set a new course record. The second and third place finishers, Emmanuel Matai (2:06:28) and Tsegaye Kebede (2:07:14) also broke the old course record. Meb Keflezighi of the US, the 2009 ING New York City Marathon winner, finished sixth with a PR of 2:09:13.

My favorite ultrarunner, Devon Crosby-Helms, ran in the ING New York City Marathon Sunday. Crosby-Helms finished with a new PR of 2:42:44. She was the 21st woman overall and the 5th American woman overall.

Top photo: The men's leaders in the ING New York City Marathon cross the Pulaski Bridge running toward the borough of Queens November 6, 2011. The winner, Geoffrey Mutai, of Kenya, is on the right. (Associated Press/Kathy Kmonicek)

Bottom photo: Eventual women's winner Firehiwoto Dado, of Ethiopia, runs behind Caroline Kilel, of Kenya, in the chas pack as they run through the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn in the ING New York City Marathon November 6, 2011. Kilel finished in sixth place. (Assoiated Press/Gregory Payan)

ING New York City Marathon

The ING New York City Marathon is Sunday. Sunday is also the day we fall back. So instead of enjoying an extra hour of sleep, I know I will be up and running. I plan on running early so I can be sitting at my computer at 9 a.m. watching the marathon.

This year universalsports.com will be streaming the marathon for free! I think that is awesome. When they stream the Boston Marathon, it isn't free. So I very thankful for the free live feed because my cable provider doesn't carry the Universal Sports Channel. I'm looking forward to watching the elite men and women runners. It is amazing how fast they can run a marathon. The men can finish running a marathon in two hours. At two hours, I just finished a half marathon about five minutes ago.

A couple of years ago, I really wanted to run in the ING New York City Marathon at some point in my life. I'm not so sure now. After entering the world of ultramarathons, I love running in a small group. I'm not a fan of huge crowds. I don't know if I could handle standing in a corral with 40,000 people. The largest race I have ever run is the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon. This year between the marathon and half marathon 20,000 people ran. Coming from a small town of 22,000 people that is a lot of people crowded together.

Maybe someday I will try to enter the lottery. Just to see if I can get in. If not, I will always have a front row seat watching one of the greatest marathons in the world from home.

Photo of Devon Crosby-Helms. Crosby-Helms is an ultrarunner who will be running in the ING New York City Marathon Sunday. She is one of my favorite women ultra runners.

Random things

All week I have been looking forward to Saturday. My husband and I will be traveling to Toledo, Ohio to do some shopping and eat dinner. Lately my husband has been so busy with projects, we haven't been able to spend as much time together. I'm really forward to spending the evening with him.

I mentioned on my blog before that I wanted to run an out of state half marathon starting in 2012. If you are a regular reader, you know that I will be running Boston's Run to Remember Half Marathon on Memorial Day weekend 2011. My out of state half marathon goal for 2012 in the New York City Half Marathon. I would really love to run in New York. I started to register for the 2011 NYC Half Marathon, but didn't finish the application. I want to give it some time and I want to lower my half marathon time again before entering for 2012. Not everyone who applies for the race gets in. I hope when I do apply for 2012 that I will get in and I can say "I'm In!"

Underneath - New York, NY

View from Manhattan Bridge - New York, NY

149 - New York, NY

Tower - New York, NY

In love - New York, NY

Windows and bricks - New York, NY

The Statue of Liberty - New York, NY

Chairs - New York, NY