#62: Bite-sized Chunks of the Big Apple — Part Three...

Friday morning we piled down for breakfast at around 8am – and I kept a look out for Mickey, who’d taken the Cathay Pacific redeye from Vancouver overnight and was due to touch down on JFK tarmac at 7am, before coming to share my room.

I anticipated he’d be at the Comfort Inn by about 9. He arrived, right on cue, then grabbed some extra zzzs, while I hit Times Square (jiving with Elmo and the Cookie Monster) and Sis and Tone headed to tourist-land to rack up the sights, courtesy of their golden New York Pass.

As I strode to Times Square, the sense of excitement and buzz upon approach was palpable. Even if you’re not really a big city guy, New York still has that inexplicable something. The old X (traordinary) Factor.

And, as I posed for a photo with one of the two Elmos – mine patrolled the West-side (we did three takes and it still came out blurry), I did a 360-scan of all the electronic billboards and thought about all the famous people that had been here – and historic moments that had taken place.

Then I got bored and headed back to the hotel, bumping into PRR legend Sukhi, and son Suchin, en route.

Back at the hotel, Mickey was up-&-about taking advantage of our free wireless internet to update his Facebook status. After I’d pried him away from his Powerbook, we headed out to the expo in early afternoon – to collect our race ‘packet’ (which makes it sound like a small parcel, though it’s usually bag-form) and stretch our legs with an extended wander round the winter wonderland of running-related stalls and booths.

While MP was governing the merchandise stands – I chugged down a few Odwalla (fruit smoothie) samples and made a beeline for the PowerBar booth.

I only needed half-a-dozen or so gels for the race, though they were offering a dozen free – if you bought a dozen first. Twenty four at $0.62 cents a gel… or eight (all I really needed) for 10 bucks? It was no contest. I couldn’t be arsed to carry the extra weight around. Plus, it might have gotten a little ugly trying to get those 16 puppies through airport security in Carry-On. Plus, I was skint.

To read the rest of this column, check out BC Johnny's upcoming book: Chilled Almonds.