vip in the city

Marathon and meatballs

Once again, the [ING] New York City Marathon shut down the streets around my apartment. On this brisk Sunday afternoon, instead of heading into the Park to cheer on the runners, I wandered along the Central Park West reunion areas, where supporters and medaled participants were pooling, post-26.2 mile run.

By foregoing last year’s spot near the finish line, I didn’t catch any glimpses of Katie Holmes, former-Ranger Mike Richter, or Lance Armstrong, who this time out ran a consistent, progressively faster New York City Marathon, finishing in a time of 2:46:43–impressively beating his 2006 time by a margin of nearly 13 minutes.

HH and I crossed paths somewhere around West 74th Street, where some prankster had posted a fake street sign, no doubt contributing to the already considerable confusion among the runners and visitors from 100+ countries.

Later that night, it was off to the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens for the Astoria Performing Arts Center’s production of 2001’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, Proof. After the show, our group dispatched to nearby Sac’s Place on Broadway, based upon TD’s enthusiastic recommendation. The coal-oven pizzas were as tasty as promised—the fine company enhanced the experience, surely—though there continues to be some lively debate as to which is Astoria’s best pie.

Late into the meal, when TD slipped away from the table (after first confirming that none of us was vegetarian—as if!) and returned, almost magically, with a piping hot platter of the house special meatballs… well, I don’t use the word “hero” very often, but just then, she became the greatest hero in American history.

Tags: Astoria, celebrities, NYC Marathon, pizza, plays, Proof, runners, Sac's Place