Short visit in New York

I'm in New York and it is sweltering and humid here - they type of humidity that slaps you in the face. I haven't stopped sweating since I arrived yesterday afternoon. My friend Alex met me at the airport and we headed back to his place so I could shower and change before going into the city. I slept quite a bit on the plane from Joburg to Atlanta - and the whole way from Atlanta to NY - so I was fully functional for our evening link-up with my other NY friend, Kim.

I met Kim in 2005 at the Coastal Challenge staged ultra in Costa Rica and although we've kept contact over the years, we havn't met up in person since. So great to see her again and to catch-up. Although a good few years have passed, it was like I'd seen her only a few weeks ago. I'll see our third amigo, Sandy, next weekend when I pass through Atlanta.

After seeing Kim, we headed back to Alex's place where I got to meet his wife, Flora, for the first time. I've heard so much about her so really nice to finally meet her. She's an amazing make-up artist.

I spent most of today in the city, walking around and looking at buildings. Alex had a meeting so I went to a nearby gym to try out one of their dance classes - super fun and I have some nice new variations on moves to introduce to my classes at home. Alex met me after the class at an awesome computer store - so many great toys there! Oh yes... yesterday before we met up with Kim, we swung past B&H Photo - a photographic mecca. Too many desireable things there!

Then we took a long walk across the impressive Brooklyn Bridge and into Brooklyn. We ticked one "Thing to do" off my list when we grabbed a cream cheese bagel and sat in a park below the Manhattan Bridge watching a storm roll in. We walked back along the Manhattan Bridge, through China Town and into Tribeca and other neighbourhoods. I really enjoy looking at the different buildings.

On the Brooklyn Bridge

Tonight we're chilling at home - I fly early tomorrow morning via Atlanta to Denver, Colorado. I like flying via Atlanta because there is a Ben & Jerry's icecream place (I discovered Ben & Jerry's during my US visit in 2004) in Terminal C; I has Ben & Jerry's for breakfast yesterday morning... one scoop of Cake Batter and one scoop of Chocolate Brownie icecream.


Tomorrow I land in Denver at 12h00. Devon, from Gordon's crew (Outside PR), will meet me at the airport. From there we shuttle through to Buena Vista. We've got a media thing in the evening and somewhere around I'll hook up with my teammate for the race, Lisa Watson. Exciting days ahead!