USA — Page 4

I just ran a triathlon

August 12, 2013 By Danny

It may have been a short triathlon, taking place in North Miami Beach, but it was the maximum length allowed to be called a sprint and it was a good stepping stone for me in trying out this new sport. The race was the 25.75 North Miami Triathlon and it felt great to get out there and even better to finish!

First. What is a Triathlon?

A triathlon is three sports; swimming, cycling and running. The three sports are always in that order, it’s pretty logical when you think about it. In this race, the swim was 750 (.46mi) beautiful meters of open water swimming in Miami’s Biscayne Bay followed by a 20k (12.4mi) bike ride and a 5k (3.1mi) run. My job was very simply to do those three events, in that order, as quickly as possible.

But Wait, What about those Adventure Races you used to run?

So yes, the adventure races are far more involved, take a lot longer, and involve lots of alligators. This was NOT that. My best hope for wildlife was a manatee or two but we didn’t see any of those. Last year Jill did an Xterra Triathlon in the same waters and other swimmers did report a manatee in the water, but I digress. In an adventure race, the racer uses a map and compass to navigate the wilderness, sometimes on bike and sometimes on foot or in a boat, in whatever direction he or she chooses. I view adventure races as a more difficult undertaking than a triathlon, simply because of how long it lasts and the mental anguish of poor decision making. But, the events are very different and require a different type of fitness and mental fortitude. An adventure race can last for 6 hours to 6 days, this triathlon took me just over 90 minutes while the longest available – the Iron Man – will take the winner just over 8 hours. Because it is shorter, the triathlon requires a different sort of athleticism and a lot more hustle and no real opportunity to sit down and breathe. Added benefit of the triathlon: finishing in time for brunch!

As I mentioned, I finished in just over 90 minutes, which is fantastic considering my [much too easy] goal was 2 hours. My swim time was tremendously quicker than I had expected, I’d been working on that, while my run, which I did in normal shoes, and bike were right about as good as I could have hoped. Here are my stats:

The setting for the race was absolutely beautiful. Miami’s Biscayne Bay and cycling through Oleta River State Park was a treat as well. What wasn’t a treat was being passed on the bike by more racers than I could count. Basically, if do an image search for the word triathlete, you’ll see what one looks like and the kind of bicycle they have. Sometimes those bikes cost as much as $5,000. My bike, which I use to commute, cost a measly $300 and well, I don’t think I much look like a triathlete. Still, I enjoyed a great morning and have something to build off of. Besides, I had the best looking cheerleaders of the entire race!

IF YOU want to do a triathlon as well the 2575 race series is a great way to start. The races are short, yet still long enough to be a very meaningful distance. Also, the locations are simply phenomenal. Using these races to travel all around the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean wouldn’t be such a bad plan.

4 Bachelor Party ideas for Las Vegas and Beyond

August 7, 2013 By Danny

Typically, most bachelor parties here in the USA involve a lot of booze and often a trip to Las Vegas or Atlantic City. In a few weeks, I’ll be heading out on a bachelor party myself and although some of the other guys wanted to take a traditional Vegas trip and stay at a place like the www.arialasvegas.com, the bride to be was dead set against that option. Several still took the time to research Vegas flights and things to do in Sin City but it was to no avail. Las Vegas can be a great place, but it is only one of the options we have here today.

A Backwoods Adventure.

Nothing quite says manliness and male bonding like a camping trip. Somehow the challenge us urban and suburbanites face when lighting a campfire always makes stories for the ages. Add to that a few rounds of brew and no real stressors and you can have yourself a nice relaxing trip…but that’s not what bachelor parties are all about. Instead, try to take a mountain biking or a white water rafting trip. The nice thing about rafting is that by choosing a rafting company, such as the one we used on my bachelor party, no one needs to have any real skills or gear.

Be A Kid.

With this upcoming bachelor party we chose instead to do something that would be simple and fun. We’re visiting Cedar Point in Ohio where we will ride roller coasters until we’re blue in the face. To add a little bit of manliness to the weekend we’ll also be hitting a baseball game and grilling out for dinner. The really exciting thing is that none of the crew has been to this park before; most have never been to Ohio for that matter.

Travel Abroad

In sticking with the theme of doing something new, why not take that same airplane and turn it in another direction. Recently I went to a Bachelor Party that took place in Puerto Rico, no passport needed and relatively inexpensive airfare still left us in a new country with plenty of options for things to do. Although if you have more money at your disposal, you could follow the British Stag Party tradition and visit Prague instead!

When a Massage Just Isn’t Enough

July 29, 2013 By Jillian

Is it possible to call yourself a weary traveler even if you haven’t been anywhere new or on a typical “adventure” in a while? I think yes. We are all in one way or another a weary traveler on the road of life. A bit poetic perhaps, but it’s true. The stress, anxiety and frustration we feel at home doesn’t automatically leave us when we hit the road, instead it is somehow transformed into positive stress (what time is the train? wait, what time is it now? oh no…), anxiety and yes, even frustration. We’ve all lived through it on the road, and when we get home we swear to our friends that those were the best moments of the trip. And yet at home, those are the moments that cause us to scream “I can’t take it anymore!”

As a weary traditional traveler, exploring the world, I took to the spas of Tbilisi in the hopes of some relaxation. What I got can only be called the most unorthodox way to relax…the massage and scrub. Now, repeat that with a heavy soviet accent.

Massage and scrub.

Read about the spas of Tbilisi before you continue. Yes, the scrub was painful, humiliating and yet afterwards I was willing to do it again, because… it was relaxing in that painful stress relieving sort of way.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when we were waiting for our twins to make their appearance in this world. We headed across the State of Florida to check out one of our favorite staycation options- Marco Island. Let’s just say the differences were abundantly clear from the moment we arrived:

Photo Credit: Hilton Marco Island Spa Website

No scary woman with a scrub brush and a hose here. Instead, the locker room looked like the inside of a softly lit palace, complete with uniformed attendants and fluffy white towels. Unlike the sulfurous water and back slapping, the spa massage included soothing instrumental music, soft mood lighting, aromatherapy and moisturizing massage oils. No one approached me with a look of determination to scrub me clean or beat into submission my aching back. The atmosphere was soothing, quiet and relaxing.

Too relaxing.

90 minutes after crawling onto the massage table I woke up.

Does a massage count if you fall asleep?

Maybe I’m just better off handling my stress and anxiety with a trip!

A Really Really Really Really Long Walk

April 12, 2013 By Danny

I once walked 100 kilometers in one day. We started at 3am, the four of us. It was an organized event so we weren’t alone but when I walked up to the finish line at midnight I had been alone for hours.

Somehow, I thought it would be a good idea to do that long walk again….in winter!

What started out as a simple dare quickly grew into a quest for myself and three other friends. (This was a different group from my first foray in long distance walking.) I had been hoping to rejoin the 100km walk again later this month but scheduling kept that from happening. In the process I heard about a 50 mile trek to commemorate the first time this walk was done, by Robert F. Kennedy, mentioned to my friends, and there was no turning back.

The group who started the 50mi Kennedy Walk — At the start there were 34 walkers. Only 12 would walk the entire distance.

Because this was was shorter, the start time was a leisurely 4am. In preparing for the walk, all I could think about was the immense pain and suffering I felt toward the end of the 62mi when I’d done it the first time. Yes, this was was shorter, but it was winter time so really no real benefit from the decreased distance. I’d walk a little less but have to deal with temperature control, freezing water and maybe even snow on the trail.

We got to the trailhead a bit late but still managed to start with the group. It was dark. It was cold. I wanted to walk faster than the rest of my group. We all wanted to sleep. The sun came up. We ate food. My water froze. I unfroze my Camelback’s hose so I could drink. It froze again. Fun, right?

The Towpath connects Washington, DC to Cumberland, MD — A lot of the path looked just like this. It was a beautiful day….in February!

The walk itself took place along the C&O Canal. The Canal was built alongside the Potomac River to ferry goods up and down river between Washington, DC and Cumberland, MD; a distance of about 185mi. The walk I did before, the 100km, started in DC itself and went all the way to Harper’s Ferry, WV. The “shorter” walk I did the second time started further upstream in Great Falls, following the same canal and towpath all the way to Harper’s Ferry.

Chester and Lionel on the trail, with a bow tie! — You can see Chester’s bow tie…I tied it!

Eventually we all hit our stride and began to enjoy our day despite the cold. This is probably a good point to introduce the rest of my cohorts. There was Chester and his lovely bride Catherine. Chester and I knew each other from GWU where we played Rugby with the fourth member of our trip, Lionel. Lionel and Catherine, who for various reasons didn’t want to walk the whole way, each took turns shuttling the car while Chester and I walked the full distance. We were all dared to start the day wearing oxford shirts and bow ties (my bowtie fell off before our first pit stop) to help us commemorate RFK but Chester was the only one ~~stupid~~ strong enough to make the whole trip in a pair of Cole Haan dress shoes.

The walk itself is easy. Technically, it is uphill, but 600 feet in elevation spread over 50 miles doesn’t really count for much elevation. It’s that very flatness that causes the pain in the hip flexors and ankles, from doing the same thing over and over again for hours. With the sun up, we warmed up quite a bit and I didn’t have any more problems with water freezing. We walked some more and some more. We talked politics and business and philosophy, as friends do, and then we talked about how much we hurt and what we wanted to eat. A friend visited us a few hours before sunset and brought us hot chocolate and magic bars. Amazing. We kept walking. Walking some more. Did I mention this was a very long walk? We saw some kind of strange albino deer. The sun set. The temperature dropped a lot. We still had miles to go. We kept walking.

In the end we didn’t finish too long after sunset, arriving at Harper’s Ferry right about 7pm. Although 7pm sounds like a nice time to finish something, we’d been walking for 15 hours straight and were simply exhausted. For me though, I was shocked at how much easier a 50 mile walk was compared to a 62 mile walk, and thankful that we’d not encountered any snow. When I’d finished this walk the first time, doing the full 100km, I could barely move. Although I was plenty sore this time around things like stairs and hills didn’t look quite so scary. We even went out for dinner and each enjoyed a nice pint of beer.

Then we got to the B&B we’d booked for the night, and Chester removed those Cole Haans… The shoes survived surprisingly well but the feet were another story.

10 Places that Will Make You Fall in Love with NYC This Spring

March 21, 2013 By Guest Blogger

Springtime in New York City is full of life. The temperatures are rising, the flowers are starting to bloom and people are starting to shed layers and move around comfortably. This is one of the greatest times to visit the city as there’s so much to see and do whether you’re a nature lover, sports fan or just a tourist who doesn’t want the hassle of mittens that hinder your photo-taking abilities. Everyone has their own list of reasons to love New York, but many people can’t deny the fact that these 10 places are dear to them in the spring.

Central Park – Over 843 acres of New York City that isn’t concrete and taxis is very enjoyable on a nice, spring day in the Big Apple. Take a romantic stroll through the shaded paths or on a horse-drawn carriage ride, take the kids on the carousel or take a run or bike ride through the park. It’s one of the best places in the city to exercise without having to fear getting hit by a car afterall!

Top of the Rock – Springtime in NYC is best seen from above, and there’s no better view of the newly sprouting greenery and blooming buds than from the Top of the Rock. This is one of the best views you’ll find in the entire city of Central Park, the Empire State Building and the New York skyline, so be sure to bring your camera to capture the moment.

Yankees Stadium – Well okay, maybe not. The Yankees are not the most beloved baseball team in America, but they represent New York, and going to a game is actually a lot of fun. Luckily you’re always allowed to root for the other team even when you’re at a home game, so grab a hot dog and a beer and enjoy the moment! You can always head to Queens to cheer on the Mets too.

Yankee Stadium-NYC — Photo Credit: Flickr user Mafue

Union Square – Every Saturday morning, New Yorkers trade in their morning purchases at Starbucks and Walgreens for some local produce, fresh flowers and homemade goods at the Union Square Green Market. Union Square is bustling with interesting things (and people) to see and do this time of year, so after you hit the market, explore the rest of the neighborhood.

5th Avenue – New York City is one of the top destinations in America for St. Patrick’s Day, and every year, one of the biggest St. Patrick’s Day parades in the world heads down Fifth Avenue. Paint the town green this March and steal a few kisses before heading to the bar for some green beer and Irish music.

Macy’s Herald Square – Every year at the Corner of Broadway and 34th for about a month in Spring, the Macy’s Flower Show takes over the first floor of the iconic flagship department store. Stroll through the gardens, take in all the beautiful colors and breath in the blissful smells of real flowers, rather than the perfumes for once.

Midtown Manhattan – When you come to New York City for Easter, enjoy the service or maybe just the beauty of the historic churches in Midtown Manhattan. Famous churches like St. Peter’s Church, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Thomas Church are all perfect places to celebrate Easter, and they’re all close to the NYC Easter Parade!

TriBeCa – Tickets for opening night at the TriBeCa Film Festival are available to everyone. This is the time of year when the stars gather in New York City, so be prepared – you may bump into your favorite celebrity on the way to check out some of the newest independent films.

Rooftop Bars – Many of the rooftop bars have added windows and roofs to stay open year round, but as things start to heat up during the day, all of the rest start to open and the crisp, spring air pairs nicely with a martini or a local craft beer in a glamorous setting. The views from these NYC rooftop bars aren’t half bad either…

Patios for Brunch – Things were chilly this winter, so the patios at many restaurants weren’t very enjoyable. Luckily when the sun startings warming us up, we can head to some of the best brunch spots in NYC for a delicious meal to warm our soul on the patio. A few delicious brunches includes the Cafe Orlin, Rose Water Restaurant, Le Barricou and the LIC Market.

Once the holidays are over, people look to forward to spring for months! Warmer temperature, nature reborn and the hustle and bustle of the NYC life returns, and you’re going to want to be here.

Author: This post was written by Lizz Riggs, editor of NYCTourist.com, a travel site dedicated things to do, deals and hotels in NYC.