Whenever I return to New York now, I don’t
feel that I’m on a visit, even a long one: I feel that I’m coming home. This is
my fifth year of putting out feelers and putting down roots here. In total, by
the end of my stay this year, I will have spent over two years in New York
since 2009. I know a lot of people now.
In the past two weeks I’ve run three races in
Central Park. In this week’s 5-mile Portugal Day race, I placed second (out of
41) in my age group with 44:32 (8:55 minute miles). I felt like I was in the
zone for the last two miles, which I think reflects the past fortnight’s
regular training. I’ve really missed the 5:30 a.m. crew, who meet on Fifth
Avenue on weekday mornings for a run and a chat, so it’s wonderful to be back
into that routine and to have their support as we all prepare for marathons in
the autumn.
My friend Joanne from Melbourne was here
for a few days at the start of the month. (We joke that she’s my surrogate
daughter.) She has been at the finish line at a number of my races now,
including in Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, and now the Celebrate Israel 4-mile race
in New York. She and a friend drove a truck across the US. It’s one way to
arrive for a first visit!
Another friend visiting from out of town
was Ingrid, from Chile, whom I met in Santiago 18 months ago. We caught up for
a long chat a few days after I arrived.
Dominic, a good friend since 1983, was in
town from Tokyo. We had a lovely long lunch. It’s always a lot of fun to see
him. The last time was in New York in 2009, and before that in Melbourne in
2008, when we ran 15 km along the Yarra River together to celebrate our then
25-year friendship.
I had a day out on Long Island last week on
a spectacularly beautiful day with Joe, a new mate from my stay in Bali earlier
this year. We had lunch at a seafood joint, then walked for a couple of hours
along a beach on Fire Island before topping off the day with ice cream.
I also ran into a guy in my neighbourhood
whom I met in Reykjavik last August. TR
works in the film business, and there were a few films being made in Iceland at
that time.
It’s becoming a very small world!
Two running friends in New York have had
babies: Heather and Joe had Michael about three months ago. He is already a
fixture (with Joe) at Engineer’s Gate during races when Heather is running. She
and I ran the Mini 10K together last week. And Natalie and Nils had “Baby” last
weekend. He’s bound to be a runner, too, as he has long feet! He just needs a
name…
I’m loving being back in film-going mode:
“Frances Ha” (terrific); “Triumph of the Wall” (documentary about the building
of a dry-stone wall in Canada); “Before Midnight” (following on from “Before
Sunrise” and “Before Sunset”, with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy); “What Maisie
Knew” (with the wonderful Onata Aprile); a documentary about photographer Bert
Stern, “The Original Mad Man”; “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorffs” (about Bergdorf Goodman’s in New York); “Man of Steel” (with Maria and Lissy, to check
out the new Superman); “Trashed” (Jeremy Irons’ documentary about waste
disposal); and “Girl Rising” (documentary about nine young girls who break
through the cultural and other barriers that restrict their educational opportunities). My actor and musician friend Diane and I saw a play, “Fix
Number Six”, down near the Bowery last week. A lot of hard work went into it,
but neither of us enjoyed it much.
My work has been slow over the past month, which
has given me an opportunity to spend time doing other things without stressing
about deadlines. But I now have a big job in my in-tray, so it’s business as
unusual.
