Local Hero: Mike the Marathoner

I happened to be cheering next to Mike's family when he showed up at the 5 mile marker. After a quick snuggle with his baby daughter and a supportive hug (and probably kiss, I tried not to invade their privacy too much) from his partner, Rachel, he ran on. I hear he completed the marathon in excellent form and met up with family and friends for some brunch in Manhattan.

Any other Sunset Park marathoners want to be featured? Send a marathon photo of yourself and a brief description of your run to bestviewinbrooklyn@yahoo.com. I'll take them through Wednesday.

Sunset Park View of the Marathon

I hope those of you who wanted to got a chance to enjoy cheering on the marathoners. I had a great time. Thanks to four years of varsity swimming, I can yell really well. And in several languages. Both of those skills are useful when watching a marathon. I tried to see the names and countries (Brooklyn counts as a country, right?) of people closer to the middle; I figured they didn't get as much attention. But then I thought, What if they are closer to the middle because people yelling "Whooo hoooo! Go Nicola!" at mile 5 is really annoying to them? Then I figured who cares, it's my marathon too - and I just yelled at everyone I could.

I got to see the mayor go by in an excellent car. In fact, I was looking at the car and wondering who got to ride in it while he was going by. And then he was gone. I got to see the male leaders (elite?) go by. That was cool. There were a good number of costumes, including Eiffel Tower guy, lots of clowns, lots of sparkles and birthday hats, and lots of wigs.

The people close to me were some of the more enthusiastic. The girl below got to hand-slap about 50 or so marathoners. Many made it all the way across the lanes just to slap her hand. I don't know who enjoyed it more: the girl, the marathoners, or the girl's family. That was an encouraging and supportive way to cheer on the runners.

Another guy didn't behave quite as nicely. He crossed 4th Avenue (as some people must) with a younger sibling, but he didn't just cross. He decided it would be funny to run along with one of the runners and disrupt him. He did this when it was still pretty sparse, and he got caught.

Oops. If you want attention and a ticket, I suggest streaking at a Cyclones game.

There was also a great band on 4th and 42nd. You can follow the singer's twitter here.

You can check out lots of other great Sunset Park photos of the marathon here (around 25th) and here (mid-50's).

NYC Marathon this Weekend!

We're lucky in Sunset Park where marathon watching is concerned. The leaders come by early enough that you can go pick up a bagel at Sunset Bagels, a cafe con leche at Gran Via, and then walk down to 4th Avenue to check out how they're doing. After an hour or so of cheering on the faster folks, you can stop over to Eclipse or International or Georges for some Sunday vittles only to return to cheer on the slower folks (who still have the energy to smile and/or wave back). Also, the people in costume still have the costumes when they get to us.

Enjoy!

Check out some great info about the entire route here.

NYT Highlights Sunset in Places to Eat on Marathon Day

Thanks to an observant NYT reader and neighbor! Check out the link to a few places to try out if you're planning on watching the marathon along 4th Avenue. Three eateries in Sunset Park were mentioned. None of them ON 4th Avenue (Sorry Eclipse!), and two of them are a good distance from 4th Avenue. Still, if it encourages people to stray farther into Sunset, why not.

Numbers 4, 5, and 6 on the list are in Sunset: Thanh Da I on 60th and 7th Avenue is good for soups and apple milkshakes, Yun Nan Flavour Snack on 49th and 8th Avenue also has soups for a blustery day. El Tesoro on 40th and 5th Avenue has its seafood fried rice mentioned as well as its cinnamon hot milk. (It's good!)

If you want something more sit-down, 5th Avenue and 4th Avenue are chock-full of choices. The new Lechonera on the corner of 5th and 46th (?) has loads of options, Tacos Matamoros, Tacos Nuevo Mexico, Tacos Xochimilco, and Maria's will satisfy Mexican cravings. What's the name of the place off of 4th Avenue and up a few steps on 45th? Great quesadillas! Johnny's up in the 50's will take care of comfort food needs, and there are loads of other options to check out. I'm sure the carts will be plentiful as well. If you want sweets, check out Generoso's or La Gran Via. Good stuff.