After making many lists and checking them twice, we discovered that Dave would have to leave Long Island via the LIRR on the 4:09 AM train (or as Paul said - the "butt-crack" of dawn). This meant the 4 adults setting all of the cell phones for 3:20, 3:25 and 3:30 - just in case! Even with getting the "fall back" hour for daylight savings time, I think Dave only got about 6 hours of sleep.He left on the train at 4:09 and headed to Penn Station, where we decided he would take the #1 train directly to South Ferry, rather than another train to the Public Library and ride the bus. He ended up getting to Staten Island at 6:15 am - for a 10:00 am start. It was 40 degrees at that point. When I spoke with him at 7:30 he said he was sitting with 1000 other people all dressed up in trash bags to keep warm. It was a hard start to the day for him.
We headed out on the train at 10:00 am and ended up on 75th about 1/2 hour
before he got to mile 17.5. We were easy to spot with our cool t-shirts - the whole big yellow bunch of us.
before he got to mile 17.5. We were easy to spot with our cool t-shirts - the whole big yellow bunch of us.As we plotted our next watching spot, we headed toward Central Park. After buying cinnamon nuts, cashmere scarves and hoodies from street vendors (it was sunny, but still only 45!), we say some people cheering in the park. We walked up and found Dave at mile 23! (pic at right). He spotted the girls standing on a guard rail yelling his name!
After realizing he would easily finish before we could get to the end of the race, we decided to cut across Central Park (which is much bigger than one would think!) After trying to figure out if we should take this path or that path, we realized that 1. It is the prettiest park around, and 2. We 
may or may not have been part of a Law and Order episode. The kids were spotting sights from Home Alone, Elf and 27 Dresses. Led by their pied piper uncle - yes, the Lt. Col. - we finally found our way past the end.
may or may not have been part of a Law and Order episode. The kids were spotting sights from Home Alone, Elf and 27 Dresses. Led by their pied piper uncle - yes, the Lt. Col. - we finally found our way past the end. Dave was waiting for us at Central Park W and 81st St. - along with 2000 other people. Conor spotted him first and we got to take a picture with him! He finished in 3:54:33 - 11004th place out of 37880 runners - top 29%!
All 5 of us (Emily, Dave, Hannah, Jill, Conor) - minus the LI branch of our family!
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