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Posts published by “sevenmileitch”

Staten Island Half Marathon- The “Short” Way

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The Mister and I at the start line corral at the NYRR Staten Island Half MarathonA week ago, my mister and I toed the line of the 2017 NYRR Staten Island Half Marathon. It was his second and my third- and my first with no extra distance before.

The Two Ways to Run the Staten Island Half

In my opinion-- and I think many veteran NYC Marathoners may agree with me-- there are two ways to approach this race:

The Regular Way- which means you add about 5 or 6 miles in about an hour before the Half start (to tick off another long training run just in time for the NYC Marathon)

The "Short" Way- the regular Staten Island Half Marathon.

The Race:

It began raining almost immediately, but since it felt about 30 degree warmer, it never came to resemble the hellscape of last year.

We were in a corral with the 9:30 pacer, which was contrary to our plan to do the first half at 10:00 m/p, but I was optimistic. I was (is) also convinced that the mister is in better shape than me, so if I felt fine then he definitely felt fine.

By the second half of the race, he was ready to NOT be going 9:30 and I was ready to find some bathrooms. I was very, very happy that he waited for me this year since I was running for my life last year to catch up with him after we parted due to a bathroom line.

Cold and Rainy Staten Island Half Marathon 2016

A couple of weeks ago, I lost my Favorite Running Hat Ever- the free NYRR volunteer hat that I got for free last year. So when we saw one in the middle of the road, around mile 10, and the mister said, "There you go, get that one," I actually turned around. Unfortunately, someone else had the same idea and beat me to it!

FLASHBACK PIC (right): Staten Island Half Marathon; cold, wet, with my favorite hat, wearing real shoes and a trash bag.

That was a great hat! (Note to the Universe: send that hat back to me!)

The rest of the Staten Island Half flew by, especially since I always feel more warmed after more than an hour of running and the miles slip by a little quicker. It is tough though, as anyone familiar with the course in recent years knows that it takes a turn into warehouse land limbo for a little bit at the end!

Takeaways:

All in all, a good race. The Mister PR'd by about 10 minutes! I missed the extra miles before the Half actually started and hope I can convince my Mister to resume the tradition with me next year, since we both will be prepping for the NYC Marathon that fall.

 

The Not So Mysterious (not so Wooy) S. J. Woolf

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The Mysterious S. J. Wooy

A couple years ago, we casually inherited a striking picture of Theodore Roosevelt which we thought was created by an "S. J. Wooy." As the product of an Antiques Roadshow household, I googled to see if I could find any details about the picture or any stories about the artist.

I could not.

But I wrote about him anyway and I learned from some curious readers- that I was not the only one who had turned up nothing but a dead end. Then, one recent comment sent us off on one last search, just for the heck of it.

And there he was. Only he wasn't a Wooy at all. He was a Woolf. A Woolf in Wooy's handwritting, you could say ;)

Samuel Johnson Woolf

Most well known for portraits of popular celebrities and politicians of his time, which were frequently featured in The New York Times, arguably his most moving work was produced long before that.

Woolf served as a corespondent during WWI where he produced numerous pieces depicting the day to day scenes from life during the war, creating images that present the shocking as almost mundane.

S. J Woolf, not Wooey  S. J Woolf, not Wooey

S. J Woolf, not Wooey

But one day, the war ended. And Samuel Woolf found himself back in New York making a career as not only an artist, but a journalist, you could say. He frequently casually interviewed his subjects as he sketched them and the scope of his work quickly grew to encompass politicians, celebrities, authors, and more.

S. J Woolf Wooey

[caption id="attachment_1533" align="alignleft" width="181"]S. J Woolf, not Wooey Photo Via Brier Hill Gallery[/caption]

 

Not a bad story for a free picture of the second best Roosevelt.