A Year without Cable

So it's been a year without "cable" in our house, and the world hasn't exploded.  It has saved us over $1,000 for the first year and has also saved us a bunch of time wasting time on watching TV.

I am going to breakdown my pros and cons to cable cutting.

PROS

Money - It has saved us over $1,000 just this year.

Cable Companies - Fuck cable companies.  They are giant monopolies that don't care about customer services and control the pricing, the scale, the product and everything else you watch on your television or internet — enough of that.

Tastes - My tastes and probably my whole families tastes have completely changed since we cut the cable — no more binge-watching stuff we didn't like.  No, we concentrate on what shows we love and want to binge.  For me, I watched through a ton of PBS specials on Netflix.  Sadly, the other one left is "Prohibition," and it is annoying as shit (I don't recommend it).

Unlimited Recording - Oh yeah, that magical think cable companies charged you extra for.  It's now basically free with whatever service you have.

Mix-it-up - The best thing is being able to choose a la carte what you want.  It is excellent, but some people will realize that you will need to spend more than you think about everything you want.  So you need to pick your battles.  

CONS

Cable Companies - You still have to use the cable companies for the internet.  Come on local governments, get into the game.  It is just another utility that we should have control over instead of some billionaire.  

A-la-carte - the downfall of cutting cable is the cost of A-la-carte.  Cable companies, broadcasting companies, movie companies are all catching up to the cutting cable idea and now moving towards their business models.  ESPN and Disney are two perfect examples of this.  Soon you will have to pay them extra to watch all your favorite sports or movies.  Disney is even getting rid of their vaulted films and forcing people who want to watch the original dumbo to have to pay for their service to watch it instead of being able to purchase it via DVD, Blu-ray, and digital.  This whole business model will explode.  But I see the Netflix/HBO service might blow before the bigger companies.  

"APPS"- the best and worst part of cutting cables is apps.  You can download any app.  but the biggest downfall is swapping between them to pick a show.  It is much more cumbersome than going from channel to channel.  I know, first world problems.  

GRIPES 

One of my biggest complaints with cutting cable is having to stick to the only cable service in my area.  This is mostly faulted by our easily swayed political system locally and statewide.  Our cities and public should have better choices and better prices.  I have one option.  This is not good enough in 2019 in the largest city in the state of Virginia.

OVERALL

I would do this hands-down again and again, and I highly recommend everyone else too.  I do wish I could try out the other operating systems like PlayStation and Apple or even try the other "cable" services like HULU with Live TV to see how it is.  But overall, it has been well worth it (except for all the random Power Ranger shows Avery watches on Netflix).

Living Life: Part One

It's been a long time since I last blogged but life has been good.  I did attempt to blog about our bathroom renovations, but I just was over it when I was done.  I got about halfway done with typing but couldn't get the energy to finish it.  It was a pretty exhausting but well worth at the end of the day.

Since August, the Lambert contingent has grown a bit.  Tim started his Senior year, and Avery is in Pre-K.  We will be celebrating two graduations this spring.

We have also grown our family by adding chickens.  We have been talking about getting chickens for a couple of years, but we finally bit the bullet.  And it has been a fun adventure so far.

One Sunday in early March, we went to Tractor Supply to pick up some bird food and stuff and luckily it was their spring #chickdays.  Avery has always loved looking at the baby chicks.  Magically, we walked out with six babies and the things we needed to start.

We loved them so much that we got four more right the week after.  For me, this was my gateway drug to get Lori to let me get more animals.  One day, I would like to raise other animals, but chickens are an excellent way to start.

We decided that we wanted to build our coop and run to make everything mobile so we can give them the best conditions by giving them new grass to feed, dig, and play in regularly.  It will also help us fertilize our yard and my garden.  Currently, we have our run on the garden so the chickens can dig up, eat up the weeds and feed it for our it before we plant this spring.  Designing and building mobile coops and runs is like opening a pandora box.  Everyone seems to be a professional designer, builder, and chicken expert.  The first thing people research after buying baby chicks is coops.  I decided to build my coop a bit sturdier than others because I wanted it to last and wanted it to stand up to the weather.  I took ideas from several different designs and put them together for my model.  I enjoyed building it.  There are a few things I would have done different, but overall I was pretty happy with the plan.

The other funny thing is figuring out how much space you need in your run and coop.  For us, we have designed everything for twenty chickens to be completely happy in their field and their coop at night.

The funny part of the coop design wasn't how or what but really what color we were going to paint it.  And with a 4-year-old girl in our house, we had to let her pick the color.  Even with suggestions like barn red or solid colors, Avery chose a bright purple that turned out adorable.  The purple against the white looks fantastic.  And she and Lori enjoyed painting it.

Next up was building the chicken run.  We decided on making it mostly out of PVC pipe arched and aviary netting over it with chicken wire three feet up the sides. My brother-in-law recommended using a netting needle and tarred twine to tie it up.  None of the plans I saw online had this and mostly used zip-ties.  But I highly recommend using netting needles and cord because it makes the net tight.  It took some time, but the effort was worth it in the end.  We then put three feet high chicken wire around the door and all the sides to protect them from getting out and the dogs getting in.

So far everything has worked great but each day is a lesson.  But the best experience we learned is how much love they have brought us as a family.  Every morning we all enjoy checking on them, watching them grow and seeing their different personalities.  And the outcome will be giving us organic pasture-raised chickens that are happy.

I highly recommend getting chickens.  We look forward to seeing how it goes and can't wait to watch them grow. 

KETO-STEVE RESET

After I ran New York last year, I promised myself that I would work on myself.  I wanted to dedicate my time to getting stronger.  I knew in 2016 that the speeds and distances I was running were not maintainable for a long time.  And most people know that only running is not a healthy way to workout.  It was the main reason I joined Evofit.  But this year, I really wanted to dedicate myself to getting my whole body fit.  Time passed and the holidays rolled through.  I was working out 6 times a week at Evofit and running 3-4 times a week but I wasn't losing any weight.  January rolled around and the gym and office weightloss challenges began.  I didn't gain or lose.  I just maintained.  But how?  It all started with when I hit lifetime at Weight Watchers in 2016.

Since I hit lifetime with Weight Watchers I have struggled mightily with maintaining.  In the beginning, it was Weight Watchers fault.  They closed the Red Mill store where I felt comfortable and was nearby.  The Weight Watcher plan doesn't really work for highly active maintenance.  For maintaining, they add points so you don't lose any more.  Plus, if you are active like I am, you get a bunch of "extra points".  Basically, if you eat proteins and vegetables for most of your meals, you can cheat on whatever you wanted.  It didn't work for me.  I struggled really bad in the beginning and finally just quit.  

A year later I tried tracking with another app.  It didn't help either.  I still wasn't following what I should.  

I realized I needed to change something. I talked to Debbie at Evofit and she gave me a book by Mark Sisson, The Keto Reset Diet (Buy it.  It is a great read on how your body works on burning fuel aka food).  After reading it and understanding the principles of it, it made sense.  In June, I started.  It was not and still isn't very easy.  Not because of willpower or limits.  It's mostly because as humans we have made everything loaded with sugars and carbs.  

Think about it......how many people drink soda?  Put sugar in coffee?  Eat a snack like a cookie or a doughnut?  Eat pizza, sandwiches, and tacos?  

So I decided I was going to have a few rules I would follow.  I would cut out all the sugar except a small amount for coffee in the morning and I would still be able to drink beer (just on a limited basis).  I know, I know.....its not following the Keto Reset standards but Come on.....This is the Keto-Steve reset.  Once I squared away my coffee issues, I was good to go.  No bread, tortillas, pizza (I miss you PIZZA).  

A normal day for me was coffee with creamer and minimal sugar for breakfast, lots of healthy proteins and vegetables for lunch (minus corn, potatoes, and most beans), and a protein and vegetables for dinner.  The good thing is I can eat all the cheese and avocados I could ever imagine.  I can also eat all the proteins I want.  

Try eating a burger without a bun or tacos on a lettuce wrap.  The flavors of the marinate, protein and sauces come out way more without the carbs in the way.  

The biggest things I miss is the pizza and snacks.  Try figuring out how to get your sweet tooth craving.  My go-to is keto cookies Lori makes me that are made with cream cheese, almond flour, vanilla and I think butter.  For pizza, we have made cauliflower crusts.  It sort of does the trick but not really.  

Overall though, It has been enjoyable.  It has forced me more to concentrate on what I am taking into my body instead of how much.   A few things I have learned along the way is how much high fructose corn syrup and sugar are in everything.

The hardest thing for me has been the weight loss itself.  Sometimes I beat myself up but I need a reminder that I am way stronger than I was two years ago.  Shit.....when I started, I could barely do a single deadlift without my back or hamstrings going out.  Now I am doing things in the gym I never imagined before I started.  My biggest reminders are not even the pounds but instead the inches.  I have noticed a huge increase in inches lost.  And knowing I'm stronger and healthier makes me feel good.

But good things come with hard work.  I finally hit twenty-pound weight loss this week.  I still have some more to go but I feel great about it.  Other than having to make decisions at restaurants some may think is weird, it really hasn't affected me. But hitting a goal was awesome.  I don't even have a weight goal in mind.  Only because when I was infatuated with a weight number, it was more important than my overall health.  This time around I will need to pay attention to my body and mind.  My goal weight is going to be completely different and that is okay.

One thing I have learned though is that I am going to have to work on this my whole life.  Obesity and food addiction run deep in my genes.  But I am a fighter though.  So Bring it.

On my next blog episode, I will discuss the life of having one bathroom and demoing and remodeling all in one week (Pray for me).

A World Without Facebook

In 2017 I decided to delete the Facebook app on my phone.  As I watch my kids get older I noticed how much I wasted on my phone or computer looking at Facebook.  I felt it was time to delete it.

It really made a difference in my happiness, my mood, my time, and all around happiness.  But I would still log onto a browser to check my Facebook on a daily basis.  So, maybe I concentrated my time on Facebook in chunks, which was an improvement but I was still wasting time. 

So this year after the winter I decided to delete Facebook (Sorry family members who like to stalk).  I decided to do this for multiple reasons.  The first reason was that I was tired of wasting time staring at my phone screen while I could maybe miss both my kids doing something new.  As I sit here right now, I can't even believe that my son will be a Senior in high school next year and my daughter will be getting ready for her second year of pre-school.  I already feel like I miss out on things working and being busy.  The second is basically mental health.

As I sit here on an Amtrak train heading to a conference in Fredericksburg, I decided to finally blog about it, give my perspectives on the positives and negatives on not being on Facebook.

First and foremost, I learned really quick that everything is evolved around Facebook.  Think about this..........how many apps or websites do you use to log in by using your Facebook account? How to you actually communicate with friends and family?

So let's get started.

The Negatives:

I write this in my most sincere tone.  It is very difficult to get off Facebook and do anything online.  The first thing I had to do was re-do most my log in information to websites and apps because they were mostly connected to Facebook.  

The biggest and most annoying thing about not having Facebook is not getting event pop-ups from friends, local events, and local businesses.  I really got comfortable having my Facebook events on my Google Calendar.  Now, I have to use my wife as the transmitter of events from Facebook because everything including kids birthdays are done via Facebook.

The second most annoying thing is companies, including my favorite running companies (Come one J&A) and my favorite breweries not posting via other platforms or email.  Also, having friends not communicating via phone or text instead of Facebook Messenger or iChat.

The last thing that is annoying is the few groups that I followed on Facebook (Christmas stuff, family camp) I can't get to or get updates.  So I still have to use Facebook via my wife's to communicate.

Positives

On nights where I'm sitting down, drinking a beer, and watching Avery play or I'm at one of Tim's baseball games, I am not missing as much.  Have you ever thought about how much time you actually stare at your phone screen?  It has been very invigorating leaving my phone on the counter and just watching the world instead of having FOMO syndrome of who's doing what and where.

My mind isn't running 100 mph from FOMO, politics, crazy world and US news popping up in my head.  How many times a day do you see something on Facebook and waste your time to read the article (dumb or not)?  Or see a post and comment, debate with the other person and then realize you just wasted time?  Sadly, we all do this.  We all Facebook stalk.  We all do these things that have naturally been ingrained in our technology memory for the past 15 years.

What Next?

The funny part is I remember a time about ten years ago, right after Facebook opened up to the public, everybody didn't know what it was.  Then, the next thing you know, I got three out of my four grandparents (some of them with two accounts because they can't get into their old one) adding me on Facebook and commenting on every post, picture and share I did.  

Then the world decided that because we have facebook, we don't need filters.  People decided that they can say whatever they wanted to anyone and it didn't matter because they were hiding behind a computer screen.  My rule of thumb is this: If you can't say it in person without getting your teeth knocked out, I recommend you not saying it.

The positive of all this is that I do see a future where kids now will watch their parents staring at their phones instead of them and not wanting to be like this.  Instead, kids won't be using Facebook.  I see them not wanting to be on their phones 247 like us.

The crazy part is smart phones, social media, and this type of technology is still very much in its infancy.  Tech companies, businesses, and humans are still adapting to this technology.  120 years ago, people thought electric current was dangerous and we shouldn't have electricity run through cities.  And look at us now.

So here is my recommendation: Turn off social media for the weekend, sit back, have a beer, and enjoy your family.  

Also, Amtrak is a great way to travel.

Steve's Guide to Cutting Cable

Last fall I finally pulled the plug on cable service.  Between sports packages, HBO, and whatever else we "needed", our Direct TV bill was over $220 a month.  When I first brought this up to Lori, she responded, "I better be able to watch all my shows".  The bigger question wasn't the ability but on how.  Is "live" good enough or do you need it on-demand?

So I went off and started researching how to cut cable.  One of the best guides I found was Tom's Guide to cutting cable TV. Another great video to watch is from Modern Dad, who is a tech blogger.  You can check out his cord cutting video here.  But it really opened a bigger conversation on needs, wants, ecosystems, technology and whatever else you can think of.

To begin this discussion, I need to start that the Lambert family hasn't owned a DVD player for a few years.  We had been using a Chromecast to cast movies to our TV.  Basically, all our movies were purchased digitally.  So we needed to have Google Play access to whatever hardware we decided to choose from.  Then we needed to pick what services (for old school people, what channels) we wanted. 

I decided to write down my thoughts on all the options you can choose from.  So here it is.

Hardware

Hardware also known as "ecosystem" is probably the most important conversation you need to have.  How to watch movies currently?  What app do you listen to music on?  What type of phone do you have?  Does your kid use an Amazon Fire Tablet?

For us, it was simple, it needed to be Google Play friendly.  So this instantly took us out of the Apple TV device.  For people who aren't big nerds.  The Big Three aka Google, Apple, and Amazon, do not play nicely with each other.  Amazon Prime Video can't be played on Chromecast, Google Play movies can't be watched on Apple TVs and all don't play nice on Amazon Fire Sticks. You get my point.  

So our best options was a Roku player.  Roku is nice because they are probably the easiest and most compatible company.    We can watch all our Google Play Movies on it, can rent from other services, and can watch any of the basic cable service type apps on it (more on this later).  

I chose the Roku Ultra because it is the best player they make, can watch in 4K or UHD, if available and also has the fastest processor and all the fancy stuff.  The other cool part with the Roku Ultra is that it allows you to voice search via the remote for anything you want.  If it is a movie, it will show your options available and the cost.

I did research the Apple TV and NVIDIA Shield TV  but ultimately decided on the Roku Ultra.  But these two are both top quality players.  I also researched the Chromecast Ultra but like I mentioned previously, Google has doesn't play nice with others.  It also isn't as much as a player but instead is just a casting device (which means it just casts whatever you are watching from your device to your TV).  I don't recommend this as an option for the average user unless you have used a Chromecast before.  PlayStation 4 can also be used as a player but since we didn't have one, it wasn't really worth $399.  

I also highly recommend buying an HD antenna for the local channels.  If all you need is to be able to watch the local channels live, this will basically cost you $30 and no service charge.  All your live football games and shows you can watch.  

Services

So here is where it gets tricky and depends on personal preferences.  The three major "cable" services as I like to call them are Sling TV, Hulu with Live TV, and now YouTube TV (which recently just entered Hampton Roads and Roku).  We tested all of these over the course of six months.  more discussion below.

Other than these "services", I highly recommended getting the following paid services.

Netflix: This is obvious unless you are not a big movie fan or binge show watcher.  Netflix has tremendous original programming and an amazing collection of movies on demand.  Definitely worth the $15.

Amazon Prime Video: If you don't have Amazon Prime, get it, it is worth it's weight in gold just for the kids shows.  This is free with Amazon Prime membership.  This was also an app we had to have on our TV for our daughter.

Now onto the cable services....

Sling TV:  We initially chose Sling TV because they gave you free Roku players with sign-up.  So, the initial two months of signing up pays for itself with just that.  They have two packages, orange and blue.  If you are like any normal family, you basically need both for the select channels you need.  Another downfall was they charged an extra $5 for DVR service (and only up to 50 recorded shows).  That cost us $40 (plus $5) a month.  We paid for two months ($80) and received a $60 Roku in return.  The $40 package had way too many channels.  I do recommend this as an option to get yourself a free Roku player if need be. 

Out of all the services, this was our least favorite.  One the main reasons is that it did not have any of our three local channels in Hampton Roads and only two of the major networks on-demand services.  What does this mean?  We still needed an HD antenna to watch local channels (most importantly FOOTBALL) and we had to watch certain shows live (who has time for that in 2018).  Our second beef with Sling was its operation system or OS.  It was very boring and circa 1998 cable-ish.

Hulu with Live TV:  Next we switched to Hulu with Live TV (not to get confused with the basic Hulu which is much cheaper).  Hulu with Live TV gives you basically all the major networks on-demand services plus only one of the local channels live.   The downfall of Hulu is that it did not have AMC in its channel selection.  The one thing Hulu did have was an amazingly beautiful operation system.  Hulu does have several original content shows on it.  You could also tell that they are competing with Netflix for most visually appealing apps.  The cost of Hulu was $35.

YouTube TV:  in January, right before the Super Bowl, YouTube TV announced that they finally released a Roku app for its cable service.  Since its inception, this was the best service to me.  They had two out of the three local channels (but all the major networks on-demand), AMC, BRAVO and even added the NFL network, MLB network, and NBA network in the past few months.  They are also allowing subscribers to purchase your favorite baseball team's complete season to watch for a price.  YouTube TV also was nice because it had unlimited DVR storage.  It also has the biggest selection of sports channels.  YouTube TV costs around $35.

Another service you can look into is Direct TV Now.  We didn't because we had just left Direct TV. But it is another option.

Other Things I Learned

Movies Anywhere:  I highly recommend you sign up for Movies Anywhere.  Almost all the major movie companies have banded together to allow for your ownership of movies be transferred from one app, ecosystem or program to another.  So all our Disney movies transfer over from Google Play to Amazon to Apple, etc.  All it takes is a quick and easy sign up.This is the future.  The future is being able to store all your digital movies in the same place or be able to watch them no matter what you own or use.  

VUDU:  This is my preferred movie app where we rent and buy movies now.  They have better deals most the time and also better OS.  You can also transfer all your hard copies of movies for $2 to digital via this app.  Which is nice if that is your thing.  Sadly, I threw out my entire collection of over 300 DVDs a long time ago.  

Google Play:  Google does not like to play very nice with others.  One thing I learned is that they do not allow for UHD or 4K playing on Roku devices.  Instead, they prefer for you to purchase a Chromecast Ultra as a second streaming device to do so (like I mentioned previously, you can't watch movies on Amazon on it).  This was also the second reason I stopped purchasing from them and went to VUDU.  When Star Wars: Last Jedi came out, I could only purchase in HD and not in 4K.  

Remote:  I tried to standardize our household with one remote.  This was a very difficult task.  I wish my TV and/or the original Roku remote would allow to control the functions of the other device.  Instead, we purchased a Logitech Harmony 665 remote.  It does everything you want but it probably has the hugest (its a word) learning curve than anything else I have just mentioned in this post.  I am still modifying its settings and buttons weekly.  And there are some limitations to the device.

Upgrade your internet:  If you can, upgrade your internet to the fastest speeds.  I live in Pungo and I was actually able to upgrade my WiFi to the highest possible speeds.  This is huge since all of this technology runs of the internet.  The nice part was that when I upgraded my internet, they gave me free HBO GO with it.  So we get our HBO for free basically. 

Apple TV and iTunes:  If you are fully supplanted into the Apple ecosystem, both the Apple TV and buying movies on iTunes is highly recommended.  One thing Apple has promised is that all movies purchased via iTunes will be automatically upgraded to the newest and highest format available (basically means when it gets upgraded to 4K, you don't have to purchase a new version like I have with Lord of the Rings [Theatrical Release DVD, Extended Version DVD, Blu-Ray Extended Version, Digital Version]).    I do see this as a future trend for all movie services. 

HBO Go, HBO Now, and Showtime Anytime and Starz:  These movie channels have their own specific apps and subscription services ranging from $10-15.  I highly recommend purchasing these separately instead of purchasing as part of one of the cable service options.  Just my preference.

Final Thoughts

When I decided to do this, my family wasn't so keen on it.  But after a while, everyone has gotten used to it and enjoy it.  For a huge monthly savings, we still have all the channels and shows we want and need.  The future of television is going this way anyways.  Hulu, which has original content is owned by the major television stations.  Amazon Prime members were also able to watch NFL Sunday Nights via Roku or other devices.  Almost all sporting events are looking into ways to get more eyes from more devices on their content.  

My biggest recommendation to anyone is trying it out.  Spend the little bit of money that it would cost for the hardware and "cable service" and try it out.  Worst case scenario is that Cox will give you a good deal to comeback to them.  Best case scenario, you saved a bundle on TV.  Another positive too is that all of the "cable services" give users a week or so to try out their services.  

Like I mentioned, all of my recommendations may or may not be for you.  You may have a PS4 that you can use for your hardware, you may be all-in on Apple.  But at the end, it matters to you what you want.

And for a breakdown on our savings, here you go.  Good luck and godspeed!
Note: I am taking out Netflix out of this equation because I think most people already have it even though we didn't.
Before Cutting:
Cable-$220
Internet-$69.99
Total-289.99

After:
Cable- $35 (YouTube TV)
Internet- $84.99*
Total- 119.99

Savings of $170 a month

*includes HBO Go.

My Plan for 2018

This weekend the family headed down to South Carolina to visit my grandma and aunt and uncle.  I had a lot of time to reflect on everything.

So I thought about my goals for 2018.  Instead of doing the traditional 18 for 2018 or whatever.  I decided to pick three simple goals.

Get Healthy

For the past few years I have struggled to stay healthy physically.  Partly because I put some weight back on (very hard to admit) and partly because I was worrying about others before me not taking care of me.  My goal is this.  Drop the weight I put back on.  Get stronger via strength training so that my body can handle the rigors of running, training or anything else life throws at you.  Having major glute/hip issues for over a year has taken a toll.  By doing all of these things, I should be back stronger.  My other goal is to get back to eating healthy.  Everyone tells you its easy to lose it but its hard to maintain.  This was my problem from the beginning and has taken me two years to finally realize it.  

Read More

Last year I actually read two books, and almost finished a third.  Which for some is a drop in the bucket.  but for me, this is huge.  I hated reading as a kid and I hated it more after grad school.  But I enjoy it.  It keeps my brain more active.  I know this is a boring goal but it is something that I think will help me be a better person.

Adventure More

I have noticed since I have put weight back on, I haven't tried as much to do new things.  I need to adventure more with my family.  Do things we haven't tried before.  I don't want to miss out on adventures nor do I want my kids to.

Enjoy the Now

My biggest goal for 2018 is to take a deep breathe and enjoy the present.  Quit worrying about the past.  Quit worrying about the future.  But enjoy what we have in front of us.

A Guide to Running the Perfect New York Marathon

Here is my essential guide to running the perfect New York Marathon ever.  I have seven helpful tips for you to run your perfect New York City Marathon (Steve Lambert style).

1.  Raise Money for a Good Cause: The amount of people cheering us on this weekend because of our Team in Training race shirt was insane.  The funny part was not everyone even knew who Team in Training was (more weird than funny but still).  These were our top three team cheers: Go Purple Team, Go Team 30, and last but not least, Go Team!!!! 

2.  Run with Friends: Best decision I ever made was to run with Kristy and Karen (added Ryan Hatcher the day before race).  Ultimately running with your friends for 26.2 is way more enjoyable than running by yourself or pushing for a PR in New York.  New York is such a huge race that you don't really want to miss any of the sights and sounds (read next tip).  Between meeting famous people on course or the conversations we had, it was such a blast.  Marathons are never easy.  But after finishing the race the way we did, I actually would do it again in a heartbeat.  

3.  Check out the Sights and Sounds:  You run through all five boroughs, through millions of peoples and, well, why not.  Three helpful hints:  Follow the Ryan Hatcher guide to Marathoning and get super pumped at every puppy you see. Dance like no one is looking at every chance you get (New York had by far the best band and music support I've ever seen.  I highly recommend the Boogie Down Bronx when you cross into the borough and the Funk music in Harlem). And last but not least, take amazing pictures along the way (I mean, why not?).

4.  When you have a chance, high five as many of the crowd as possible.  They get louder and louder and way more fun the more you interact.  

5.  When nearing the race photographer always get ready for an epic photo opportunity.

6.  When getting ready for the finish line, line up with your teammates like you are synchronized swimmers.

7.  Last but not least.  Sign up for the race poncho over the dry bag.  Its amazing and it protects you from whatever weather is at the finish.  

New York was such an amazing experience.  I highly recommend it to anyone from wanting to run your first marathon to your last.  

As their motto says, "IT WILL CHANGE YOU".

More blogs to come about the whole New York Experience.