New York, New York...

We're going tomorrow evening, I think I am excited but also a little nervous. We've got all our documentation through and we know what we are doing (well for the marathon stuff at least, haven't formulated the tourist plan yet!).

We arrive at around midnight on Thursday evening, I am hoping that travelling in the evening and then arriving at night when tired means we'll sleep brilliantly and have no jetlag. I'll be ok, I sleep anywhere (I often miss take off and/or landing as I am snoozing) and after a few trips to Seattle with work I think I have more or less cracked jet lag!

We'll probably go and get our numbers on Friday, there are even free shuttle buses to get there, our American friends like to make life easy for us! On Saturday morning we're going to do a gentle friendship run and on Saturday night there is a pasta party (complete with recipes). Oh, and we need to pop into the Empire State building as apparently: "The Empire State Building, the most recognizable building in New York City, will show its marathon colors from November 1 to 2. The building’s tower lights will radiate orange, blue, and white in honor of the marathon. This beacon will signal all marathoners to go to the Empire State Building to receive a free pin while supplies last. Runners need to present their bib, or a copy of their registration card, at the cashier's office to collect the pin."

Then on Sunday we get a bus at 6am (ouch) remembering that daylight savings kicks in (again) on Sunday. The start is quite a long way from Manhattan, the route goes through all 5 New York boroughs, finishing in Central Park.

Gary is in the 9:40 start and I am starting at 10:20 (number 49378, Green start, Wave 3, Corral A to be exact). Apparently you can track me online if you want or fingers crossed my "e-mail to blog" experiment will keep you up to date...

And what I am aiming for? Better than this year's London Marathon, better than 4:30 and in an ideal world around 4:20 (I'd love to get my third best time).

Fingers crossed, and important to know, the official ending time of the race is 6:40 p.m.