Running around New York

John, Tami, me, Emily and Mike alongside the Hudson on Saturday.

The past two mornings, despite getting a good eight hours sleep, I have gotten up, taken care of the dog and taken my nauseating Exjade dose of five pills dissolved in water, covered myself with a blanket on the couch while the feeling passed, turned on "Morning Joe," dozed off ... and woken up two hours later.

This morning I could hardly get up. My legs ached and my head hurt.

Logical explanation: I am exhausted from running around New York all weekend in boots that were not made for walking. On Friday night, I stayed downtown in my cousin Serena's one-room apartment, where three of us slept like sardines in her California Queen bed and another guest, sick with a bad cold, coughed through the night on the pull-out sofa next to us. The second night, I slept uptown on my cousin Jeanne's couch. Over two-and-a-half days, I covered a lot of ground, including going up and down subway stairs and running through stations to catch the right train.

Cancer survivor's knee-jerk reaction: I am relapsing.

Earth to Ronni (or to any other survivor who connects every bump or bruise or under-the-weather feeling with relapse): There is usually some other reason.

In my case, in addition to fatigue, I might even be coming down with something. Joe reminded me that I had blood work a couple of weeks ago. Also, he said, "You're old."

Even though I am paying for it now, it was a great weekend.

It started off on a perfect Friday afternoon when I found the perfect parking spot on Serena's block, good for three free days and, magically, almost in the same place where Katie and I got a spot the last time we went to New York. After I took my stuff upstairs, I walked uptown and east to the Gramercy Park Hotel to meet Emily, Mike and their daughter Jessica for a drink. They were a little late, and I didn't want to sit at the fancy bar reading a newspaper and drinking water, so I ordered a Cosmo. It cost $18, plus a $2 tip. Yikes!

From there I went further uptown to Marge's for take-out Chinese food, then back down to Serena's for the night. The next day, Emily, Mike, Tami, John and Jessica had brunch with me, and then we walked south on the nearby High Line and then on the path along the Hudson to the World Trade Center Memorial, probably a couple of miles. We visited the Memorial Pools, consisting of waterfalls cascading onto the spot where each of the towers stood, with the names of those who died inscribed on parapets around each pool. It was incredibly moving.

After that, I had a little "free time" and then headed for dinner in advance of the main event: seeing "The Book of Mormon."

Emily and a group from Pittsburgh where already going when a few months ago I asked if I could get a few more tickets and tag along. Then Tami said she wanted to go, and then John.

This was a big splurge encore for me because I had seen it before, but the rest of our group of 12, including Ben and Meghan, hadn't. Dinner with everyone, including a birthday cake for Emily, was a great time. The restaurant wasn't as close to the theater as I would have liked, and getting to the show on time involved more running. The others (rightly, I guess), didn't think I could get there fast enough, and Emily and Ben each took an arm and practically carried me along.

The show was just as amazing as before.

I had decided I couldn't give up my downtown parking place, so I threw a nightgown and a toothbrush in my bag and took a subway up to Jeanne's after the show. Then the next morning I reversed directions, gathered my stuff from Serena's and was about to leave the city when I realized I had forgotten my cell phone at Jeanne's. So I drove back up there.

The plan called for me to stop in Stamford on the way home and hit some tennis balls with Ben...which I did.

Whew.

I hope this travelogue is not too long. It kind of helped me to write it down so I could see how much I did.

Here is one more thing. I didn't have the energy to exercise yesterday or today, but today I made a deal with myself that I would run just three miles. It was raining a little, so I put on my hat and went. I'm not sure what I was trying to prove to myself, but I have to admit it wasn't a good run. I felt like I was dragging myself along. When I came back, I had to quickly change and drive to Springfield to a school where I have started a new tutoring job twice a week in the afternoon.

OK already. I know why I am tired.