New Year, New York

I kicked off 2005 with a great New Year's weekend spent mostly in New York City. On the first evening of the year, we visited the New York Metropolitan Opera to see their production of Kát'a Kabanová. I am relatively new to opera but even I could appreciate the wondrous performance of soprano Karita Mattila, the stark yet effective production, and the lyrical beauty of Janácek's score. The next day, after dropping a fellow operagoer off at JFK, I drove into Manhattan to meet a couple of old friends in Chinatown to have dinner and catch up.

I had such a good time that weekend that I got to thinking--why not spend a whole lot more time in New York City? It's an incredible place and so close and accessible from here. So that's my goal for this year, to take advantage of our proximity to the city and explore all that it has to offer. I have so much enthusiasm for this city, you cannot even imagine, more than I had for Chicago (with the possible exception of the Jazz Showcase) in six years of leaving nearby. It's such a captivating place, so diverse and endlessly interesting yet much more approachable than I could have imagined. Plus there's just something about listening to Art Blakey's "Moanin'" while driving up the West Side Highway at night (ignore the fact that most of the members of that group were from Philadelphia).

To combine my two most recent ambitions of spending more time in New York and running (I ran five miles in subfreezing weather today!), I am joining the New York Road Runners, an organization that promotes running in the city by sponsoring races throughout the year. I will use any excuse to get into the city, even if it's only driving in for a morning run in Central Park. Plus if I complete nine of their races this year, I automatically qualify for the 2006 NYC Marathon. Don't count me out.