New York New York

I wasn’t sure of the best way to incentivise 70 people to go for a jog around Central Park before breakfast on a cold wintery morning in March.  It was a toss up between offering them free access to a waffle stand or a post run ride in an ambulance.  The waffle stand was cheaper

As part of our ‘see New York like a New Yorker’ plan, day 3 was spent indulging in a range of sporting activities.

It started with a little light exercise in the park whilst our puffing guides pointed out the sights (well OK, the guides were pretty fit, we were the puffers).  There were random encounters with the infamous New York dog walkers struggling with their possies of pampered pooches (all wearing tshirts with our client’s logo on the back – the dogs that is, not the dog walkers) and  our client’s mascot was spotted doing star jumps and leg lunges of Jane Fonda like quality on a nearby hill.   And, as previously mentioned, if the exercise hadn’t done us enough harm, then the ‘waffles with everything’ nearly finished the job.

Undeterred by aching muscles and indigestion we forged on.  Next stop…a private session on the ice rink at Rockefeller Plaza.  Surprisingly few wipe outs, one subsequently diagnosed fractured coccyx (but that was the other trip manager so doesn’t count) and just the odd pair of wet trousers later we had to face our toughest challenge….avoiding the St Patrick’s Day parade madness.  I don’t think it’s an olympic event…but it should be.  You have to dodge, skip, run, jump, reverse, slow, slow, quick quick slow and that’s just in getting past the first pub.  The other street sport is in in not losing half the girls into the shops.  I should get a gold medal in that.

And to complete our sporting day…. a Knicks Game at Madison Square Gardens.  Wow…there’s never a dull moment at those things, you can’t even go to the bathroom in case you miss a competition or the t-shirt cannons, or your name flashing up on the boards.  Of course, it’s possible to do the whole corprorate box thingy but it’s soooooo much more fun being out in the war zone, buying your own dogs and beer!  It’s funny though,  everyone seemed to just disappear when I suggested working off the hotdogs with another run around the park the next morning.