As I mentioned, the elevator was packed, and since I was the last one in, I was up at the front near the doors. This is the point we started pushing the emergency button, and when nothing happened, I called 911. Thankfully we had cell service in the elevator bank. I have to say, it seemed like the fire department got to the building pretty quickly. I think it took less than fifteen minutes, which is surprising when you think of New York traffic. Every time I see an emergency vehicle trying to get through traffic I feel so badly for whoever is waiting for them.
The part seemed to take long, however, was shutting of the power for the elevators. Once they were able to do that, they pried open the second door (the door that would open up attached to the building, and then the firemen helped us out. They counted all of us as we climbed out and told us we just had too many people in the elevator, and that's why the doors wouldn't open; it was a safety precaution to keep the elevator from dropping with too much weight while someone was exiting the elevator. I don't typically worry about these sorts of things, but I decided to take the stairs when I left that night. To this day I still feel a little bolt of anxiety stepping in or out of elevators, imagining it dropping.
Mother's Day weekend my mom came out to visit. It happened to be the same weekend of my first real race, a 10k! It was the six mile loop in Central Park, which I'd only attempted once before. I was surprised to find myself nervous for the race that morning. I'd run more than six miles plenty of times, but there was a little prerace anxiety I wasn't prepared for. After running more races now I've realized it's mostly just the buzz and energy of a race.
When I ran the loop the one time before I had to walk up the Harlem Hill, but I was shocked to find myself powering up it thanks to all the adrenaline. Val and I ran most of the race together.
I treated my mom to a yummy brunch at Cookshop to celebrate Mother's Day, and then we walked the High Line, and went to church.
On Monday we crossed off one of my Thirty Before Thirty items and went to Ellis Island and saw my ancestors' names. This was really cool and I highly recommend doing it once, even if you don't have an ancestor's name to see.
A couple weeks later we took a fantastic trip to the Berkshires. That's me with the pink noodle in the pool and I spent hours upon hours there on Saturday and Sunday. It was amazing. The weather couldn't have been better and there was great company. I love love love that house.
I spent Memorial Day going to Fire Island with Andrea, Lauren, Jenny, and Ashley, a first for me! It is quite the trek out there; subway to Penn Station, then a train, then a shuttle, then a ferry. Going out it was pretty seamless but coming back we had a bit of a wait between the shuttle and the train back into the city. It took about four hours round trip, so I don't think I'd do it again just for a day trip, but it was definitely worth doing once. We had such a fun time laying out, going to lunch, getting ice cream, and just relaxing.