5-8-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Whether you're an early bird looking to dive into a daily news podcast or a night owl who wants to catch up on the latest reality TV drama, T-Mobile will keep you connected on their strong and reliable network. Walk the dogs, school drop-off, meetings from 10 to 3, take kids to soccer, then no time left for a jog. Speaking of being confused, I shared on social that after the last three weeks and really the last month of hiking the Grand Canyon and then training and running a half marathon that I needed a nap. I think some of you are confused that I might be actually taking the nap now.

Nope, nope, here I am, hello, working as always on a Sunday night and happy to be here actually. This sounds so boring, but I can't wait to settle into a nice, typical, for me anyway, conventional routine for the next six weeks. It's six more weeks until I get to see Bob, six more weeks until my next travel of any sort and thankfully Penny can come with me on this particular trip.

It's a hiking trip with Bob and so we're going to meet halfway. Looking forward to that, I know Penny is looking forward to it as well, but between now and then I'm okay with the mundane and the routine and the typical. I've got some spring cleaning to do, oh and the yard work, it's everywhere. There's so much yellow, I'm not sure where you all are in terms of your neighborhoods and the degree of pollen, but every single day Princess Leia is yellow again. She goes from being white to yellow, back to white when there is some rain and then I keep thinking I should get her a car wash, but why do that when she's going to be yellow again in 24 hours? And so instead of waiting until yellow season is over, but it's not over yet because every afternoon when Penny rolls in the front yard, she comes up covered in pollen. Great Penn, thank you, that's awesome, but that's not even the cruelest trick that my dog played on me this weekend. Oh goodness, just wait. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, the story, the story of how I nearly missed my half marathon on Sunday. Thanks Penny. Bring the dog out.

Well it's not just Penny's fault, I can't blame her for all of it, but she played a bit of a role in it. So that story is coming up following our next break, not even 20 minutes away. Can't wait to share it with you. You're going to laugh at me, which is totally fine. It's fine. It's totally fine. It's going to be fine. It's fine. It really is.

It's totally fine. Speaking of Aaron Rodgers, did he win induction into the After Hours Hall of Flame? We will do the big reveal. For those of you who are with us on Thursday night into Friday morning, it was a Hall of Flame, Call of Flame, not fame, Hall of Flame Friday. I could tell that not everyone was paying attention because on Facebook, a man wrote in that Amy should definitely be in the Hall of Fame. No, no, not fame, flame. Although I probably have a few moments that could go in the After Hours Hall of Flame as well, you know me. I love to make up words and sometimes mouth and brain are not in sync and things don't come out the way that I intended. But those make for some funny moments. So the latest Hall of Flame inductee, as well as my story about the half marathon on Sunday, that's coming up before the show is over. Stop talking about it.

Never, as in ever, the latter being the next segment. I can't keep it to myself anymore. I need to vent. I'm not sure who I'm venting at though. I just need to share and get it off my chest. Every muscle in my lower body hurts, which is okay. It's a good sore. Thanks again for all of your support and your encouragement and your kudos on social.

If you missed the photo, well I'm smiling, though I do look like I just ran 13 miles on Twitter, ALawRadio or our show Twitter and then also on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We want to pick up where we left off with the Sixers-Celtics series game four and in case you missed it, it's a highlight that you will see everywhere into overtime, James Harden and then the Celtics with time left on the clock. A beat guarded by Tatum.

Left hand dribble into the lane at the dotted circle. Double teamed out to Harden. Three point shot for the lead is good. Harden converts 18 seconds to go. James Harden for three.

He's got 42. Boston ball, no timeout. Celtics trail by one and now the Sixers need to stop. Philadelphia 116, Boston 115, eight seconds to go. Tatum comes to get the ball.

Game four in the balance. Here's Tatum to the left side driving on Maxey. Down the lane, passes out to Smart.

He doesn't get it off. It goes in but it doesn't count. And Doc Rivers signaling to the Sixers.

This is incredible. Smart made the field goal but it appeared as though time expired and it did. The Sixers win the game. Marcus Smart got it off but not in time.

Are you serious? What a game. Oh man, Boston throwing it out. Smart nails a three but the game had ended. If you were watching the end of this overtime, the emotion, the relief and the release that was pent up with Sixers fans inside the arena, when they realized that Marcus Smart triple was after the buzzer had sounded, did you see their faces and hear the roar?

Now the cheers, maybe you don't interpret them with anything other than euphoria but when I saw their faces, oh goodness, it was relief. They realized, as did the Sixers, that this could have been a disastrous ending. Instead, despite coughing up a 16 point lead, most of it in the fourth quarter, it's James Harden to the rescue.

Now we'll hear from James coming up and also a really sweet gesture by him going back to a kindness that he extended over a month ago and a promise that he made. Why though didn't Joe Mazula and the Celtics call time out with those final seconds still remaining on the clock? They had time outs. Harden had given the Sixers a one point lead.

Why not take a break there and make sure you're set? That was the play. We just had to play a little bit more pace. We had the right matchup. Jason got downhill, made the right play at the rim. We just had to play a little bit more pace there. But that was the play. They had the play drawn up.

They knew what they wanted to do. They just didn't get into it quickly enough. So time out unnecessary? We did it times last year. We played Brooklyn game one. We didn't call the time out. We got a layup on the last play. Sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn't.

True. But we got a good core group of guys that know how to play under pressure in those situations. It just doesn't always go your way. We were just trying to get the right guys in the right spot. We just went a little slower than expected.

We wanted to go really fast. They did a good job of getting their guys on the right people and making the play. We just got to see what was going on, see the timing. We got to understand the timing.

Marcus Smart on NBC Sports Boston. So they had the play. Maybe didn't get into it quickly enough. It did seem like they were dallying or wasting a little bit too much time. Jason getting into the lane and then not kicking out quickly enough.

However, they felt like they knew what they wanted to do. I would agree in the situation when you can push the ball, when you can keep the defense guessing or force the defense to scramble, well then you have an advantage. If you are the aggressor, you don't take the time out to allow the defense to see what you're doing coming out of that break. How often in basketball do we see one time out in those late stages and then boom, the other team calls time out once they see how their opponent is lining up.

So it is an advantage that the Celtics know and the Sixers don't what they want to do and can't see any type of specific formation until they're already down into the half court. But they didn't leave enough time. Tatum didn't leave enough time.

Overall, they ran out of time for what they wanted to do. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Jalen Brown started out hot. He goes 10 of 16 this game.

He has 23 points, 5 assists. But he only got a handful of shots, 3 to be exact in that fourth quarter and none in overtime. I guess I got to demand the ball a little bit more. I thought good things happened when I had it in my hands, but I thought our offense was okay. I thought we chipped away. We made big time shots. We got great looks all game long and we just came up short in the end. Jalen also is the guy who theoretically would have been responsible for James Harden in the corner on that three when Joel Embiid was doubled and was able to kick it out to James. Just a bad read.

That's it. I gambled at the wrong time. Big shot by James Harden, but that's my fault. I take full accountability.

Just a bad read. Absolutely, it's amazing to play this game. It's going to be tough days. It's going to be great days. You got to take them all on the chin.

God is great. We still got an opportunity to come out on our home floor and play basketball. That's what it comes down to. The slightest details can cost you a game and the slightest details can help you win a game.

We got to make sure that we're the team that comes out on top. That was an easy play. The trust that we talked about all season long, that's the same shot that we got against in regular season against Miami. Got to keep trusting my guys and he just made a great shot.

Joel Embiid referring to that Harden 3. 42 points for James in his 47 minutes. He goes 16 of 23 from the field, so an efficient shooting night. But remember, this is coming off the heels of two back-to-back brutal performances. Weirdly enough, he's all or nothing. Of course, that is pretty much what he's been like his entire career. He's either a winner of an MVP or he disappears. The guy's a Hall of Famer.

Alright, let's not get carried away. So he has, what was it, 48 in the opener? I think it was 48 in the opener of the series in Boston when Joel Embiid was not playing. And now he has 42 in this one to bail out the Sixers after they blow that big lead.

And Embiid admits he was sucking wind as this game got into the late stages, the fourth quarter. I struggled a little bit that fourth quarter. But I got myself back and going. I just had no lift in the fourth quarter, like you said, obviously.

The other day was my first time really going up and down. Tonight, playing a lot of minutes kind of got to me towards the end. But got it back in overtime and started being aggressive again.

Give me a game of runs. We got to sustain their runs. We got to keep our composure. You know, I was proud of our guys. I thought we lost our pace and part of that was due to fatigue. We really shortened our rotation tonight. And, you know, I thought that was the right thing to do. When we were playing at our pace all game, we were getting whatever we wanted. And that was great. I thought our defense was good overall, too. Tobias on Tatum for most of the game. Tuck. So a lot of good things.

Some things still to clean up. Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid. And we'll hear from James Harden as we move forward. But many of you likely saw his special guest at the game on Sunday. You may remember going back that he had visited James Howe in the hospital. Actually, I think it's John Howe in the hospital.

Forgive me. This is a young man who was a survivor of the Michigan State shooting. And James had gone and had visited him and also had FaceTimed him. Maybe that was what he did. He FaceTimed him first. And then was really encouraging him and told him that he would bring him to a game at some point when he was able to get out of his hospital bed. And so this young man was there with his family as a guest of James. And he was cheering and smiling in a wheelchair.

Because he is paralyzed now. But he and James have developed a great bond. And so afterwards, James waved him onto the court with his family, took photos, wanted the media that were gathered around and the team photographer. Because every one of these teams employs photographers for these moments, actually, to document the course of a season, the highs and the lows. And so they always have team photographers that actually are employed by the franchise.

Sometimes it's more than one. But he waves in the team photographer. He wants the photographer to take John's photo. And he signs his shoes and he gives them to him and he gives him a hug and he speaks to him. It was really neat. Saw him pregame as well. As much as I do take my shots at James Harden, I told you I give credit where credit is due. I did it before when I found out that he had reached out to John and had not only spoken to him, but encouraged him and supported him. And that relationship continued. And what an experience for John to be there at Game 4 and to watch a basketball player who no doubt is his hero now. To watch that basketball player go for 42 and hit the game winning shot in overtime. Not to mention he rescued the Sixers multiple times during this game. Pretty incredible.

We'll hear from Harden about the game. But more importantly, James on his special guest, John Howe. He's my good luck charm. It's me keeping in contact with him. Obviously like any of us in here, it's the tragedy like that that happened.

It's a lot of nonsense that's going on in the world. So for him to be a victim of that is heartbreaking. But he's strong. He's bouncing back. He's recovering very well. And I feel like it's my job to just give him that like smile that he deserves, that he needs.

And hopefully, you know, today was one of those days where, you know, I mean, he's smiling and that's all I'm here for. All right. So here I am. Making hard in my punching bag at times. Not literally.

That would be against the law and also not advisable. And also, I don't punch people. But I do like to take aim at James because I'm not a huge fan of some of his antics or of the fact that his game is what it is.

Sometimes. But I give him all the credit in the world for making this relationship, for continuing to encourage and support John. And the smile on his face, how excited he was to be there.

To be part of an incredible experience. I was really happy for him, but also proud of James. We love you, James. OK, I said it.

On Twitter, A Law Radio, also on our Facebook page. Coming up, the story of how I nearly missed the half marathon. You all are going to. OK, first of all, you're going to tell me poor Penny. I can hear it coming even now.

Poor Penny, my butt. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. So, yeah, as much as Thursday is National Dog Day and we're supposed to be moving on to other things and getting excited about Friday. You all had such a good time. We had such a good time talking dogs, dogs with you that I'm not quite ready to let it go. So, yes, baseball and fine football, but dogs, dogs bring us all together.

Not just dogs, cats to cats. And someone posted a picture of a fish. We asked your. I couldn't bring myself to like it. I know I feel bad. I have to go back and like it.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I nearly missed my sixth half marathon. Oh, the story. It's it's just not me, which is why I can't believe it happened, but I also am continuing to just be thankful that I still managed to get into New York City, which is no small feat on a Sunday morning and get to the start of the race a full five minutes before he got underway. Oh, my gosh. It was a near disaster, you guys.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. And yes, we do love dogs. That will never change. As long as I'm here in this chair, we will always have our frequent dog themes. And every time we talk about dogs, you all send us photos of your furry friends. My furry friend about drove me crazy on Sunday morning. So here's the deal.

OK, you ready for this? I might freak you out. You might decide that you can't sleep before your next big event. If you listen to the show for any length of time, you know that I have trouble sleeping. It's not just the crazy hours and constantly flipping my schedule.

It's also the fact that my brain is overactive. And so when I have a lot of my mind, I will wake up and I'll be unable to get back to sleep. That also applies when I have to wake up for any specific occasion.

So I'll give you a work related example. During Super Bowl week, when I know I have to wake up for our series of interviews, I have a hard time sleeping because my brain is going and thinking about the conversations and, OK, I can't be late. I can't miss this interview. I've got to get up. I've got to be ready. I've got to do my research.

Yada, yada, yada. That also applies, though, to my personal life when I know I have to wake up for a particular reason, especially something significant like a flight that I need to catch or an appointment that I have to keep. Or in this case, getting into New York City from my New Jersey neighborhood, parking my car, taking the subway and getting to the start of a half marathon. It's not that I can't do it. In fact, I had done it on Saturday. I had to go in and pick up my bib and my T-shirt and register for the race.

They wouldn't allow us to do it on race day. So I had already done the exact same thing on Saturday morning. It wasn't as though I was stressing about it, but I like to make sure I'm ready.

I like to eat breakfast before I leave the house for a half marathon. So imagine my surprise, and I still don't know how this happened, when I woke up on Sunday morning and I had overslept by 45 minutes. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

That's right. So I'd gone to bed the night before prior to 11 o'clock. So I had to watch the rest of Lakers Warriors on delay or on DVR on Sunday because I was asleep. And I'm exhausted because I really didn't sleep the two or three days leading up to that. It had been a really busy Saturday. I've mostly got my stuff ready, meaning it's in piles.

But I haven't packed anything. And I was planning on waking up at six so I could leave the house at seven. Now, why do I need that much time?

Well, because I have a dog who's slower than molasses. So I set my alarm for six o'clock. And I do remember I set it a little bit early so that I could hit snooze once, maybe twice. But generally the pets wake me up. And so the cat was kind of headbutting me because that's what she does. The dog was fast asleep. I don't know why she wasn't awake on Sunday morning, but she's older.

And so sometimes she's just dead to the world. So the dog wasn't in my face. I guess I accidentally turned off the phone. I don't know how that happened because it's supposed to snooze five times. And I know I did not turn off the snooze five times. So thank goodness. God woke me up. I'm telling you.

651. I look at my phone. Realizing I needed to leave the house in 10 minutes. Oh no! That was not going to be possible.

It was not going to be possible. So how did I oversleep? Knowing that I had to get up and get into the city and get dressed and everything else. I had to pack my bag. I had to grab breakfast.

I have no idea. Thankfully I did not wake up in a fog. You know how sometimes you wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle and you wake up in a total fog? I didn't. So at least I had nearly eight hours of sleep.

One more than I bargained for. And I was raring to go. So I get dressed. The dog still is not moving. She's just out. She's conked out. She's snoring away. So I have to get her up.

She was not cooperating. I get downstairs. I feed the cat. I'm grabbing coffee. I'm trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to eat. I didn't have time to eat my oatmeal. I didn't have time to eat cereal.

Even cereal is better than nothing. I didn't have any bread thawed. I don't keep a lot of bread in the house because it's not something I need to be eating. So I didn't have any bread thawed. All I could do was grab fruit.

That's it. I had raspberries that I took in the car with me and I had some watermelon that I was scarfing down waiting for the dog to come downstairs. But for those of you who run or eat a lot of fruit, while it is some carbs, it's a lot of water and it's sugar that burns off very quickly. So I knew that wasn't going to sustain me. But I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to eat goldfish before I ran a race. I don't know where the wheat thins were. Anyway, I ended up driving in without eating breakfast other than a few pieces of fruit.

Not optimal. I've got nothing. Yeah, I had nothing in my stomach. Thankfully, the night before, I had not just a late lunch of sweet potato and asparagus, but I also had a piece of salmon around 10 o'clock. That was still in my stomach, my stomach, but salmon and then I had some yogurt as well.

That was still in my stomach. But otherwise, I had really nothing this morning except for water and a little coffee. So I get out of bed. I'm rushing around the house. I'm trying to grab my stuff. I'm reminding myself to grab my sunscreen and my safety pins because they didn't have safety pins with the bibs. I had to put the bib on. Don't forget your shoes, you dummy.

Like all this stuff. But ultimately, I have to walk the dog because I'm going to be gone for six to seven hours and she needs to have her routine. Now, my dog is very much set in her routine.

So after she eats, thankfully, I didn't forget to give her her insulin and I get her out of the house. She's all happy. This is her favorite time of the day.

She has energy. It's cool out. It was a beautiful morning, gorgeous sunshine, really no humidity whatsoever, no clouds in the sky. So we start walking down the sidewalk. Now, the dog generally gets a 20-minute walk in the morning. Yeah, I didn't have that kind of time. When I left the house, we had maybe 10 minutes.

That was it. And I was already running late. So we get to the point at which we start to go around the block and I made her turn around. Oh, she was not having it.

She gives me a stare, right? And I put on her leash because I knew she wasn't going to follow me. Generally, she's off leash in the morning. So I put on her leash and I turned to go back for home. Oh, no, the dog is determined to milk every last ounce of sunshine from this walk. And she did like the fact that we were already going back toward the house.

So not only does she stop and sniff every single plant and bush on the block between my house and where we turned around, but then she consistently ignores my pleas. And I was pleading with her to hurry up. Penny, come on. Mama doesn't have time. Please come on.

Oh, no, no, no. I'm telling you, the dog is so stubborn. She decided she would rather be outside than help me breathe. So as I get this more of a stressful tone in my voice, the dog goes even slower. Of course.

Of course. To the point where I'm walking ahead of her. The leash is fully extended and I'm cajoling her. I'm pleading with her. Please, Penny. I'm near tears because it's almost 730 now.

The race started at 830 and I'm still in my neighborhood in New Jersey. I haven't gotten in my car yet. Oh, my gosh. I was trying not to yell at the dog. You guys, I did not yell. But as I'm pulling the dog, you know what Penny starts doing? She puts it in reverse.

The dog starts backing up like she is bound and determined she is not going to move. Run it back. Run it back. Okay, stop it. Stop it. Stop it. You're stressing me out even more.

I'm not joking. The dog starts to put on the brakes and tries to go backward. You know what she was trying to do? The little snit? She was trying.

And that's not really what I mean. She was trying to get her head out of the collar. That's what she was doing. She was backing up and trying to pull her head out of the collar so that she could roam free. Like what she normally does on a weekend morning. And so, you guys, rather than pull her, because I don't like to pull her at her age.

I don't like to do the tour. I got behind her and started pushing her. What a scene.

It was a scene. And I'm talking out loud to the dog in the neighborhood too. And the dog is half deaf. And so I have to talk loudly.

I'm sure there were people that were hearing me. But she tends to go a little faster if I give her a push sometimes. So I was behind the dog pushing her along.

Oh my gosh. I get inside. She has to have her treat. She has to have her water. I got to put the cat food away because the dog will eat the cat food. I have to lock the house. I have to grab my coffee.

I couldn't forget the safety pins. I'm telling you, the fact that I left the house at 7.31 was nothing short of a major miracle. However, the job was not done. There's more to the story.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Producer J, you tell me, should I finish the story now or should we take our break and finish the story? Because there is more, of course, about the transportation and getting into the race site. I think we should take a break. Okay, so we're going to take a break. There's a reason why I had to walk 30 blocks back to my car when the race was over. Penny, I love you, but you are stubborn as heck.

The dog tried to back up and get out of her car. The human will can only take so much. All right, so we'll finish the story of the half marathon. I'll answer some of your questions. A couple of you have asked me about the running part and about hitting a wall and being fatigued and all that jazz.

So there's more to come. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement these last few weeks, especially Sunday. It means a lot to me. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Whoo, I'm stressed just talking about it. Thanks again for all of your tweets, ALaw Radio and Facebook page, too. If you haven't seen the photo, it's up. You all are very kind. And I appreciate that you're asking me a couple of questions, which I'll answer before the top of the hour, but not before I tell you about the other moment, non-dog related, that nearly derailed me getting to the start for the half marathon that I ran on Sunday morning.

It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio. That's why the photo that I took and posted after the race is so much more meaningful. Why the smile on my face is a little larger than what it might have been otherwise.

My grin is definitely well earned. So I get in my car at seven thirty one a.m. I'm now inside of an hour before my start time. For those of you who aren't familiar, I'll just tell you it is not easy to get in and out of New York City, ever.

It doesn't matter what time of the day or night. I live 26 miles from work. That's one way, 26 miles from work. It's mostly highway. I never game plan for under 40 minutes to get to work. And I was going to the Upper West Side, which is closest to me.

I live in Northeast New Jersey, so just over the Hudson River, about 15 miles. But the fact that there was the five borough bike tour, meaning there were 60,000 riders. Maybe not that many.

Well, I feel like that number stuck with me. There were thousands and thousands of riders. So that was one thing taking place and there were road closures on Sunday because that bike tour goes to all five boroughs. And so it starts very early. There was a marathon and a half marathon on Long Island.

There was another, oh, I know what was happening. The Lincoln Tunnel was closed down for Special Olympics. Part of the, I think it's law enforcement torch run.

There were 3,000 people that ran through the Lincoln Tunnel on Sunday to raise money for Special Olympics. So there's all these events taking place early in May. First Sunday in May. The weather is absolutely gorgeous. No clouds, no humidity, a pristine morning.

Now it did get hot by the time I was halfway through the run, but thankfully mine was 75% in the shade. Anyway, we'll get to that part. So as I'm driving in, I'm listening to traffic and I'm realizing there are all these events going on. There's going to be so much traffic. Inbound, there's going to be a ton of traffic. Except there wasn't.

I don't know how I caught it the way that I did, other than I was praying the entire time. All the green lights. So I get off on the Upper West Side. I go and I park near Columbia because I know that's where there's a lot of free parking. And because I worked for the university for three and a half years, I know where the free parking is. And it's only three blocks from a subway. So I get to the parking space.

There's no one around. I'm in good shape. But now it's 35 minutes to start time. And I still have to get on the subway and get down to where the race begins. So I'm at 120th Street.

The race starts at 84th Street in the park along the Hudson River. So I put on my shoes. I wasn't wearing my running shoes. I put on my shoes. I grab a few things. I've got my key. I've got my phone.

I've got my headphones. I put on sunscreen. I grab my chapstick and my bottle of water. And then I realize that like a dummy, the day before, I hadn't loaded my metro card, which is for the subway, with enough fare to get me round trip. And so I have to grab, first I grab my credit card. And then I think, oh, you know what? I don't want to run with my credit card. That would be awkward, number one.

Number two, it's going to get wet because the pockets are next to my legs, which I'll be sweating. And I didn't want to leave it in the bag check. So I put my credit card back in my wallet and I grabbed cash. Six bucks.

That's what it takes to load two fares. All right. I got the six bucks.

I'm moving. I get into the subway station, praying, of course, that there would be, because they're really spaced out on Sunday mornings, praying that there would be a train that was close, but not close enough that I wouldn't have time to load my fare. I put the card in. The five goes in, no problem. The stupid machine would not take my $1 bill. It would not take my $1 bill. And you're only allowed to load like particular amounts because they calculate the fare for two trips or four trips or blah, blah. So I could have canceled it all and started it over, but now I'm down to about two minutes before the train gets there and I'm freaking out.

So this group of people comes down the stairs and I never do this. In fact, I don't love it when people do it to me, though I have helped people before. Anybody have 50 cents? I just need 50 cents. Anybody have a dollar? I'm so sorry.

This machine will not take my dollar. I'll trade you. Well, nobody had any, but this young woman said to me, I've got to pass. I'll get you through. I was so I will started crying.

I was so relieved. So I cancel my transaction. I grab my dollar. I grab my metro card. I leave the five dollars in the machine.

What are you kidding me? I raced downstairs. The woman was so nice. She was she was so sweet.

I thanked her profusely. I raced down the stairs. The train is coming as I'm getting down to the platform. I get on the train. I think, oh, you've got to be kidding me. I don't have the money to get back because I left my five dollars in the machine. I'm like, you know what? I'll deal with that later.

What's the worst thing can happen? I have to walk all the way back to my car after running a half marathon. True to form, my life is never dull. So I get on the subway. I get the it's only four stops. I get off. I have to go about six or seven blocks over to the river, the Riverside Park, where we're running the half marathon. I actually jog. That was my warm up because I was so worried about missing the start because now it's 10 minutes until the race starts.

So I get to the park. There's an enormously long line waiting at the porta potti. So guess who didn't go to the bathroom before the race starts? Also a bad idea for those of you who do any amount of running. You know that you well, if you're doing a race, you guzzle water like nobody's business. So I'd had water like for 24 hours, actually probably closer to 36 hours all weekend. I drank coffee that morning.

Nope. Race line is or the line is way too long. I did not have time to go to the bathroom. So, oh, well, thank goodness.

As you start running and you sweat, you kind of burn that off. But I got in line. Well, I dropped my bag, my stuff. I just had a couple of things. Dropped my stuff at the bag drop and got in line five minutes before the race started. Five minutes. I managed to stretch and all the nervous energy definitely gave me an adrenaline rush.

But you know what? I didn't have fuel in my stomach because I hadn't eaten. And so thankfully the race was it was relatively flat. It was not completely flat. There was one one steep hill that was about 200 yards coming from the river up into the park again.

So it's pretty steep because there's not a lot of space there between the highway and the river. So that that steep hill of about 200 yards was the last the last half mile of every loop. So each loop was it was three plus miles. And that was the last thing that you would do before you would finish a loop. You had to go four times around these loops. Anyway, I was so grateful to be running and to have gotten there in time.

And I had trained pretty well. So the first seven miles, no issues whatsoever. I was cruising, listening to music, having no problems, really enjoying the beautiful day and and all the company. There was a lot of company. Not only were there probably 700 runners, but they don't close the park. So there's strollers, there's dogs, there's pedestrians, there's bikers, there's other runners that have nothing to do with the race. You really had to follow the signs. Otherwise you could get off the beaten path pretty easily. But by the by the fourth loop, I'm dodging people because it's it's about 1030 in the morning and it's gorgeous weather, which means New York City, the Upper West Side is just it's wall to wall bodies.

I mean, there was some kind of kids event going on where the Dodge children and strollers. Anyway, I did really well. The third loop was kind of no man's land. And between miles nine and eleven, I was really forcing through some mental fatigue.

I actually didn't have any pain at all. So the training served me well. The last loop, though, up that final hill before the final half mile.

Oh, my goodness. My hip flexors, my quads, they were barking at me. But I managed to sprint to the finish. I did under 225. I was proud of myself. I was really relieved that I actually made the race.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Your points are worth more than you think. This first class flight to Tokyo, you can book it in your credit card portal for one point four million points. Yowsers with Point Me, you could redeem just one hundred and twenty thousand points for that same flight.

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No waiting around or sold out nonsense. Get some rest, get Asserta. I'm JR of the JR Sport Reef Show on CBS Sports Radio. I'm also the host of the new podcast Agents of Inclusion. We talk to a different Special Olympics athlete every week to learn how sports can bring us together. We're bringing both the disability and non-disability communities to one community.

All one people, one family. Took me a little while, but I decided to claim autism as my superpower. When you hear the word autism, don't let that hinder you from doing whatever it is that you want to do. That's what Special Olympics tells you. You get involved in sports, but then you take it from the playing field out into real life. Family means to me community, acceptance, love, embracing a person just as they are. That's what Special Olympics did for me. It's all about family.

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