Where to begin?
Running 26.2 miles with 45,000 other runners through the greatest city in the world is an experience difficult to articulate, but I will do my best and attempt to relive the race as I remember it.
My final week leading up to the marathon was a difficult one, as my grandmother passed away and we had services on the Friday prior to the race. On Saturday, Cheryl and I took the train in from Fairfield, checked in to our hotel in Battery Park, and made our way to the expo at the Jacob Javitz center. Picked up my bib, 33411, a very nice goodie bag, and back to the hotel where I saw a timely piece on the history of the NYC Marathon on PBS. Later that evening we took the subway to Union Square and had dinner at a nice trattoria in the West Village called Crispo. I started with some arancini (fried risotto balls with mozzarella) - amazing. Then I had a proscuitto, arugula, tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad, spaghetti all carbonara (my favorite pre-race meal), as well as a piece of grilled chicken with a side of broccoli rabe. Big, delicious dinner.
I was asleep by 9pm, and woke up at 12:30 just charged with excitement and anticipation. I tossed and turned until about 4:30am when I finally got out of bed, showered, and got ready for the day. Had a banana, clif bar, and blueberry muffin I'd picked up from a Whole Foods near the Union Square stop for breakfast the night before, and washed it down with some gatorade. Walked over to the Staten Island Ferry terminal, which was just steps away from the hotel.
The logistics of the event were impressive. I was on the 6am ferry, and we orderly boarded on time. I was surrounded by international runners - Italians mostly, but Dutch, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, South Africans, Canadians. At one point on the ride I chuckled when I heard all of these different sounding languages at once.
Once the ferry arrived, we were led to buses (mine was a Rutgers University shuttle) and it drove us the 3 miles to Ft. Wadsworth, in the shadows of the Verranzano bridge. There, we were divided up based upon our bib color - orange, blue, green. 15,000 runners gathered in the orange village, where we had free coffee, bagels, and gatorade. What I underestimated was how COLD it would be! Ridiculously cold. I had my fleece pants and North Face running jacket, hat and gloves, and it didn't cut it. The wind was fierce. I had thought about buying some thrift clothes and just discarding them at the start, but didn't - but the other 14,999 in the orange village did. People were wrapped in blankets, trash bags. anything to stay warm. I checked in my pants and jacket at the last minute at my designated UPS truck before heading to the orange corral, and froze by tail off. I waited a good 45min -1:00 in the corral for wave 2 to begin, and we were herded to the start like stockyard cattle. Our cannon went off at 10:10, and off we were, and I still get chills just thinking about the beginning.
Mile 1 was slow because of the sheer mass of people on the bridge at the start, 8:57 min mile. I decided early on that I would run to the far left of the road, right along the crowd line, to faciliate passing slower runners and for the simple fact that I loved being right next to the crowd, feeding off their energy. Brooklyn, I love you! Their enthusiasm was 'off the hook' as they say. Insane. The intensity of the cheering, the bands playing, the overall vibe was tremendous. Bay Ridge, they were four deep and little children had their hands out for high fives - but so were adults, elderly folks, it was awesome. I was in a sweet early groove and must have slapped 5,000 hands if not more. I had on a yellow Livestrong techinical tee and people would yell "Go Livestrong!" and it was a rush.
My 1st eight miles were as follows:
1
00:08:57
08:57
2
00:08:02
08:02
3
00:07:38
07:38
4
00:07:38
07:38
5
00:07:43
07:43
6
00:07:53
07:53
7
00:07:57
07:57
8
00:08:03
08:03
After mile 8 in downtown Brooklyn I felt amazing and flew the next mile - turns out I did a 7:39. I didn't check my time or pace often, I just ran, slapping high fives. Gatorade stops were plentiful and I hit them all, and I had 6 GU's on me and took one every 4th mile. My 13.1 split time was 1:46:42, and I was pleased with that. In fact, the 3:40 pacer and I passed each other several times, so I knew I was running a good pace despite a near 9:00 first mile. I felt like I could keep it up.
Miles 9-14:
9
00:07:39
07:39
10
00:07:56
07:56
11
00:08:35
08:35
12
00:08:06
08:06
13
00:08:17
08:17
14
00:08:27
08:27
Then I hit the Queensboro Bridge. Ouch.
I knew it would be tough based upon the elevation charts I'd seen before the race, but wow - I felt like I wasn't moving. For the first time since the start I stopped running in the far left lane like a Porsche on the Merritt Parkway; instead I edged to the middle like a cement mixer in a lower gear just trying to climb the steepening grade. This is also where marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie dropped out with his injury just hours earlier.
My times for the bridge Mile 15 and 16 were 9:08 and 10:33, respectively.
Once we entered Manhattan, however, it was a different story. I will never forget the feeling as the darkened bridge (we ran on the lower deck) opened up to bright sunlight and throngs of cheers. I was also excited because Cheryl was waiting at 86th street, so I had a burst of energy up 1st Ave and clocked 8:09 and 7:56 for miles 17 and 18 so I felt rejuvinated. Unfortunately I didn't see her, as that stretch was a bit downhill and I let it rip on that section of the course. She saw me though, and since I was back to the left lane strategy, she could have touched my shoulder as I flew by.
Mile 19 I entered Spanish Harlem, and started to feel tired. Not the infamous wall, but yes, some fatigue was starting to set in. I wasn't sure if I was tired because I just ran 17 and 18 quickly, or if this was something more.
It was something more. Mile 19 was 9:19, but Mile 20 in the Bronx was 10:01, and I was feeling it. Just like that. The Maine Marathon I had a similar experience at the 20 mark, and yes, that dreaded wall we hear so much about. Ugh. Crossing over the Major Deegan I was feeling it, and when we took the turnaround loop at E138 St Grand Concourse and started to head back to down, I said I would look up at the street signs as they progressively got smaller for encouragement - except it wasn't going as fast as I wanted it to. 128th... ... ... ..127th... ... ... ..126th... ... ... .125th... ... ... ... ... so I stopped, put my head down, and was in full-out grinding mode.
Central Park began at 5th and 110th Street, so that was encouraging to see because I knew we were less than 5 miles from the finish. The crowds were getting larger again, and around E 90th St the course entered the park.
Miles 21- 25:
21
00:09:57
1.00
09:57
22
00:09:29
1.00
09:29
23
00:09:43
1.00
09:43
24
00:10:04
1.00
10:04
25
00:09:31
1.00
09:32
After my Garmin buzzed Mile 24 10:04 I said the rest of the way I will finish sub 10:00 miles. Mile 25 was 9:32, and I knew the final 1.2 miles was where I had to dig deep. Once we hit Central Park South and Columbus Circle, I was sprinting. Sprinting! I did Mile 26 in 8:39, which I was elated over, the hardest mile of the marathon and I ran it in what was my overall average min/mile pace. Just .2 to go as we banked into the Park for the finish, and my legs and knees were rubber. I crossed the finish in 3:48:35. I had done it.
I had read several months ago about predicting a NYC marathon finish time - someone, I can't recall who, said take your best marathon time, and add 10 minutes. That will be your NYC finish time. Well, for me it was add 9 minutes, four seconds. And checking the NYRR site, I finished 10,100 out of 45,000+ runners. That surprised me, and something to feel good about! I finished ahead of Justin Gimelstob (pro tennis player), Amani Toomer (former NY Giants WR) , Ethan Zohn (pro soccer player/Survivor winner) and well ahead of Jared the Subway guy and the Chilean miner, Edison Pena.
We were ushered through a finishers maze with medals, photos, swag bags with gatorade/water/apple/pretzels, until we saw our UPS truck that had our check-in bag. We had to keep moving, and it was tough - I had nothing, zero left. I was just trudging along, maybe 15-20 minutes or so, until I got my bag. I called Cheryl, and 15 minutes later we met up around 81st Street. Hopped a cab, back to Battery Park.
I showered and just chilled under the covers for an hour and watched the Detroit Lions pull defeat from the jaws of victory against the Jets, and then we headed over to The Palm for a ridiculously tasty 24oz bone-in ribeye. Body was craving protein.
So it's the day after, and I'm sore, mostly in my quads which makes going down stairs a handrail event but other than that feel fine. I made my way (slowly... ... ..) to the Wall St. subway stop, headed back to Fairfield, and am now back in Maine. I can't say enough about how incredible it was, the way the city embraces the race, the rush of pushing yourself to the limit and then pushing a bit more.
How good was the experience? So good that I've already registered for the 2011 lottery!