New York City Marathon Race Recap

{I was so tired last night we got into bed at 8pm!   I fell asleep at 10 and didn’t wake up until nearly 8am.  That’s some power napping right there}

The NYC Marathon Race Experience…

Saturday night we got into town at 8pm; the expo closed at 7 so we had to go to the downtown NYRR head office to pick up my bib.  Long story short that involved some football, we didn’t get to bed until 11:30pm.

Wake up was 4am so the hour savings was a lifesaver. cherry flavored.  I had planned on taking the ferry to the start, but late Saturday night I received an email from Elizabeth C. with NYRR asking me if I’d like to take one of their Team For Kids busses at 6am instead.

Ummm yes please.  I would have had to take a subway across town to the ferry which takes you to a bus.  Thank you, Elizabeth!  another lifesaver.

There were 22 TFK coach busses and we even got a police escort!  What impressed me was that everyone working was so friendly – I had to talk to a couple different people to get my bus assignment and even at 5:45am, they were all really nice.

Team For Kids raises money to provide fitness and health programs for children who would otherwise not have the opportunity, and they raised over $4 million through the NYC Marathon this year.

We got to the start village around 7:30am – this thing is a city in itself.  Each of the three color waves has its’ own village and then there’s the charity tents, VIP tents, it’s huge.  You can’t really imagine how big it is until you’re there walking around trying to find someone.  good luck with that.

With my TFK bracelet, I could get into the Charity Village so I walked in there to check it out; it was nearly the same thing as everything else but way less crowded.

Inside the Charity Village each charity had its’ own tent with coffee and areas to sit.

And TFK bathrooms!  no lines!

There was a nice little spread of Gatorade, bagels, water and Powerbars as well.  I had breakfast and then went in search of Miles and HRG and who ever else I could find.

I found Miles who could be my only male Australian reader.  He’s also the head choreographer for Thunder from Down Under.

Just kidding.  NYC was his first marathon last year and he ran a 3:30!  More importantly, his wife is 9 months pregnant with their first child – we thought we might see him dash off the course at any minute to head to the hospital.

And then I saw Keri and her dad who rocked the race together; Keri runs some insanely fast short races.

And ran into these two hotties in their sweatshirts: Jaime and Penny.  Thanks for saying hi; I know you guys were eyeing my bathrobe and wanted one.

The corral closed at 8:50 for the 9:40 start so I got into my corral (10) a few minutes early and finally saw Janae and Miles again who were in corral #9.  Yes, I did feel like the slow kid that nobody likes waiting behind the rope.

But they dropped the corral ropes and we walked forward so I got to hang out with them as we waited for the start and took off our lovely throwaways which are all donated to charity.  Although I’m pretty sure no one wants my bathrobe.

The weather was amazing; last year was really cold and this year was sunny and warm.  And last weekend they had snow so I was really thankful for a beautiful morning.

Last year the time seemed to creep by before the race; I felt like I was waiting for hours and hours; this year because I was talking with new friends and meeting people, it flew by and suddenly it was time to start.

My plan was to simply to run according to how I felt; I told Jaymo to give me 4 hours.  My calves were a little sore and I was sleepy tired but other than that, felt fine.

Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York song played and we were off!  Miles took off ahead of us and HRG and I just kinda unspokenly ran with each other.  Not that words weren’t spoken… we talked the entire race.  I’m surprised we could barely breath.

The first mile was up the Verrazono-Narrows Bridge; we ran the first 5k in 25:57/8:22 pace.  We met speedy Dana who was cruising by fast (did I get your name right, I hope?)

The day was beautiful, the course was packed with runners and spectators, it’s just an awesome race.  That sounds so lame, I know, but it’s hard to describe how rad it is.

It was sunny out and even a little on the warm side by the end so I was grabbing a water or Gatorade at every aid station as was HRG.  We ran the 10k in 51:21/8:16 pace.

Once we realized that we each had a running partner who wasn’t going anywhere, HRG and I made it clear to each other that it was perfectly fine for the other to take off or drop back – she was running with 6 weeks of training and I was coming off a marathon from the day before.

But the thing about running with someone who’s faster than you is that it encourages you to run fast.  It’s like girls playing sports with boys; yes, Janae, I’m calling you a boy.

We also met another reader; sorry I forgot your name.  I’m dumb but took a sweet pic of ya!

I would have never started out as fast as we did had I not been running with Janae; I would have never ran a 3:36.  Not that I couldn’t obviously, but I doubted myself and it took someone else there to push me.

I took a gel at mile 9, was drinking a lot of Gatorade (I swear the aid stations were less than a mile apart sometimes) and we hit the 15k at the same 8:16 pace.

We were talking about everything, neither of us listened to music (I didn’t even bring mine) and the miles ticked by fast.  It was one of those races that felt surreal – you’re running the biggest marathon (and biggest NYCM EVER) in the world with a runner who you never thought you’d be able to keep up with with a million people who don’t know you cheering like they do.  it’s crazy. 

We hit the halfway at 1:47:58/8:14 pace.  We again told each other to take off, but internally I couldn’t believe I was hanging on and running that fast.  could not believe it.

I took another gel around mile 15 or so; my fueling got a little messed up because I didn’t bring 4 gels like I normally do and then I dropped one, but it turned out fine: I ate a piece of banana later in the race,  a piece of licorice and one more gel.

We kept throwing down, talking and enjoying the different boroughs and crowds of NYC.  25K at 2:07:53/8:13 pace.

Mile 16 you come off a long bridge onto First Avenue and everyone’s cheering for you – it’s deafening.  It’s so exciting, this is the moment why you run, for this feeling.

Unfortunately the race still has 10 more miles to pound out of you so we kept at it.  It was getting warmer but not bad; I was drinking a lot of fluids and trying to keep up with speedy.  We hit the 20 mile marker at 2:43:29/8:10 pace.

We made it to Central Park around mile 22 which was beautiful with the leaves and fun with all the people cheering.  Even though it feels like you’re really close to the finish, you still have a ways to go.  And there’s small rolling hills; you can’t even see them but you can feel them.

40K and almost there in 3:24:46/8:14 pace.

We cruised to the finish (which, like the whole race, is so exciting with the bandstands and all the people cheering you on down the funnel) and finished in 3:36:30, average pace of 8:15.

HRG had never ran more than 10 miles without music and I couldn’t believe that I could hold a 8:15 pace for the race so we were just two sweaty turds standing there in disbelief.

The race experience was really amazing.  It wasn’t as surprising as last year since I had done it and seen it all but still amazing and over-the-top.  It was a lot of fun to run with someone and not have any pressure to perform but at the same time, perform beyond what I believed I could.

It was a great day. mostly because of this….

Tagged as: blogging friends, NYC Baby, race recap