NYC Marathon

It is the day after the NYC Marthon and I wanted to get my thoughts down before I forget any of the details from the race. This post won't be as long (I don't think) as my Austin 70.3 post, but I will put down as many of the details as I can...

I had planned for some time to stay in a hotel on Staten Island the night before the race, to make sure I didn't have any problems getting there, etc. Because I didn't want to have to worry about getting BACK to Staten Island, I didn't want to bring a car and Tracy was going to drop me off. On race day, she and the big kids were then going to travel into the city from home and catch me running at a few points on the course. Unfortunately, Tracy was sick all weekend and all of the plans went out the window! So, I scrambled to make some calls and confirmed that some local friends had an extra seat in their car the morning of the race, as the three of them were running, as well.

5am arrived and thank goodness for daylight savings weekend! I got an extra hour of sleep and it felt great. I had to meet Aaron, Denise, and Bobby at 5:30am to drive to Staten Island. It was cold and windy when I got out of my car and into theirs, but I figured it would warm up, with the weather forecast calling for a low of 32 and a high in the upper 40's. The drive was relaxed and we chatted about pace strategy and other random topics. Traffic was light until we got a few miles out from the Verrazono bridge. The police had traffic stopped and had just begun to separate the buses from the passenger cars. It was 7:00am and the bridge was about to be closed until 3pm. Forced onto a side street while the buses cruised the highway alone, we made our way towards the start in moderate traffic. Thank goodness we were there well in advance. I can't even imagine what the traffic would have been like if we were later...

Security was checking for race numbers at multiple points and people with bags, other than the clear ones we were given, had them confiscated. We filtered into what seemed like a few small villages within the park next to the bridge and start line. It was a little chilly, but the sun helped and there was free food and drink: coffee, gatorade, water, bagels, etc. Bobby was in a different starting group than the rest of us, so we separated from him and went to our designated area - Green bibs, corral #20. We had plenty of time, so we ate, hung out, and stretched.

One of the things that the race did for us was provide us with clear bags for us to put clothes in for the end of the race. UPS trucks were lined up by bib number and taking bags, which they would transport to the finish line. We dropped our bags and timed a bathroom break to be as close as possible to the time we were to be in our corral. Just as we got in line, at 8:52am, we heard an announcement that Wave 1 (our wave) corrals were closing at 8:55am!!! WHAT?! "If you miss your wave, you can join wave 2." Oh man, wave 2 starts 30 minutes after wave 1. I don't want to miss our wave. Run! The three of us took off for our corral, not a short distance from the green "village" where we were located.

We got into the #20 corral, literally, as the gate closed behind us. WHEW!! Port-o-potties in the corral...AWESOME! We used them and waited...thousands of people in a gated "pen" that fed towards our starting line, on the lower level of the Varazzano Bridge. Tracy would be freaking out...it was CROWDED! 30 minutes later, we started moving closer to the starting line.

As we moved closer to our start time, people started to strip down to their running clothes. Another nice thing that the race does is donate clothing that is left and discarded prior to the race. So, most runners wear donatable clothing over their running gear and leave it to be donated. Other runners get creative with wearing trash bags, heavy paper clothing, cardboard, and the like. I brought some old sweats to donate and wore a long sleeve racing shirt with my "That's What She Said" shirt over top of it.

Eventually, we hear the cannon go off and people started moving. The race was on! Things slowly opened up and we picked up speed on our walk to the start. Looking around, I had lost Aaron and Denise. Oh well, you are never going to find them in all of these people, so just run your race! I crossed the start at a slow jog at 5:11 on the start clock and I pressed START on my watch. I was off!

My goal for the NYC Marathon was originally 3:45. Ambitious for my first marathon, no doubt, but I had done the Jersey City half in 1:38, so why not? Well, I adjusted that goal back coming out of the Austin 70.3. One week after Austin, I tried running 13 miles with Aaron and Denise, feeling good and healthy, when I had the same issues with hips and IT band as in Austin, right about mile 5. "I must still be recovering," I thought. So, I didn't run in the 2 weeks since and prior to the NYC marathon, hoping that I would heal enough that I wouldn't have any issues. I adjusted my goal to 4:00. Assuming I didn't have any injuries, that time should be well within reason...

The first part of the race is across the bridge. And it was FREEZING. Cross-winds on the bridge were BRUTAL and my hands (I didn't think about needing gloves - mistake!) were burning from the cold. It wasn't until just past the bottom of the bridge that I had enough blood pumping that they warmed up. I was feeling good. My legs felt strong, I didn't have any pain, and the weather was nice. It was going to be a good day!

During the first part of the race, crowds were sparse. We entered Brooklyn and there we a few on overpasses, etc. Like the guy who hollered down at us, "Anybody want a cigarette?!"

As we filtered through the streets, they got more crowded. Not just with the runners, but with people lining the streets. Brooklyn was out in force for us! Just looking ahead at the sea of runners in the street was unbelievable. For as far as you could see, there was a continuous crowd of runners moving up the street. I tried to compare it to things that I have seen in the past and the closest that I could come up with was Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It was literally wall-to-wall people, all running through the streets. Very cool...

I was really feeling optimistic as I ran through mile 5. Even the occasional pain or feeling of fatigue went away quickly and I was averaging right around 8 minute miles, which was faster than I thought I would be running but certainly within what I am capable of. Then, around mile 6, I felt a twinge in my left IT band. I tried to ignore it, and it must have worked because by mile 8 it was gone and I was still cruising. Splits for the first 8 miles were: 9:07, 7:33, 7:55, 8:03, 7:56, 8:08, 8:21, and 8:48. Definitely getting slower, but I had been planning on 9's, so I was fine with what I was doing.

Somewhere around mile 14, the dull pain in my hips that I had been trying to ignore was at the front of my mind and was no longer dull pain. From mile 11 through mile 14, my pace slipped into the 10-min/mile range. My IT band was fine, which is different than in the past. Before, it was my IT band first, followed by hip pain. Today, we started with the hips... Somewhere towards the end of mile 14, I went to a walk. This was right around one of the bridges that we ran.

The next few miles were a little running (when I felt I could) with a lot of walking. Averages fell into the 12-13 minute zone and I was hurting. The longer I went, the harder it was to even get up to a slow jog. Although, starting back somewhere in Brooklyn and continuing through Manhattan, the crowd helped. I heard people shouting, "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!!!" Telling me they loved my shirt and even telling me, "She said to RUN!!!" It was great and motivating, and whenever I was capable, I managed a slow jog. Regardless of my ability to pick up the pace, I raised my hands to them each time they called out, "That's what she said!" or said, "Go Lehigh!" in response to the Lehigh U hat that I was wearing, as well.

Around mile 17, I started looking for the StreetWise Partners crew, who were stationed at about mile 17.5. I caught a glimpse of Melissa along the barricade and ran over to her and the crowd over there, giving high-5's. That gave me a good adrenaline rush and I was able to manage a jog for another couple hundred yards. In this zone, in particular, the crowds were awesome. Packed all along the route, cheering, singing, etc. There were even people, of their own accord, handing out oranges, bananas, pretzels, salt tablets, and even tissues, to the runners. The experience with the crowd along was very cool.

The last 5 miles of the race are probably the hardest miles that I have ever run/walked in my life to-date. Mentally, I had been dealing with pain for hours and, with 5 miles left to go at a slow pace, I knew that I still had as much as 1.5 hours left to go. I was determined to tough it out. I had done it in Austin and I would do it again. What I hadn't realized or counted on was that Austin was only 13.1 miles on the run. I didn't understand, at that point, what a big difference there is between 13 and 26 miles. I had run 13+ miles and was in pain for 13 miles, but to try and walk 13 miles with that type of hip and knee pain was incredibly hard, physically and mentally.

There were more and more people walking the course by now. Even back as far as mile 20/21, when I heard a spectator say, "This is the hardest part of the course." He may have just meant the big, long hill that we had to scale, but I knew that it was also mentally the hardest part. That 20 mile mark, if you even make it to 20, can break you mentally. You have to do into it strong and determined, and know that you are going to be hurting.

I entered Central Park with about 2.5 miles left. Mentally, the only thing that was keeping me going was the fact that I was so close to the finish that I had no choice but to go on. Physically, I could barely even walk anymore and the only thing that kept my legs going was my brain (the one that was only working because I HAD to finish). It was excrutiating and I stopped many times in the Park to squat and stretch, just trying to get blood flowing into my thighs and relieve some stress on my hips. Those squats were GLORIOUS! Starting up again was not...

The final stretch was packed with people cheering us on. I couldn't work myself up to a run. My "jog" was more of a walk with me dragging my feet. And it HURT! Walking was hard, but at least tolerable. As I moved closer to the finish, there were markers telling everyone how far was left to go. 800 meters, 400 meters, 200 meters, 100 meters...ok, no matter what, you have to find some run in you for the final 100 meters, Chris. You can't WALK through the finish! So, I sucked up everything that I was feeling and gave it my best effort, which, honestly, wasn't so great! But, I made it through the line and finished. I was so happy to have finished! At that point, I wasn't happy because I had completed the NYC Marathon. I was happy to be finished so that I didn't have to do it anymore!!! Every part of my lower body hurt.

Immediately at the finish, a big man, with a big smile on his face, gave me a high-five and said, "Congrats! You did it, man!" THAT was the best I had felt in several hours. That guy raised my spirits and it sunk in a little. I had just completed the NYC Marathon. Not in the time or way that I wanted, but I finished it. My first marathon.