The New York City Marathon

Travel Stuff
I took a red eye flight out of LAX on Friday evening. While I was waiting for my flight, I ate some ridiculously expensive fish tacos at a seafood restaurant near my gate. At least they were good. I flew on Virgin America. It's nice to be able to watch TV on a long flight. It's cool if it's there, but I don't mind reading a book instead. I arrived at JFK very early Saturday morning. I hopped on the Airtrain to take the subway from the Jamaica Station. I got into Manhattan before the sun came out. I walked over to my Hotel and waited in the lobby for the sunrise. Check-in time was 2pm so it was too early for me to check in. Amongst all of my planning I had forgotten to plan for breakfast. I checked out the breakfast over at the Sheraton and the Hilton, but they were a tad too pricey. I ended up eating corned beef hash with eggs and toast at a cafe. I then made my way over to the free bus pickup for the expo. The traffic was pretty bad... yeah, welcome to New York.

Expo part 1
The expo was huge. It was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. It was very well organized. I guess they have to when there's over 40,000 runners and their families coming to pick up their race packet and buy souvenirs. After picking up my race packet and long sleeve shirt, I made my way through the official merchandise. I bought a NYC Marathon singlet and blue gloves that had the 5 boroughs on the 5 fingers. I tried on some Moeben arm sleeves, but didn't buy them because I already have 2 pairs of sleeves. I made my way to the Competitor Group table to sign up for the Country Music Marathon and of course the girl there recognized me. Right next to that table was Sarah Reinertsen. I bought her book which looks like a good read. When I walked past the Adidas area, I saw a sign that said the great Grete Waitz was going to be there signing at 1pm. I had a few hours to kill.

NYC tour
I walked over to 38th and 8th to eat some good Japanese kare (curry). I only had enough cash left on me to order the walk (small) size chicken curry. The next time I'm back here, I'm going to order the Grand Slam. That meal looked huge. After I was done I walked over to the Empire State Building. It was going to cost me $20 to go up to the 86th floor observation deck so I just settled for some pictures from the ground floor. I had wanted to visit ground zero and the crown of the Statue of Liberty, but I just didn't have enough time. Plus on my walk back to the expo I was already starting to feel as if I've been on my feet walking around too much.

Expo part 2
I met the legendary Grete Waitz, a 9 time NYC Marathon Champion. I couldn't believe that I was 3rd person in line to meet her. If only the other expo attendees realized how dominating she was in her day. She signed a small Adidas poster for me and my bib. I was pooped so I got in line for the free bus service back to my hotel.

Last minute details
When I checked in, the clerk said he was going to upgrade me to a suite for no extra charge because I was staying for 2 nights. Suite? Sweet! The last time I was in NYC I stayed in a nice hotel but the room was the size of a walk-in closet. There was enough room for 3 families to stay comfortably in this suite. I never used the living room area while I was there. After settling in, I went back out to eat ramen. I bought the usual water and orange juice and headed back to my suite to relax. I pinned the bib on my Marine Corps Marathon singlet, loaded up my Nuun tablets and gels, and laid everything out. It's GO time!

Getting to the Starting Line
I woke up around 4am, drank my orange juice and got ready. I rode the Subway down to the South Ferry Terminal. Met 2 girls while waiting for the ferry to Staten Island. One was from Norway and the other from Canada. The Norwegian had a later starting time than the two of us, so I rode the ferry with Michelle from Canada to Staten Island. After a short bus ride to Fort Wadsworth we then bid each other a great race and headed to our separate colored starting area. Mine was blue, hers was green. Remember to bring your own TP if you plan on taking care of business right before the race. I'm guessing about 99% of the portapotties were already out of TP by the time people in the 2nd wave showed up. I was in the 2nd wave which started at 10am. I checked my gear at the UPS trucks and made my way into the corrals about 30 minutes before the start. The corrals were packed very tight. We were like sardines in a can!

1st Half
It was a surreal experience for me hearing the howitzer go off and running across the Verrazano-Narrows bridge. I could not believe that I was finally running the NYC Marathon! Since I had not run a single step since the Marine Corps Marathon, I made sure I went out slow. My right Achilles was feeling tight as soon as I ran that second mile coming off of the bridge. So I immediately backed off to a pace that didn't cause any pain. It was one big running party. It was weird taking my usual walking breaks because every time I did, it felt as if I was going to be trampled over. I'm sure my Achilles appreciated the rest. Just as the crowd of runners were loosening up, we joined with the green and orange runners at about mile 8. I was happy to have reached the half in a little over 2 hours. The legs did not feel as tired as they did last weekend. I was optimistic that I had a chance at lowering my PR.
1: 9:47
2: 8:17
3: 8:48
4: 9:35
5: 8:53
6: 9:02
7: 9:34
8: 9:21
9: 10:20
10: 9:10
11: 9:40
12: 9:32
13: 10:22
13.1: 2:03:39

2nd Half
It was fun crossing all of these bridges! I got to cross the Pulaski Bridge near the halfway point. But I think I spent too much energy crossing the Queensboro Bridge. Soon after, I hit the wall somewhere near mile 17. Too bad it happened when I was on 1st Ave. There was a ton of people out cheering on 1st Ave. It took me about 2 miles to recover. We crossed over the Willis Ave Bridge for a short visit in the Bronx. Then we crossed over the Madison Ave Bridge into Harlem. We headed down 5th Ave towards Central Park. It was really fun running through Central Park. It was somewhat hilly, but I was definitely feeding off of the energy from the crowd. I still took some walking breaks to rest my Achilles. When I saw the Columbus Circle, I knew it was almost over. They had signs telling you how much you have left to run which was very nice. I picked up the pace once I saw the lovely finish line which I have seen many times on TV. Wow! That was the most fun that I've had on a 26.2 mile run!
14: 10:18
15: 10:45
16: 10:27
17: 12:12
18: 14:01
19: 14:05
20: 11:39
21: 12:18
22: 11:31
23: 12:47
24: 13:42
25: 10:39
26: 10:51
26.2: 1:46

5k: 27:49
10k: 56:23
15k: 1:26:34
20k: 1:56:20
25k: 2:29:23
30k: 3:08:57
35k: 3:57:20
40k: 4:25:14
Finish: 4:39:32

Post race
Even though we crossed the finish line around 66th St, we were herded like cattle to the UPS trucks to pick up our baggage. I didn't exit the park until around 82nd St. I had thought about taking the subway but decided to walk back to my hotel. The streets were very crowded and I don't think my Achilles liked the extra walking. Next time I'll hop on the subway. After I cleaned up, relaxed, and watched a little TV, I went back out for some ramen. Then I fell asleep watching the World Series. My right Achilles didn't swell up and hurt until the next morning. The rest of my body was fine, didn't even feel like I ran a marathon.

I will sign up for this race every year! It has dethroned the Honolulu Marathon as my favorite marathon. Hopefully I won't have to wait another 4 years before I run it again. I will need to start training for speed. Then I can qualify for NYC by time instead of the lottery.