In early September, my work announced they were giving out several free entries to the NYC
marathon which was in November. I decided to enter, not expecting to win.... but I got lucky! It was kind of last minute and I had
to start a condensed training plan. I ran perhaps a few too many miles in
September (compared to what I had been running over the summer) and developed
some patellar tendonitis. I have been able to run through some pain, but I've
decided that knee pain has to be one of the worst! I talked to my PT friend and
he suggested some exercises to strengthen my glutes and loosen up my IT bands. I was determined and diligent... and did my exercises every night. I would have a good run and think things were better and then have a terrible run and want to give up. I made it through one 20 mile run ok and then another week had to quit during a three mile run because the pain was so bad. In another attempt to do a 20 miler, I could only make it 16 before I had to give up. It was discouraging. I made it through the Vancouver half without too much pain and made sure to do everything right the week before the race.
We flew into New Jersey on Friday (which happened to be Halloween and Dustin flew on the plane in his "Dude" costume).
I had opted for the NJ transportation to the race as we had found a Hilton deal at a hotel there. On Saturday, we took the train into New York (this did not seem economical after we spent $12.50/person each way) and went to the expo. I was excited about the expo - this was a major marathon and I wanted to experience it all. We bought a few souvenirs and took a lot of photos.
We went to dinner at Blossom (I was looking forward to the restaurants in NY almost as much as the race) which is an all vegan restaurant. Dustin had lasagna and I had a spaghetti squash cake with mushroom risotto - both delicious! We also ordered a side of mashed potatoes... oh how I love carbo-loading. :)
I had to pick up the transportation to the race from the Meadowlands Sports Complex between 5 and 6am on Sunday morning, which meant waking up about 4:30 and taking a cab from the hotel. I had to look up the address for the cab driver (really? you drive a cab in Jersey and don't know where Met Life Stadium is?). It was quiet and as we got near the stadium, there was a long line of cars waiting to drop off runners. We then loaded up in a line of buses which took us to New York. Our bus driver took a wrong turn and we drove in a circle. After another missed turn, some New York natives on the bus got nervous and had to give the bus driver directions. It seemed to stress a few people out - I figured we'd get there eventually. We did.
We got off the buses in Staten Island and walked to our color coordinated wave start areas. They had coffee, tea, and bagels for us as we waited. And we waited. We were in the start by about 7am and the race didn't start until 10 (my wave anyway). I had some tea to try and warm up. I was also wearing about three layers of sweats. It had rained the day before, but luckily it was dry on Sunday. Unfortunately, they had predicted wind and it was definitely windy and cold as we sat and waited. I laid down on the grass and rested for a while.
They announced that wave two should be lining up around 9:20. I took a last bathroom break and headed for the start corrals. More waiting in line (I had tossed all but one layer by this point, but could have kept them until closer to the starting line). It finally got moving and we got up to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. I was nervous, but ready to get running.
Two of the colors run on the top of the bridge (mine being one of them), but on opposite sides, and the other color runs on the lower part. It was windy as we started across the bridge, but the views of New York were so incredible, I didn't care. My feet finally warmed up after the first mile or so.
You finish a mile before you've even crossed the bridge. There are no spectators there, just thousands of runners finding their pace, stripping off layers, warming up their legs and taking in the sights. The first three miles went by in the blink of an eye. In fact, the first seven miles went by very quickly. Once you cross the bridge into Brooklyn, the cheering begins. Lots and lots of spectators lined the streets, excited as we pass, cheering us on. Most of Brooklyn was lined with spectators and we ran the first half of the race there. We crossed the Pulaski Bridge and were greeted with signs that said "Welcome to Queens".
At the expo, there were speakers talking about the course. They mentioned the Queensboro Bridge, the hill, the wind, but mostly how you can hear the cheering of the spectators before you can see them at the end of the bridge. They were right. It wasn't a steep hill going across the bridge, just long. I took it easy and finally got to where you run down the ramp. Then the noise started. You could hear the spectators cheering. It really lifts your spirits - especially hitting 16 miles at the end of the bridge. Then it's four miles up the east side of Manhattan and into the Bronx. The Bronx was quieter than any other part of the race - with the fewest amount of spectators there. It's a short mile through there though and then across the Madison Avenue Bridge, back into Manhattan. Once you hit 5th Avenue, the crowd could take you the rest of the way... if it weren't for that invisible mile getting to Central Park. From about mile 22, until you turn into Central Park, there's a small but steady incline on 5th Avenue and it was exhausting. Luckily, I saw Dustin just before mile 23 and it helped bring up my energy.
Finally we turned into Central Park and I was happy for all of the people lining the course, but I just wanted to be done. You run over a mile through the park, then back out, to run along 59th toward Columbus Circle and finally turn back into the park to finish the race. I was ecstatic!
We finished the race, got our medal, got our picture taken, and then shuffled down a long road to exit the race (this took about 30 minutes). I didn't check a bag and was super excited to finally get my souvenir poncho! It was warm and well deserved by then. Another long walk and I made it to the family meeting area to meet Dustin, take some pictures and finally head back to the hotel.
These were the signs Dustin had made for race:
We had pizza delivered to the room and had a relaxing afternoon before heading out to see "Wicked" at the Gershwin Theater.
The next day we went to see the 9/11 Memorial and then had lunch at Beyond Sushi in Chelsea. I had been looking forward to trying this place for months. They serve all vegan sushi and everything was delicious!!
Monday night we headed back to Jersey to go the Giants game. We took the train with thousands of football fans. It was basically a party train - everyone getting excited for the game. The stadium is gigantic! It holds over 80,000 people. It was cool being the stadium where the last superbowl had been played... but sadly, the Giants lost pretty badly to the Colts.
Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day and we had some delicious pizza at Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn bridge and took a walk across it before heading to the airport for home.
I was super happy to be able to run the NYC marathon. That's two of the six world majors that I've run now. Maybe I can shoot for Boston or London next year!
We flew into New Jersey on Friday (which happened to be Halloween and Dustin flew on the plane in his "Dude" costume).
 |
| Complete with White Russians! |
I had opted for the NJ transportation to the race as we had found a Hilton deal at a hotel there. On Saturday, we took the train into New York (this did not seem economical after we spent $12.50/person each way) and went to the expo. I was excited about the expo - this was a major marathon and I wanted to experience it all. We bought a few souvenirs and took a lot of photos.We went to dinner at Blossom (I was looking forward to the restaurants in NY almost as much as the race) which is an all vegan restaurant. Dustin had lasagna and I had a spaghetti squash cake with mushroom risotto - both delicious! We also ordered a side of mashed potatoes... oh how I love carbo-loading. :)
I had to pick up the transportation to the race from the Meadowlands Sports Complex between 5 and 6am on Sunday morning, which meant waking up about 4:30 and taking a cab from the hotel. I had to look up the address for the cab driver (really? you drive a cab in Jersey and don't know where Met Life Stadium is?). It was quiet and as we got near the stadium, there was a long line of cars waiting to drop off runners. We then loaded up in a line of buses which took us to New York. Our bus driver took a wrong turn and we drove in a circle. After another missed turn, some New York natives on the bus got nervous and had to give the bus driver directions. It seemed to stress a few people out - I figured we'd get there eventually. We did.
We got off the buses in Staten Island and walked to our color coordinated wave start areas. They had coffee, tea, and bagels for us as we waited. And we waited. We were in the start by about 7am and the race didn't start until 10 (my wave anyway). I had some tea to try and warm up. I was also wearing about three layers of sweats. It had rained the day before, but luckily it was dry on Sunday. Unfortunately, they had predicted wind and it was definitely windy and cold as we sat and waited. I laid down on the grass and rested for a while.
They announced that wave two should be lining up around 9:20. I took a last bathroom break and headed for the start corrals. More waiting in line (I had tossed all but one layer by this point, but could have kept them until closer to the starting line). It finally got moving and we got up to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. I was nervous, but ready to get running.
Two of the colors run on the top of the bridge (mine being one of them), but on opposite sides, and the other color runs on the lower part. It was windy as we started across the bridge, but the views of New York were so incredible, I didn't care. My feet finally warmed up after the first mile or so.
You finish a mile before you've even crossed the bridge. There are no spectators there, just thousands of runners finding their pace, stripping off layers, warming up their legs and taking in the sights. The first three miles went by in the blink of an eye. In fact, the first seven miles went by very quickly. Once you cross the bridge into Brooklyn, the cheering begins. Lots and lots of spectators lined the streets, excited as we pass, cheering us on. Most of Brooklyn was lined with spectators and we ran the first half of the race there. We crossed the Pulaski Bridge and were greeted with signs that said "Welcome to Queens".
At the expo, there were speakers talking about the course. They mentioned the Queensboro Bridge, the hill, the wind, but mostly how you can hear the cheering of the spectators before you can see them at the end of the bridge. They were right. It wasn't a steep hill going across the bridge, just long. I took it easy and finally got to where you run down the ramp. Then the noise started. You could hear the spectators cheering. It really lifts your spirits - especially hitting 16 miles at the end of the bridge. Then it's four miles up the east side of Manhattan and into the Bronx. The Bronx was quieter than any other part of the race - with the fewest amount of spectators there. It's a short mile through there though and then across the Madison Avenue Bridge, back into Manhattan. Once you hit 5th Avenue, the crowd could take you the rest of the way... if it weren't for that invisible mile getting to Central Park. From about mile 22, until you turn into Central Park, there's a small but steady incline on 5th Avenue and it was exhausting. Luckily, I saw Dustin just before mile 23 and it helped bring up my energy.
Finally we turned into Central Park and I was happy for all of the people lining the course, but I just wanted to be done. You run over a mile through the park, then back out, to run along 59th toward Columbus Circle and finally turn back into the park to finish the race. I was ecstatic!
We finished the race, got our medal, got our picture taken, and then shuffled down a long road to exit the race (this took about 30 minutes). I didn't check a bag and was super excited to finally get my souvenir poncho! It was warm and well deserved by then. Another long walk and I made it to the family meeting area to meet Dustin, take some pictures and finally head back to the hotel.
These were the signs Dustin had made for race:
We had pizza delivered to the room and had a relaxing afternoon before heading out to see "Wicked" at the Gershwin Theater.
The next day we went to see the 9/11 Memorial and then had lunch at Beyond Sushi in Chelsea. I had been looking forward to trying this place for months. They serve all vegan sushi and everything was delicious!!
Monday night we headed back to Jersey to go the Giants game. We took the train with thousands of football fans. It was basically a party train - everyone getting excited for the game. The stadium is gigantic! It holds over 80,000 people. It was cool being the stadium where the last superbowl had been played... but sadly, the Giants lost pretty badly to the Colts.
Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day and we had some delicious pizza at Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn bridge and took a walk across it before heading to the airport for home.
Wow Kate... That's amazing to read . I hate that I'm not there to hear it all firsthand, but thank goodness you wrote this!! You are an amazing woman!!! I love you so much!!
ReplyDelete