Wednesday, November 17, 2010

NYC Marathon in the Books

Started out the morning badly as I flubbed the turn the clocks back agenda.  My "Go to" alarm clock I manually turned back before bed but then figured out after that it was one that automatically switched.  So I went back 2 hrs.  Got through that and caught my cab which takes you to the ferry.  A nice harrowing ride through the city at 4:45am at about 100mph does wonders to perk your endorphins.   Hop on the 5:45 ferry to staten island where you then catch a bus to the waiting area just outside the starting area.  This race more than Boston had such an international feel to it.  I felt like I was the one from a different country. We get to our corrals and begin the wait until we can move off to the starting area.  In the starting area and I gots to piss so I bolt out to wizz in the woods.  Come back from that and I see Ethan, the dude who won Survivor, along with 2 of the Bachelor/Bachelorette contestants.  I, of course, proceed to chat them up.  Move along in the starting area and I am now standing next to Al Roker and Meredith Viera, Shockingly, I decide not to say anything to them.  Roker, sensing my stalker ability, was ranting about fans and being bothered.  Noticing I was somewhere in the celebrity zone I sought out others but could not find anymore.  Race went off and everything was fine, passed the tennis pro who bet Andy Roddick $10K he could finish in under 4:30 and even surived an unplanned 5 min mens room  break at the 7 mile portapotty.  if you take out the 5mins or so spent in the can and I was right on for an 8:40 pace at or around the halfway point.Got to around mile 15-16 and my sciatica starting going captn bezerko.  This was right after I found myself running with and eventually passing Bobby Flay.  14107 McCarren Park- BrooklynAnti Social dude had his ipod on but to his credit he had no professional runners acting as pacers for him.  Flay ended up passing me.  Pain went down the whole left side of my body from the back down past my calf and it was as though my whole leg was on pins and needles.  This pretty much but a huge damper on the 2nd half.  Beginning to think my old, giant ass is not cut out for 26.2 miles.  I was struggling to press on at this point and just kept repeating the mantra of  "8 miles left, 8 miles is a walk in the park. and so on."  Saw Pam and Maggie in Central Park around the 25 mile mark and finsihed in a tad under 4:09.  First half 1:57 (included a 5 min potty stop) 2nd half 2:12.  Got my medal put on me by Miss New York and proceeded to Walk 4 miles out of the park back to Pam and Maggie, not before I almost walked directly into Alec Baldwin, decked in full sweat-xedo mode and looking rather disheveled.  Was it crowded?  yes but I don't think that it bothered me too much.  Was it more challenging than Boston?  yes if you take it as a whole. Boston has more challenging spots (heartbreak, right before 128 in wellesley) but NY had alot alot of little ups and downs and it had miles of no people no cheering (all the bridges).  Was I happy?  Yes.  It's certainly aggravating to think you can run faster and be on target to and to come up short but I could have bagged it and quit and I didnt and I am happy with that.  It's a good notch on the belt.

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