New York Marathon Race Report

I have got to admit the the race is a big blur to me. I was watching the race on TV the other day and there were so many parts of it that I couldn't remember going by. I think I was delirious :o( and the pain had taken over.

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, we arrived at the starting area at about 6:30am, all bundled up in many many layers of clothes and we all had brought blankies. We sat around, ate, went to the potty several times and just tried to relax, even though it was freezing, for quite a few hours.

We had heard that they wanted us to check in our bags by 9:15 and if you know me, you know I hate crowds and I hate waiting til the last minute to do things. At about 8:30 I started asking everyone if they wanted to go check in their stuff since the clothes that were keeping us warm we were throwing away anyway so why hold on to our bags. I got a few frowns cause everyone was so cold and didn't want to move so we waited a little longer. At 8:45 I decided that I would start heading over and just check in my stuff. I didn't need anything in the bag anyway.

OMG, it was the most horrible bag check ever. It was almost like the 45,000 people running this race were all at the bag check and not being nice at all :o( We were shoulder to shoulder and people were pushing and being mean. The way in was also the way out of that area so it was a mess. I being little do not do well in these situations and started to panic. I tend to get squashed and trampled on so I found a nook in the crowd that was coming out and I managed to little by little inch my way through. Next thing I know a man had jabbed his elbow into my chest, OUCH! I yelled at him and he wouldn't move his elbow and then proceeded to call me names because he said I wasn't being patient. YOU ARE RIGHT! I am not being patient because I am being crushed by all the darn people behind me and I'm little and it hurts so screw you Mr.!!! I inched on through and luckily my bus was the 3rd one, I checked my stuff in and then somehow manged to inch my way out of there :o( what a nightmare. They really need to redo that whole baggage area thing.

We all met back up in the area we had been sitting and then walked over to our corral. Luckily it was about a half hour wait maybe before the start of the race. It took us about 15 minutes cross the finish line and once we did we were on our way up the Verazano-Narrows Bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn.



I decided to stay with Lindsay and Monica, they had decided to do a 5:3 run/walk and that sounded good to me. Monica and I walk pretty fast so staying with them was fine. Although I was able to do this I could just tell that my body did not really feel like running and I was feeling good but not great, it was weird.

We kept this pace for quite a while but soon Lindsay and I started feeling pretty icky. I think we both over did it on the water and were really starting to feel the effects of it. We both added some salt by eating pretzels and me drinking gatorade and salt tablets. After a little while we both felt better except now it felt much better to walk than to run so we kept a steady pace and kept on moving.

We knew that our families/friends would be at mile 16 so I think the main goal became to just get to that point and we did.

that is the Queensboro Bridge where we came off of

Rocky, Phil, Carol Lee & Lakshman at Mile 16

Rocky bathing me in Biofreeze and putting on my ankle bandage

I had a hard time though because somewhere around mile 14ish my ankle really started to hurt :o( I knew Rocky had the Biofreeze & ankle bandage ready for me but it was hurting really bad. I think it was around this time that Monica and Lindsay started talking to a guy who was walking next to us. We introduced ourselves and found out that he was an ING employee and this was his first race. He looked younger than me and very much in shape, like he should be at mile 20 something at an 8 minute mile not here at mile 14 walking with us. I guess he had a really bad IT band injury and his knee was hurting so he was only able to run 3 miles and had been walking the rest of the way. Anyway, he decided we were fun and motivating so he stayed with us. Plus we had Biofreeze :o) and he needed it.

We were finally on the Queensboro Bridge and it seemed to take forever to get off it. Rocky, Phil, Lakshman, Carol Lee & Kieren were all waiting for us at the bottom of the bridge. The bridge was super quiet but as we got closer to the bottom you could hear all the cheers and I managed to get some energy and run down the bridge to where Rocky was. That's when the tears came. As soon as I saw my hubby I started crying and told him I didn't want to do the race anymore. My ankle hurt and at this point so did my knees and I was ready to quit. He told me to put the bandage on, lather up with Biofreeze and that I would be fine and to be on my way. FINE! I did and on my way I went.

Lindsay and Monica decided to start running. Lindsay was also starting to hurt pretty bad in the back of her knees and said running felt better, I could not run so I stayed back and found that the girls had left me with Andrew. We went miles and miles walking and walking and walking. For a long time no words were said we would just ask each other every few miles if the other one was okay and just keep on going. I think we both felt better knowing someone was there even though we didn't know each other and we were both hurting. Rocky & Phil would be at mile 23 and this now became my goal, GET TO MILE 23!

From 16-23 it looks like we kept from a 15-16 1/2 minute mile. I felt like I was doing 30 minute miles and was never going to get there but I guess we were moving along. I had a moment of panic and anxiety when we made it to 23 and Rocky was not there. We also had the fire trucks/police escorts right on our tail. I gathered myself and just kept going and next thing I know at around 23.5 there was Rocky and Phil were waiting for me. At this point my back was killing me, my hips, my knees and my ankle but now I had them with me and there was no way I was quitting here. They made sure that Andrew and I were okay and they stayed with us. It was cold and very dark by this time, it felt like it was midnight and the race people were starting to tear down the barriers.....YIKES! but we still had a lot of time before the 8 hour cutoff so we knew we'd be okay.

with my new friend at mile 24ish, it's only like 4:30ish but it looks like it's midnight :o( and he's in space blankie because it had gotten super cold. they handed out space blankets at the aid stations. I luckily had kept my long sleeve top and had my hands tucked into it.

Keep on Walking, Walking, Walking!

The boys pushed me along and eventually we split from Andrew. I think he was really having a hard time walking at this point and I had somehow found a little burst of energy to make me move faster through that last mile. I know it was Rocky, Phil and the spectators. Phil was carrying the signs he had made for us so as I walked along Central Park he held up the signs and the few spectators that were left cheered for me. It felt awesome.

When I saw that I only had about 200 yards to go I decided to run in. I finished in 6:59:48.

This by far was the funnest race I've ever done because of all the spectators although at the end it did get lonely because people had gone home. I didn't get to experience a gagillion people cheering me on but that is okay, hey at least the finish line was still up :O)

It was also the toughest race I've ever done. Mentally it was draining and physically it was painful but I'm glad I did it and now I can say I'm one of the few that has gotten into and has finished the New York City Marathon.