It's been a week since I ran the New York City Marathon and I am still in disbelief. This was my dream since I was 10 years old and to run it with my husband, on our 15th anniversary year, was even more significant. What are the odds that a couple wins the New York City Marathon lottery on their first try? We consider ourselves very lucky. I blogged about this in an earlier post, click here for more details.
Pre-race
On Thursday night, we took the red-eye flight to New York City, 4 1/2 hours. My kids fell to sleep right away and woke up as soon as we landed at 5:45 am. It was the perfect trip except for a little detail. I am sensitive to the air conditioning in the airplanes and cars. It usually gives me a terrible sore throat. This time was not an exception. I completely lost my voice and I started feeling very sick. On top of that, the weather was very cold upon arrival and I ended up with a slight fever, sneezing and sinus. "Mind over matter" was my mantra for the next 2 days. I kept telling myself "it's all in your head. You are about to accomplish your biggest dream. It's normal. It's psychosomatic".
As soon as we arrived, we called the hotel to confirm room availability. We had requested early check-in. However, our room was not ready until 11:00am. We stayed at my friend's house, took a little nap and then checked-in later on. We met my mom and grandma who flew from Spain to see us run and headed to the Jacob Javits Convention Center, where the expo was held.
About The Expo, what can I say? Everything in the Big Apple is bigger and better.
Meeting my coach, Hal Higdon
Nissan Leaf car, 100% electric.
My new friend: The Stick
After the Expo. we did a little bit of carb loading at one of my favorite bakeries. I wish they had Au Bon Pain in San Diego.
Race Day
Surprisingly, we were able to sleep for at least 5 hours the night before the race. This usually doesn't happen. We woke up at 6:00am and left the hotel at 7:00am. We were at a short walking distance from the Staten Island Ferry. We couldn't have picked up a better hotel.
Hello, Lady Liberty!
In Staten Island, there were dozen of buses waiting for the runners to take us to Fort Wadsworth. There were runners of all nationalities but the most predominant were Italian, French and Swedish citizens. On the way to Fort Wadsworth, our bus driver got lost. He missed a left turn but blamed it on the bus driver in front of him. "Que haces, chico? perdiste el turrrn. Vuelve pa' tra. OMG!". Everyone started panicking as we could see the Verrazano Bridge to our left while we were heading in the opposite direction towards some highway. We ended up looping around and getting stuck in traffic on some narrow streets in Staten Island. Runners were screaming "Let us out. This is unbelievable. We are going to miss the race".
We arrived in the Village around 9:30am, with only 1 hour to kill.
My husband and I were in wave 3 green, starting at 10:40am.
The weather was nice. It was way nicer that the days before. We grabbed some bagels, coffee and tea. We used the port-a-potties twice before heading to our corrals around 10:10am.
Once in the corrals, people were discarding their clothes. There were huge piles of nice brand-name sport clothing items on the floor. I read somewhere that these clothes can't be donated because they had to be cleaned first. I wonder if there is an organization out there that has figured out what to do with all these clothes. I hope so.
As we walked, I started reviewing the race course in my head. I had decided to break the 26.2 miles into geographical landmarks, including the five bridges we'd soon be crossing:
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (mile 1) - connects State Island to Brooklyn
Pulaski Bridge ( mile 13) - connects Brooklyn to Queens
Queensboro Bridge (mile 16) - connects Queens to Manhattan
Willis Avenue Bridge (mile 18) - connects Manhattan to Bronx
Madison Avenue Bridge (mile 20) - connects Bronx to Manhattan
I also reviewed my goals. My strategy was to have fun, enjoy the party and take it all in. No expectations except for finishing the race in one piece.
The race started on-time. At 10:40am, the National anthem was song, followed by Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York". I got all teary, excited with goosebumps. It was time to run. I looked at my iPhone and noticed that it had 10% battery left. How can that be? Oh noooo. I was planning on using it only as a backup to listen to music around the lonely industrial Long Island City area and the Queensboro Bridge where spectators are not allowed. I told myself "No problem. You can do it".
Mile 1: Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
Photo Credit: Martineric
Since we were in the green wave, we ran on the lower level of the Verrazano Bridge. Would I have preferred running on the upper level? Absolutely! But running in the bottom had its advantages too, including no wind in the face. Now, some people say that there is a chance you get peed on while running in the lower level. Thank goodness, it didn't happen to me. I spent the first mile running by feeling since my Garmin was completely off. It showed that my pace was 16 min/mile but I knew it couldn't be. I ran side-by-side with my husband but we lost each other somewhere inside the bridge.
Miles 2 -12: Brooklyn
We run through the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge (miles 2-4), Sunset Park (miles 4-6), Park Slope (miles 6-8), Fort Greene (miles 8-9), Williamsburgh (miles 10-12) and Greenpoint (miles 12-13). Since I was wearing a shirt with my name and the Spanish flag, I got a lot of "Venga Ciry que tu puedes","I Love Spain" and a funny "Chiri, chiri, tutto bene". hahaha, someone thought I was Italian. I enjoyed running Fourth Avenue and meeting some of my co-workers around mile 10. It was awesome! I loved Brooklyn. It was my favorite part of the race, especially Bedford and Lafayette. The crowds were fun and loud!
My mom and grandma at the Marathon cheering for us - somewhere in Brooklyn
Miles 13 - 16: Queens
I was feeling strong as we crossed the Pulaski Bridge at mile 13.
Looking happy at mile 13
There was a spectator with a sign that read "Get the hell out of Brooklyn". It made me laugh. "Half marathon distance done", I told myself. The next 3 miles through the Long Island City were a little bit boring. How I wished I had some music with me. What kept me going was the sight of the Queensboro Bridge at mile 16.
Queensboro Bridge. Picture taken from a taxi cab the following day
The Queensboro Bridge was tough but it was not he most difficult part of the race for me. The thing that kept me going was visualizing the crowds on 1st Avenue. I kept thinking about this video and the famous "Wall of Sound".
Miles 17 - 20: Manhattan
The crowds on First Avenue didn't disappoint. I started getting tired but I told myself to keep going until 1st & 81st where Ben and his friends were waiting for me with a big banner.
Run Cirita Run
It was so nice to be able to spot my friends in the city. It gave me a lot of strength to continue running the never ending First Avenue, all the way to the Bronx.
Miles 20 and 21: Bronx
As soon as I saw the Willis Avenue Bridge, I had a big smile on my face. "This is it. A small run in the Bronx and we are back in Manhattan for the final miles", I thought. Unfortunately, I had to stop to use the port-a-potty. I shouldn't have done it because the moment I stopped I started experiencing terrible leg cramps. I ended up walking to the Madison Avenue Bridge.
Miles 22 - 26.2: Manhattan
The next 4 miles, I ran very slow. I spent the entire time looking for my friend 2d but I couldn't find her. I was not sure where she was going to be waiting for me but we determined that I was going to run on the right side of the street in Brooklyn and on the left side of the street in Manhattan. Our paths didn't cross due to a problem with the ING NY Marathon iPhone app which was not updating properly. I ran and walked a lot, leg cramps were killing me. As soon as we entered Central Park, I thought "Corporate Challenge. I have ran this many times". I looked at my Garmin and decided it was time to finish strong, non-stop to the finish line.
My finish time: 05:25:02
"In New York Everyone Wins" - Grete Waitz
My husband arrived few minutes later but we couldn't reunite for 45 minutes.
Highlights:
- Running with my husband ( even if it was for half a mile).
- Having my mom and grandma with me.
- Running through the five boroughs with 47,000 runners.
- Meeting friends and co-workers along the course
- The crowd energy, especially around 4th Ave (Brooklyn) and 1st Ave (Manhattan)
- Outstanding International presence.
- Gatorade and water at each mile.
- The volunteers
- The Expo
- The medal with a special tribute to Grete Waitz
Things I didn't like
- Exiting Central Park after the race. It was at least a one hour walk.
- Running with a cold and a sore throat (nothing to do with the race per se)
- Running the Queensboro bridge without music
Post-race - Marathon Monday.
What's for breakfast? Pain. Au Bon PAIN
We went to the Marathon store located in Central Park at West 67th Street. We purchased limited-edition finisher jackets and the New York Times Special ING New York City Marathon Results Edition with the names of all runners who finished the marathon in less than 5 hours. Awww, I need to run this race again.
Are you still reading? If so, I just want to finish by saying that I am very happy. Some experiences dramatically changed your life. This was IT for me. I am a New York Marathon finisher. If you are a half marathoner, a full marathoner or simply someone that dreams of running a marathon one day, you absolutely need to run the New York City Marathon. It's the experience of a lifetime.
If you are reading this and you are a New York Marathon finisher, BIG congrats to you too! Please leave a note if you like my post, if you have a blog or if you simply want to stay in touch.
Disclaimer
All the pictures in this blog are mine except the one at the top of the Verrazano bridge. You are more than welcome to reuse them but please relink or credit 'mua', my name is Ciry or you can call me "Chiry, chiry, tutti bene" :)
