We flew out Saturday morning and arrived in NYC at noon. We dropped off our luggage at our apartment we found through Airbnb and took off to the Expo to pick up our running packets. Our friends Carolyn and Bryon had already arrived Thursday and they scheduled to leave on same flight as us on Monday afternoon. We are really blessed to have such good friends like them. Besides being one of our best friends, they are our traveling buddies too. They have been there for us when Eddie and I ran San Francisco Marathon, when I ran Boston last year and now New York City Marathon.
At the Expo the first thing we do after picking up our packets is find Ivette, my Regional Coordinator for Mighty Milers and thank her once again for giving us both the opportunity to run in the world's largest marathon. We make dinner plans and we all meet up for dinner. After a couple of hours at the Expo, we rush back to apartment and get ready for dinner. Eddie and I decided to use the taxi most of the time there to save our legs for race day. We let them decide where to eat for dinner since they live there and we really didn't care where to go, it had been a long day and we just wanted to eat and try to get back to get ready for race. We were so happy that Ivette's husband, Armando is also running the marathon and he and I start at the same time but have different wave color. He is super fast and belongs to some running team. Eddie and I decide to meet him in the morning to go together since this isn't his first NYC marathon. They end up taking us to a Mexican restaurant. I ate something I never ate before a marathon and had chicken quesadillas. Eddie ordered carnitas. They are both from Mexico and it felt like they were family. They are so easy going and super nice!
Armando picks us up in taxi at 5:30 a.m. and was super nervous my alarm wouldn't go off because the daylight savings time would change at midnight Saturday. Ivette assured me the our phones would automatically reset themselves. Eddie and I took some Tylenol PM to be able to sleep through all the city noise that we aren't use to. Taxi drops us off at Staten Island by Central Park to catch the ferry to where we start. Armando said he has never done that and thought it would be more fun. He was right. We were able to see the Statue of Liberty from the ferry and yes, I took pictures! We all wore jackets, sweat pants and clothes we were going to discard right before we ran because it was 30 degrees cold and felt colder with windchill. Once we got there we had to wait another 2 hours or so and it was cold. I even took an old blanket from home to cover up! They had drop boxes everywhere there to donate all clothing to Goodwill. It was super windy and maybe 40 degrees when we started.
We walked all over the place to find out where to check baggage for Eddie and Armando. I signed up for no baggage to be able to leave park sooner and get a free poncho. Since we all started at different corrals, we also figured out where that was and then decided to get some free stuff they were giving away like coffee, hats, bagels and donuts. Armando was disappointed because they had no live bands or music like they usually do to get people motivated (Ivette later tells me that it was too windy for them to set up). It is time to say goodbye to Armando for he has to walk a little ways to his corral and we all hug each other and wish him luck. He is trying to shoot for a 2:30 time and he tells me he feels pressure because his running team of 8 are shooting for this goal to place higher than others who are also competing.
Eddie and I stick together thinking that he could run with me since we are in the same color. I thought I read somewhere that if you have someone else with same corral color as you, that you could run together. However, once we got there the man guarding the gate told me I would have to run at Eddie's later time since he's a slower pace than me in order to run together. I of course was ready to go and Eddie said to just go ahead because he was going to take it easy on this run. So, we say our goodbyes and I leave to my start place. I kept looking at him walk away and nerves are starting to set in and I have to pee again for the 5th time! I walk out of the corral and tell the guys guarding I'll be back. I yell at Eddie and catch up with him and ask him to go to restroom with me. I had mixed emotions and just wanted to stay with him a little longer. It was cold, windy and happy to have him by my side and doing this with me. I love this man, but knowing that running is not really his thing and that he was missing a great weekend to hunt to do this with me, well... need I say more? We finally had to part ways and we gave each other a kiss, hug and wished each other good luck.
I happen to wait in my corral with a man and woman from Mexico. Just like when I ran Boston when I met those girls from Mexico, they took me under wing and said to stay with them. It felt like family as we talked in Spanish. We talked about all the races we have ran, our goal time, injuries we have had and what supplements you carry with you to keep you going while running. I was freezing and had layers of clothing on and thought they are crazy to run in shorts, but I know a lot of people do that in the cold. I guess they feel it weighs them down when they run. I'm always cold so I have no problem running with my long sleeve under armor and Texas tank top over it and my running pants. We take pics of each other and then it's time to take layers off and toss. They sing the national anthem and do countdown and canon goes off and it's time to run!
The elite runners ran on top of the bridge and I ran under it. I just prayed that my Achilles tendon wouldn't act up and just told myself to listen to my body. I had carb loaded all week and did everything my physical therapist told me to do. I felt ready and was hoping to PR and try to finish at a 3:30 time. As a runner, I always compete with myself for a better time each time. I knew I would run better in the cold, but just didn't expect the wind to kick my butt. Just like every time I run a marathon, no matter how much you train to get ready, you just never know how your run will turn out until you are in it. You can't control what mother nature has in store that day, nor can you control injuries. My problem is always going fast too soon that gets me hurt. So, I made sure to listen to my body this time. If I felt any pain in my foot, I would slow down until I felt good again. The wind was crazy! I felt like I was running in slow motion and thought I was going to get blown away on the bridges, it was so strong. Ivette later tells me that the wheelchair athletes had to start at mile 3 because it was so windy they were afraid they were going to be blown away. I have never ran in anything like that before and the first bridge seemed to go on forever. The wind wasn't as bad as we ran through the huge buildings until we got to another bridge or in the end at Central Park. I remember picking up my pace after the first bridge and kept telling myself to slow down, but I felt good. It was cold and wanted to get warm. It didn't matter how fast I ran, you couldn't escape the cold wind! I remember seeing the girl with the 3:35 pacer sign and I passed her at mile 7 and wondered if I could keep her from passing me. The spectators were loud and it was fun seeing all the different cultures represented running through Staten Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. I loved hearing all the different bands of music throughout the race. The second half was a lot tougher than first half. The 3:35 pacer passed me up at mile 20 and just told myself to try and keep up with her, but lost her through the crowd at mile 24. The toughest miles were mile 15, 16, 18-20 and last 3 miles of course. I took pictures throughout the run and probably could of ran faster had I not done that, but I wanted to capture the moment. Eddie wasn't happy with his time for he didn't put in the time for training due to hunting season. However, considering he went hunting the week of marathon and didn't even run at all that week, he finished injury free at 4:52:19. I am super proud of him for finishing! I finished at 3:36:50 which is a new PR for me and considering how windy it was, I'm happy with that! I just wonder how much faster I could of gone without that wind. Oh well, there is always a next time :)
| Happiness is different than pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling and enduring and accomplishing. |
| – George Sheehan |
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