Every Damn Hot Mile

Race Day!!! My day started at 5:30 AM with the plan to leave the hotel by 6:50 AM. My start time wasn’t until 11:00 AM so I thought we had plenty of time to get to the start line. Well, it took forever to get to the start line but it was all part of the experience I wanted. We left the hotel at 6:50 AM and walked less than a block to the subway. We took the R Train to the Staten Island Ferry. By the time we got to the ferry depot, we waited about 30 minutes before we got on. The amount of people waiting to get on the ferry was insane.     Once we got on the ferry, we took the about 30-minute ride to Staten Island. Then we needed to head with the thousands of other runners to the buses. This was the longest part of the morning. We were literally moving a couple of feet at a time and then waited. From the time we got off the ferry until we got on the bus was well over an hour. Then we took the 20-minute bus ride to the villages and corals. We finally got to ...

Well, I did it! I ran the NYC Marathon and officially checked my dream race off my bucket list. It was an unreal experience that truly exceeded all my expectations. Since I am still on a high from the whole weekend, I thought getting my thoughts on paper would be the best way to capture the experience. Friday, November 3 rd , Eliana, Nicole and I flew to NYC, checked into our hotel and headed to the race expo at Javitz Center. The race expo is the place where you pick up your running bib, get your finishers shirt and purchase any other swag you want from the race. Heading into race weekend my excitement level had been pretty low compared to previous races and I couldn’t figure out why but walking into the convention is where the excitement really kicked in. To be surrounded by thousands of runners who all have to the same goal never gets old. The energy in that rooms cannot be replicated. After we left the convention center, we walked across the street and Eliana noticed...