Race Weekend - Part 2

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 where we needed to be at 10:30 and our start time was 11:00 so not too much time to spare. At the beginning of the race I saw someone who had “I took a train to a boat to bus to run 26.2 miles in NYC”; that couldn’t have explained my morning any better.

We headed over to our coral, Wave 4, Coral E and made the slow walk to the start line. We heard the National Anthem and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York”, and we were off. The first 2 miles were the Verrazano Bridge. Eliana had volunteered to pace us for the first few miles because we have heard many stories of people who burn out on the bridge and pay for it later in the race. After the bridge, we were officially in Brooklyn. Eliana, Nicole and I stayed together for the first few miles and then separated around mile 6. And the remainder of the race I was on my own.

Brooklyn was AMAZING and by far my favorite part of the course. The energy from the spectators was unreal. There were bands, DJs, families, groups of friends and it was just one big party. My favorite moment from the whole race, and I couldn’t tell you what mile it was but it was definitely in Brooklyn….

Imagine an entire street block, both sides packed with people all the way up the steps of business or homes with the music blasting and every single person waving their arms back and forth singing “Heeeeyy, Hoooo, Heeeeey, Hooooo”. It felt like I was in a 90’s street party and probably half the runners including myself were waving their arms also. Insane and an unbelievable memory I will have forever.

I didn’t go into the race planning to do this but around mile 11, I decided to dedicate some hard miles to people I know or people I know of through people who have passed away from cancer or are currently going through treatment. I dedicated miles to my friends Lara and Fernanda, my friend’s friend Randi, Bonnie (Jack’s wife from the dinner) and a few others. Thinking of each one of them and what they mean to me and memories we have had together made those miles fly by.

I obviously dedicated many miles to my mom because let’s be real, I would be here without here; literally and figuratively. She gave me life and had she not passed away 11 years ago I don’t think I would have ever started running. She is my motivation and will always be one of the driving forces behind all of my accomplishments

The first half of the race went by really fast and before I knew it I was going over the Pulaski Bridge and making my way into Queens. Right after I crossed the bride, I saw my first familiar face. Adriana used to be one of my coaches when I was with Team in Training and I hadn’t seen her in a few years. I gave her a huge hug, got some words of encouragement and was on my way.

Around mile 14 I realized that I wasn’t going to meet my time goal and that was ok. The pressure was off and now I can really enjoy the course and take in all the wonderfulness that is the NYC Marathon.

Miles 15-16 was the part of the course I was dreading the most heading into the race. I heard stories about the Queensboro Bridge and the rumors were true. This bridge was no joke! I ran a little going up, walked a huge portion of the incline and then ran the decline. As you come off the bridge you head into Manhattan via 1^st Ave. Just as I was dreading the Queensboro Bridge, I was most looking forward to 1^st Ave. I heard the spectators on 1^st were the best of the course. 1^st Ave was also the place I was going to see most of my friends and family.

86^th and 1^st – was the Team V Cheering Section
89^th and 1^st – I saw one of my oldest friends Heather who ran this race a few years ago
94^th and 1^st- I saw my dad and Andrea who were waiting there for me with some slices of deli turkey ( I needed the extra protein boost at this point in the race)
102^nd and 1^st – I saw my friend Nikki who came in from Philly and my Team in Training coach, Roy. The energy these 2 have was exactly what I needed at that time.
Seeing “your people” during a marathon is a game-changer. It really meant that world to me that they all came out in the gross weather to cheer me on.
After 1^st Ave, I headed into the Bronx and then back into Manhattan on 5^th Ave where I again saw, my dad, Andrea and Nikki.

The last 3 miles of the race were pretty fantastic. My body felt great 99% of the race but as the miles increased my body was just moving slower.

Right before mile 24 in Central Park, I saw my friend Miryam who had made 2 signs to cheer me on. At this point in the race, it was pitch black because the sun goes down at 4:30 PM. I saw Nikki one more time in between miles 25 and 26 and Eliana right before I made the final turn back into the park (because she was a ROCK STAR and finished under 6 hours!!!!).

After that, the only thing left to do was to cross that finish line with pure joy, pride, excitement, and emotion. I cried a couple times on the course but when they put the medal around my neck I began to ball. This race has always been in the back of my head and I worked really hard to accomplish this goal. I sacrificed Friday nights for early Saturday mornings. I pounded the pavement and hit all my training milestones and I did it. I earned it and I am so proud of myself!!

Some cool/amazing things I saw on the course:

Funniest Sign Award goes to: “You will finish this race without the help of Putin”
Funniest Sign Award runner up goes to: “5 bridges, 26.2 miles, worth the schvitz”
Man with 1 leg using crutches to do the marathon
A man wheeling himself backwards up one of the bridges (found out later that he was the very last person to finish the race)
People giving out hugs, high fives, puppy belly rubs, chocolate, fruit, and beer

After the race was some delicious NYC Chinese food and compression socks to help with the recovery.