Marathon Day

Marathon morning, at a traffic light on the West Side Highway, the cabbie and I are chatting when suddenly, "BAM!" a Mercedes SUV slams into the back of us. Next thing I know, the cabbie and a guy in a halloween costume are standing in the middle of the highway arguing. The cabbie comes back and tells me this dude is clearly drunk; he's calling the cops. By now, I know I'm not seriously hurt. With the day I have ahead of me, I'll probably feel like I was in a car accident by Monday anyway and I really want to get going. Just as I'm starting to worry I won't meet my friends in time and I'll miss my ferry, the drunk weaves around us and takes off.

We continue our way downtown and finally reach the ferry terminal. Inside, large groups of post-halloween revelers are scattered among large groups of marathoners. I feel like I'm in a Stanley Kubrick film. Like somehow, to someone, this all makes sense but damned if I understand it. Luckily, my friends are right there and the three of us make our way across the river.

My friend, Kristin Thor Budden, a triathlete I met at the Mighty Montauk in June, and I were put in the same start corral and had decided we'd attempt to run together. Our half-marathon PRs are within 30 seconds of one another and we both have a 3:20-3:25 goal for the marathon, which is her first as well as mine.

We both were worried we'd start off too fast, so we were careful at the beginning. I called out our average per-mile pace at each mile marker and she looked at our overall time and the ground we'd covered so far and told me how close to our goal pace we were. It was awesome teamwork. It was also nice to have someone there to chat with now and then to take my mind off the running. I made a conscious effort to take in the crowds as much as I could, too.

Brooklyn was amazing. Not surprisingly, there was a clear fondness for the runners from Italia. I particularly appreciated the Polish part of town. Passing by the Polish markets, I thought of my Babcia (grandma) and Dziadek (grandpa). They would be so proud of me right now. We reach the half-marathon marker in 1:40 and we're really excited by how well we're pacing ourselves!

Of Queens, I remember the 59th street bridge. How quiet and dark it was. Everyone says it's one of the hardest parts of the race for this reason, but I enjoyed the silence. Maybe because all of my training had been done alone and without headphones, it didn't bother me at all.

The bridge spills the runners out onto First Ave. in Manhattan, where the crowd is thick and the cheering intense. I must have been getting tired by now because as we passed the cross street that would lead me back to my apartment, I considered, for a second, how easy it would be to turn and head home. I didn't.

All the way up into the Bronx we go before crossing another bridge to come back down into Manhattan for the last 10k. I never realized before that Fifth ave., heading south, is practically all uphill! I was having a pretty hard time by this point. Random muscles in my legs were threatening to just seize up and drop me. I found myself consciously sending brain signals to them, telling them to knock it off and keep working like I taught them to. Kristin looked so good. She was really keeping me going at this point. Then, she said exactly what I needed to hear: "this sucks!" If she's hurting and still doing this, at the pace we've been keeping this far, I can too. "What will hurt more," I ask myself, "working this hard for another few miles or slowing down and accepting defeat?" This is not an option.

We finally get to Central Park. My park. If I added up all the hours I've spent here, the distance I've trained on these roads, it would be months of time and hundreds of miles. We surge through to the 800 meter mark, then 400 meters. I see the finish and let out a gigantic scream as I cross it.

We finished in 3:23:41. I'm really happy with this time, but more than that, happy that we were able to run a smart, strong first marathon. We held our pace throughout the entire 26.2 miles. Found it in us to dig deeper and push ourselves harder when it started to hurt and our bodies wanted to quit. We worked together and, while we were at it, had a little fun, too!

Pre-Marathon Photos

Today was a perfect day to go for a walk in the park and get myself pumped for Sunday. I was accompanied by my buddy Claire, who is also doing the race (her first marathon, too). We can't wait to toe the line and give it our best!

Final Countdown!

I never had the desire to run a marathon before, but 16 weeks ago, fresh out of surgery and wondering what the hell I was going to do, it became the obvious answer. It seems like just yesterday I was sneaking off to the treadmill, keeping my bandaged arm elevated while I ran to minimize the throbbing pain. I could get through a mile or two before I had to stop.

Ten days post-op, the healing was going well and I went into a removable brace instead of a cast. With that, I started running again in Central Park. Sure, I got some weird looks, but I was just happy to be out there. My days throughout July, August and September consisted mostly of training for the marathon and visiting the hand therapist. Not very exciting!

But here I am, less than a week to go, and I feel ready and excited for the day to finally arrive. My bib number is 9647 and I depart Staten Island in the first wave of runners at 9:40 am. My goal has been to run at a pace that will get me to the finish by around 1:00 pm. Athlete tracking, if you wish to do so, is available here: http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/athlete_alert.htm.

I can't wait!

A Successful Staten Island Recon Mission

Two weeks after the Cow Harbor 10k, I did the Staten Island 1/2 marathon. The race itself wasn't as important to me as taking a test trip downtown, to the ferry, across the river and to where the NYC Marathon will begin just weeks later. It was a reconnaissance mission of sorts. Of course, I wanted to get a good last-minute gauge of my fitness level as well.

Running through the closed Staten Island streets, not everyone was giving us a warm welcome. At the first turn, a woman who looked to be about 40 but was probably only 28 stood outside her car shouting, "you gotta be f-ing kidding me. You f-ing runners!" Awesome.

I started out at what I thought was a pace I wouldn't be able to hold for 13.1 miles, but as the miles ticked by, I felt good! My knee has been an issue for weeks, and I still felt it a little, but it wasn't terrible and the more I ran, the less it hurt. I think I did a really great job pacing myself, listening to my body and having fun while I was at it. I made sure I thanked the volunteers and even chatted a bit with a few fellow runners.

With three miles to go, I spotted a woman ahead and knew I could overtake her. I made my move as we cut around the inside of a turn and with that, she spit at me! Well, in my general direction making sure I heard her. Okay, maybe I cut her off. Whatever. She got her revenge. She ended up passing me, giving me a bit of a run for my money while she was at it, and went on to finish about 30 seconds before me. I thanked her after the race. I learned something from that experience. Well, a couple of things!

I finished 25th woman overall and 3rd in my division. I didn't stick around to find this out because I really just wanted to get back home, so I had to go to the New York Roadrunner headquarters to pick up my award later in the week. I should have looked at the award, but instead I just stuck it in my bag and walked home. I get home, take it out of my bag. Oh, that's nice. Wait. "Men - 35-39 - 3rd Place." Oh shit.

Cow Harbor 10k

My friend Jeannette and I did the Cow Harbor 10k yesterday in Northport, LI. This is one of the most difficult and competitive courses in the area and a race I've done every year since 2006. I decided to treat it as a training run this time because I'm focusing on the marathon and I knew with all the longer runs I've been doing, I probably wouldn't be as fast as I was last year when I finished in 41:45. Also, the knee is still an issue and I'm getting over a cold that just won't give up.

The first mile includes a very steep climb, so I told myself to just start easy and find my pace. Training run, remember? Sounds like a good plan but in a race, it's so easy to get carried away. My first mile was a 6:37. What happened to training run? Eh, you know what? The weather's perfect, I haven't raced since June and I'm feeling pretty good. Maybe I can do this, I thought. But my mind kept going back and forth with every mile. I went from wanting to give it all I have to remembering that I'm dealing with a knee problem, a cold, and that I have the marathon to think about, which is exactly 5 weeks from today. I also found myself being more cautious than usual on the downhills because I didn't trust my knee as much as I normally do, but I also felt stronger on the climbs than I thought I would.

Then I started passing other women and wondering if I could place top three in my age group. Cow Harbor is one of those races everyone knows, even non-runners, and it draws a large field of national talent. As an example, Ryan Hall broke the course record and won in 2006 in 28:55. This year, the female winner was Katie McGregor in 33:12. At this race, I think I'll always be an age grouper! I was 10th in my age group in '06, 5th in '07 and 7th in '08. Despite finishing 54 seconds slower than I did last year, I placed 3rd yesterday!

I was pretty excited to finally receive a Cow Harbor award. I hung out, patiently waiting for them to get through all the top-10 awards and a raffle drawing that went on forever. And then everyone just starts leaving! Turns out they just mail out the age group awards because they "don't have time" to hand them out in person. Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait just a little longer. What a bummer!

Stronger

Biking around Central Park this morning, I happen to be keeping pace with a guy I don't know. As I pass him, he says, "you're lighter, more aerodynamic." I've heard this one a million times and with what I've been through this summer, I'm not havin' it. "Is that your excuse?" I ask. "This is my third time on the bike since July 4th, when I broke my wrist." he looks over at me, "Okay, you're stronger..." Heh, heh. That's right, mother f-er.

Please knee, not now...

Yesterday's 10-mile tempo run went as planned, but today I'm feeling a strange pain in my right knee. It hurts when I step forward and if I give a bit of a kick, it hurts more. I hope it's nothing serious and it goes away on its own very soon. Maybe it's from walking around so damn much in flip flops.

Today is a crosstraining day. I'm planning an easy bike ride in Central Park and then some strength training later on -- if my knee cooperates, that is. I'd love to ride over the GW bridge, like old times, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Besides, I'm afraid once I do it, I'll fall in love with it again and be back to my once-a-week 5-hour rides. I really don't need that before November 1 -- MARATHON DAY. I need to stay focused on my running (and not getting injured).

I felt like everyone I know raced a tri this weekend except me. This is really hard to deal with emotionally and now that I'm feeling pretty good physically, it's even harder. I'm so glad I have the marathon as my goal. It's definitely keeping me in check.