Cowboy Hazel

I finally got to run the New York City Marathon today. It was fun, worth the wait. I finished in 2:58:09 (6:48 per mile) which I'm really happy with, considering everything. I knew I wasn't in great shape going in to today, so being able to take home a sub-3 finish anyways was more than enough.

Helen and I went to the expo to get our bibs yesterday, then to a pre-race pasta dinner party at one of her friend's last night. Dinner was fun, but we got home tired and were both more stressed about the race than we would admit and it resulted in less than smooth sailing last night. But, we made peace this morning (after our ridiculously early 3:45 wakeup) and headed down to the start on Staten Island in good spirits.

We napped a bit after getting to the tent, then listened to and talked with a bunch of other runners, including a hilarious English dude that reminded me of the Mad Hatter from Alice and Wonderland. I had Helen write "Easy" on one of my arms and "Light" on the other to serve as my mantras for the race. After a couple hours, we had to split up and go to our separate corrals.

Finally, after being on Staten Island for over four hours, we started. The first mile was a mess – there were a ton of slower people who had gotten in front of me somehow and I wasted a ton of energy trying to dodge them all. Finally, after breaking free, I ran too fast the second mile (6:30) out of aggravation. I forced myself to slow back down and tried to get into a rhythm.

At mile three, when we merged with the runners from the other corral, I ended up next to Robbie, one of the guys from Warren Street, who was running his first marathon and ended up finishing sub-3 too. We ran together for most of the next ten miles and it was great to have the company. There were a lot of crowds through all of Brooklyn, but at times it was overwhelming. There was no one keeping them back on the sidewalk in spots and they'd make the course very narrow. But, mostly I was able to tune them out and just focus on hitting consistent 6:50 splits. I rolled into the halfway point at 1:29:31.

My two goals for the day were to run a 1:30 first half and to negative split. I did both.

Queens was a little nicer than Brooklyn, but still not that exciting. It did, however, lead to the Queensboro Bridge, which was my favorite part of the whole course. Everyone else seemed to be slowing, but I accelerated on the climb and loved that I was on familiar territory. I relished the quiet too. I really have no idea how fast I was going because the bridge was causing my Garmin to act up, but I was passing tons of folks there and not getting passed at all, so I think I had picked up the pace a bit.

First Avenue was cool, but not as cool as I had expected. I'd heard so much about the crazy crowd noise, but when I got there, it was no better than parts of Chicago or Boston (and not even as good as some parts on those courses). I was a little disappointed in that, but very happy to be feeling good and passing people. I passed our apartment at mile 19 and say I was a little tempted to quit, but not really... Besides, I didn't have my keys with me so it actually wouldn't worked.

Soon after, we were over the Willis Bridge and into the Bronx. I actually really enjoyed this borough except that there were two spots where the course was next to a sidewalk and like 80% of the runners cut onto the sidewalk, cheating. I know it's a little thing and it probably only saved a second or two, but still, the fact that that many people would cheat (themselves) was just mind-boggling to me.

Back into Manhattan, I spotted the Empire State Building, which gave me a little boost. I started smiling and picked up the pace. I worried about the hill on 5th Avenue because everyone kept talking about how horrible it was, but it wasn't really that bad. It slowed me down significantly (to a 6:55 mile), but I finished it strong and entered Central Park feeling good.

I managed to get through most of the park feeling okay, but when we were on 59th Street with like half a mile to go, I got a nasty chest cramp and had to slow down again. I don't think it was anything serious, but I didn't want to take a chance of ruining my time by doing something stupid like collapsing, so I played it safe.

After finishing up, I met up with a bunch of friends while walking through the long path to the baggage trucks. We were all happy, euphoric even. The race was done and we'd all run well. I got my bag, changed, then waited for Helen at her baggage claim. I didn't have to wait long – She ran a 3:08, a big P.R. for her and, more importantly she said, beat my AG% at the marathon from Boston. I'll have to win that distance back next April...

We were both super happy walking down Central Park West in our finishers gear to find Antonio. Eventually, (he had a baggage fiasco) we found him and the three of us headed over to a bar on the west side to watch the Jets game. They gave us a scare, but ended up winning in overtime. Their win, paired with some Sam Adams and my new favorite dish, bangers and mash, made for a very happy post-marathon Robert.

My legs are feeling pretty good now (and were even right after the race) and so I'm thinking the two sub-3's in two weeks goal might not be completely out of reach – Philadelphia is a much easier course, after all, and I did run a 2:57:52 there last fall....