nyc marathon: the better half

firstly, apologies for my nyc review taking forever. i got wordy with my pre-race festivities when i had mini breakthroughs from writer's block. i'm ready for this recap to be written already but i struggled with putting my thoughts down. other than that, i've been resting up from the actual marathon, that stupid trail race attempt and of course the nausea. being lazy may have fixed the nausea - it's been two days since my last spell! (knock on wood)

anyway, i'm trying to recall what i can of the race, but i think i had race-brain damage. i don't feel like i remember as many details as everyone else. somehow i've still managed to be wordy again, but i figure this is my "journal" of the race to look back on down the road so i let it go. thanks for taking an interest in the nitty-gritty details - at least i cut to the chase and didn't leave you hanging as to the end result this whole time right? :o)

---

miles 1-4 (8:13, 7:33, 7:50, 7:56) - practicing patience, the journey is long.

the cannon fired, frank sinatra's "new york, new york" began playing and i was off to the verrazano-narrows bridge. i attempted one quick picture of the start line on my phone before putting it in a ziploc bag and into the elastic pocket on the back of my tank top. i had decided to run with my phone in case of emergency and also in case i had to pull back the pace and needed entertainment (take pictures, tweet, text people). luckily i never needed it for either reason. it was annoying at first in my back pocket, but i got used to it.

most of the first mile was uphill, but it didn't seem that bad. i was surrounded by thousands of other runners and many more beneath my feet on the lower level. i thought about someone's question in the runner's world forum about whether the bridge would withstand the cadence and weight of thousands of people running over it (yeah because trucks don't weigh more, and everyone wasn't running instep). i saw a guy toss aside a brand-new fuel belt and noticed that half of his back was wet, i assumed one of his bottles malfunctioned. there were a couple people jumping up on the barrier in the middle of the bridge to take a quick photo, and people waving to the helicopters hovering near the bridge. it was crowded, but there was still quite a bit of mileage to cover and i tried to not get ahead of myself. i still worried about not-passing out.

soon enough, the first bridge had been conquered, and there were enthusiastic brooklyners greeting the runners as i arrived in the second borough. i ran along, reminding myself to stay relaxed. it was crowded and i focused on not-wasting energy weaving around people. mile 3 had the first water/gatorade station, and i began my standard water/gatorade rotation (water at one stop, gatorade at the next).

in mile 4 the blue wave (including me) merged with the green wave runners. this was a little unfair. the orange wave ran undisturbed on the left side of fourth avenue while the blue wave/right side doubled in numbers with the merge. a few people around me ducked under the caution tape dividing the road and crossed over to orange, but i continued to "conserve" energy (or at least, that's what i told myself i was doing). during this mile i thought "hey, 'only' 22 more miles to go, i ran that in training. no biggie."

miles 5-8 (7:53, 7:42, 7:39, 7:58) - signs of trouble, zoning out.

in mile 5 i began getting cramps in my left side/(fl)abs region. hello body, we still have 21 miles to go? you are too kind, really. they weren't terribly bad as i kept running through them, but they were annoying and a little painful. i took my first gu here, i think it was a blueberry pomegranate roctane. i did notice that the streets were lined with spectators, but i didn't dare take my eyes off the road/runner a few feet in front of me. i felt ok (nausea/lightheaded-wise) for the most part and didn't want to risk it. somewhere along fourth ave i passed a hispanic band that was trying to sing lady gaga's "just dance" in english. or maybe they were doing it in half english, half spanish, who knows. at least i could tell what song they were performing - "yust dance, da da do do ah yust dance".

somewhere in these early miles i skipped a water station thanks to my tour of nyc pavement, potholes and manholes (...from not being able to soak up the scenery). the water stop came up quickly and i didn't want to wrestle to get over to the side for a drink. it was still very crowded, but i maintained my no-weaving rule. the race was young, and i wanted to reach central park on my own two feet. i ran along, pretty much ignoring the crowds of spectators and unique city sites. sorry new york, but it had to be done. as i crossed the 10k chip strips (and all the others after it), i thought about all the people tracking the race and rooting for me.

at some point the course took a right hand turn and it got very congested. i can't remember if it was in mile 8, mile 10, or mile 12... (i know, accurate race recap right?). wherever it happened, the road got narrower (or so it seemed, anyway) and it also seemed to be a bit more residential. at mile 8 i began counting the miles until i saw my parents & j and said hey, only 5 more miles. then i realized i was doing the math wrong since they were going to be somewhere after mile 14. i've never been much for mathematics while running.

miles 9-14 (8:03, 7:37, 8:01, 7:57, 7:53, 7:58) - just running, family sighting.

ok so i'm running out of things to mention since i wasn't really paying attention to the race and there definitely wasn't anything memorable about the pavement. i had some more of that mile 5 cramping, but nothing i couldn't press through. i gu'd again around mile 10 (roughly planned to gu every 5 miles).

even though my parents said they'd be somewhere after mile 14, i began looking for them anyway in mile 12. the crowds were thick, and trying to scan them quickly wasn't easy. the sensory overload was coming on again so i quit looking (for the most part) and hoped they hadn't altered the plan. in mile 13 i found myself semi-scanning the crowds again. i'm hard-headed (we knew that), but didn't want to miss them. i was afraid if i did not see them i would get mad and not run well the rest of the race. i'd made it half-way, and i was still feeling ok for the most part. i wouldn't have minded feeling a little more energetic/springy, but i was still running and, more importantly, not having much nausea/feeling off.

i hit mile 14 and the pressure was on to scan the crowds. luckily they were a little thinner here so it was easier on my eyes (and prevented any dizziness). i spotted my mom and j standing on a bench and they obviously did not see me. i yelled to them and they did not turn their heads. i ran a few feet past them, stopped, turned around, and yelled their names. the people standing in front of them (on ground level) laughed. i probably gave them an annoyed look for not spotting me, but hello i had the hard job here. i waved and turned around to continue on. i didn't see my dad and figured he had gone off to the restroom or to get something to drink. it turned out he had been further up the road and was supposed to wave his hat in the air when he saw me so they could have their cameras ready. with all the runners going by, they said it was hard to pick out your person. i don't doubt that as it was still quite crowded, but i told j it was his fault i didn't break 3:30. ;-)