a tale of two marathons

new york marathon
no, not for me - josh made it in the nyc marathon via the lottery. when the nyrr said the race would go on, we kept our travel arrangements. friday late afternoon we were at the expo and overheard a girl say "oh my gosh they just cancelled the race". josh returned the $140 jacket he had just purchased (who wants apparel from a race you didn't run) and we hightailed it out of there.

don't get me wrong, i agree with the decision to cancel the race. however, what was up with the numerous people on facebook, twitter, etc calling the runners "selfish" for being disappointed in the handling of the decision-making or later for wanting a refund? and those same people saying that runners should "do something useful with their time" and go volunteer/buy things for sandy victims? i'm curious how much time and money the people making these comments donated to the hurricane relief...

the french (i assume) new york marathon on saturday

my first time "banditing" a race
on sunday morning we ventured over to central park to get a run in and found ourselves in the midst of the "run anyway marathon". there were tons of runners (mostly foreign and charity runners it seemed) and spectators - it was great to see the community come together and not let their spirits be crushed by all the negative people. some spectators were even handing out bottled water, gatorade and candy. it was a very upbeat atmosphere and josh and i ran an easy 7.5 miles. note: we did not take refreshments from anyone.

my first (and second) box visits
while in nyc i took advantage of visiting other crossfit boxes for workouts. if you are a member at another crossfit affiliate you can drop-in for a class at another box without having to undergo the "elements" (fundamentals) again. i went to crossfit nyc: the black box ($25) and reebok crossfit 5th ave ($40). i was intimidated walking in to each workout but left feeling great (it helped seeing i could hold my own with nyc crossfitters!).

charlotte thunder road marathon
unlike some people (*cough*), josh actually trained for his marathon with the pre-requisite long runs and wanted to cash in on all those saturday morning runs. when we returned from nyc he took advantage of the "displaced runner discount" offered by the charlotte thunder road marathon and we headed up for the race. i was tempted to sign up for the half-marathon at the expo (you know, since i did that one 12-mile run...) but since "i didn't pack running clothes for racing", and the fact registration was $105, i decided not to. i also briefly contemplated banditing the race.

it was chilly and windy race morning and josh forgot a long sleeve shirt. i offered to meet him around mile 10 to get his running jacket from him (due to the course i did not think i would see him before mile 10). i saw him off at the start and walked back to the car while re-consulting the course map. i decided if i hustled i could surprise him at mile 3.5-ish so he could ditch his jacket sooner.

my second time "banditing" a race
i tried to hustle, but arrived at mile 3.5 too late - just before the 4:15 pace group. i assumed he was running ahead of them, so i hopped in the race. i knew he was aiming for a 9:00/mile pace (sub-4:00 marathon) and when i got to the 4-mile split clock i saw i had some serious catching up to do, i was 4 minutes off a 9:00/pace. ouch.

i chased down red shirt after red shirt for the next 6+ miles (while avoiding the water stops of course). i was impressed by the splits my garmin flashed at me (7:30's), and at some point between miles 3.5 and 10 i managed to sprint right past josh. i caught up to the 3:45 pace group and hoped he was not running that fast because i was quite tired from the 7 mile sprint. i pulled over at mile 10 to wait, much to the confusion of the runners i'd just passed. sure enough, he came running up 1-2 minutes later and i hopped back in to run with him for a bit. eventually i peeled off and headed back to the car to try and find food/water. i hadn't fueled before or during my 11-mile run and i was hungry.

my attempts to find food failed but i did see josh at mile 18, still hanging on to the sub-4:00 pace. i anxiously waited for him near the finish as the clock ticked through the 3:50's. i yelled 'inspirationally' to him "only a quarter-mile to go, go get it!". he looked mad at me but later claimed he wasn't. he cruised in at 3:56 and i was relieved i wouldn't have to hear him complain about not running a sub-4:00. later in the afternoon he started to analyze if he would have run faster in nyc because it's less hilly and he wouldn't have had an awkward extended taper; sign of a true runner.