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Some characters in the NYC road race:
-The short squat woman from Colombia who was like a cannonball with limbs, and ultimately got me to the finish line
-The TWO sets of twins running together in hot pink and orange outfits. Boy did THEY get attention from the crowd.
-The woman with a burnt leg whose muscles looked to be completely atrophied and yet she had such a quick stride
-The man with no arms running so smoothly...remarkable
First off About the logistics:
The NYC marathon is among the largest in the world. This year there were 38000+ runners (compared with what may be the largest-Chicago’s 40k). The race begins in a fairly remote location in Staten Island. This means that race organizers have a major challenge getting runners to the start, providing amenities and entertaining them while they wait.
To that end, there is a large squadron of buses deployed from 42nd street in Manhattan to take runners to the site. When I arrived for the buses at 6 am (the race handbook says the buses start running at 5 and they claim the last bus leaves at 6:30....a task that seems improbable given the number of runners involved...I saw buses arriving at the start even at 7:50-8:00), I was directed into the longest queue I have ever experienced....I believe that only an event like the resurrection of Martin Luther King would cause so many to stand in line and for so long. While the line did move at a steady crawl, It took approximately 45 minutes of inching forward in line to get to the bus. Too long, in my opinion. To be on your feet before a marathon.
The bus ride itself was pleasant. We arrived at about 7:30 and we were deposited in a large historical ‘Fort’ where there was live entertainment, food, baggage buses, etc. It was like a big outdoor festival...although replete with GU which is not the preferred cuisine of MOST festival goers! The event was managed quite well although I do not care for loud music when I am trying to relax and focus, but the large portion of people seemed to enjoy it. One remarkable item is what is claimed to be the world longest urinal, set up in a corner of the Fort.....it must stretch at least 1/2 mile and there is an endless stream of.....men (sorry, couldn’t resist) lined up relieving themselves and not clogging up the lines for the porta potty’s. It was amusing and effective. The race itself began at 10:10 so there was a fair bit of time to relax. I brought a foil/thermal blanket to rest on the ground, eat, drink and wait until it was time to get ready. I had been excited about the possibility of seeing Lance Armstrong and his cadre of pacers at the beginning and apprehensive at the thought of getting caught up in the media circus that would surround him....he, and they, were nowhere in sight. The crowd was so huge that I couldn’t imagine trying to find anyone there. I would be like trying to locate your mother, even if she were tall, in the middle of a packed Fenway Park (sorry ma!).... Finally the time came to get ready. The corral system with faster runners in front, slower in the rear was well respected by runners...at first, but about 20 minutes before the start many slower runners decided it might be exciting (!@*&^%#) to move up to the front. This caused a LOT of clogged traffic at the beginning. (more about that below). The race begins with a solid 1 mile climb up the Verazzano bridge and then a solid 1 mile descent on the other side. I figured on running between 7:30 and 8:00 min pace going up and a hopefully relaxed 6:30 coming down. Instead I ran 9:30 going up and 7:30 going down due to the aforementioned traffic caused by slower runners starting up too close to the starting line. It escapes me why they do this risking injury and the ire of other runners. Sigh.
So after the carb burning 1st mile up and the quad busting 2nd mile down things started to even out. The course is not scenic at all but it winds though many varied ethnic neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens for the first 15 miles. There are many musical performances by local musicians along the way, mostly rock with occasional latin or R&B (this year anyway). I enjoyed many of the snippets I heard that provided a nice distraction. After the first two miles the course is fairly level until you come to the Queensboro bridge from Brooklyn into Queens at mile 13 and then another, the 59th St bridge from Queens into manhattan. The first bridge is fairly easy up and down, but the second is a significant hill, both up and down. Until that time I was able to hold a pace between 6:50 and 7:05 depending on the inclination of the course and after seeing a 1:32:30 half I still had thoughts about trying to run negative splits and finish close to 3 hours. Once I came down from the 59th St bridge I could feel my quads getting sore and I knew that the inevitable, gradual slowdown was coming. Once in Manhattan the course turns up 1st avenue and while there is some rolling to the course there’s nothing too serious. From mile 16 to about 20 you run a straight line up 1st ave, then you go over a short bridge with a mild incline into the Bronx and then turn, over another bridge within a mile and back into Manhattan for the last 5-6 miles. During the stretch up 1st ave I struggled to maintain some pace, I could feel my leg lift and turnover decreasing as well as stride length. At times I was up over 7:20 pace in this stretch. I made a conscious decision to not push and see if there was any way I could hold something back to use in the final 3 miles. During miles 21-24 I was actually starting to have fun in spite of my leg discomfort. Something about the crowd’s energy and the fact that I could begin to smell the end of the race energized me. Earlier in the race I purposely tried to ignore the throngs of screaming fans, knowing that it could increase my adrenaline, cause me to be distracted and sap my energy reserves that I would need to rely on later in the race. Now, it was time to make use of some of that energy. In spite of the oxygen deprived optimism I noticed my pace was now 7:30+. At mile 23.5 we entered Central Park. This is when the quad problems became significant. Not so much that I wanted to stop, I knew if I did it would be very tough to restart, but hard enough that I was almost up to 8 minute pace here and my legs began to feel stiff and heavy. However....once beyond 23 miles unless something very unusual happens I know I will finish a marathon....and then, at mile 25, the small Colombian woman that I had been seeing often during the run passed me, and for whatever reason I became inspired/incited. I started to pick it up, and in the last 400 meters I began to egging the crowd on, exhorting them to make noise. Boy did they ever, and I got what seemed like thousands of spectators to yell and I felt like their conductor....and using that energy I sprinted to the end and ran my last 1.2 at 6:48 pace. Almost my quickest mile of the run! Finishing time 3:11 and some seconds. This race is about as urban a running experience as one might have. There is almost nothing scenic about it, until the last few miles in Central Park when it just doesn’t matter what the scenery is since one is so focused on the finish line. The surfaces vary from smooth standard pavement, to occasional broken surfaces and harder composite type material. Especially on 1st avenue I noted the hard surface underfoot.
In summary, I probably would not run this race again. I wanted to once.... It’s famous, large and I grew up in this city and the nostalgia was reason enough. I now sit, relaxed, after an excellent sushi dinner with my father and am putting my feet up. Oh yes, yesterday in a fit of something-or-other, I registered for Boston. We’ll see...stay tuned!
Lessons learned or reminded of:
-Downhills burn your quads – you need to do hill training and/or weight work to prepare
-Speedwork (or absence of) has a big effect on efficiency and form
-It is possible to run a reasonably confident marathon on a program of 40-50 mpw and 3 long runs of 18+ but in order to truly master the distance and run competitively (with oneself) more of each is needed.
-At about mile 6 I began to feel a little queasy in my stomach along with mild cramping. It is not a new experience for me, and the cramps are never terribly bad, but they are a distraction and I suspect I could experiment with my diet in the 36 hours leading up to the race. While the cramps never totally left me they never became a real factor. I took GU at miles 9, 15 and 21 which seems about right though maybe 8/14/18/21 would have worked better to keep sugars going. I drank Gatorade at every opportunity and water at every other table. Oh, btw, Gatorade stings when you get it up your nose!!!
Philosophically I am happy with today’s run. I did not train with the intensity of last year and knew full well I would not do as well. I was trying hard to focus on just enjoying the run and finishing well which I essentially did. In my mind I figured a range of 3:00 to 3:10 was realistic. I ran 3:11+. Not so far outside the box....
Competitively and physically, I am not satisfied. I ran 17 minutes slower than last year, on an almost perfect day. I think one is prone to hoping to ‘get away with one’ even tho my training was sub par....but while you might fool a 5k, you can NEVER fool a marathon. The demons/voices that creep in about getting slower with age are hard to completely stave off but I have the lack of hardest training as an excellent counterbalance/excuse....today.
Anyway, this race is one I wanted to do once and now I have. On to better runs....