Report

R and I took the bus at 5:30AM.  This year the bus practically flew to Staten Island and we were there just after 6.  Four hours to wait.  R has been sick and after a little while she burrowed into her sleeping bag, zipped it up and disappeared. My main improvement this year was bringing most of the Sunday Times, and I settled in and read the paper.

Finally we lined up and crossed the starting line.  It was treacherous on the bridge because a lot of people were dropping plastic bags and clothing as they went without pushing it to the side. A woman got on her cell phone, “hi,” she screamed to the phone call recipient, “I’m running on the Verrazano Briiiiddggee.”

“Yes,” I muttered, “and the other runners want to shoot me.” I got laughs from a couple of Team in Training runners going past. 

Brooklyn was next and there were a lot of people.  Since I was wearing the shirts that R’s daughters painted with my name last year, I heard my name a lot.  In Bay Ridge I saw my favorite sign of the day…Go VITO!  Beat NICK!  I hope Vito and Nick did well. At mile three, the first fluid table of many, we had our only fluid disappointment.  There was no Gatorade for us.  But we drank water and hoped for Gatorade at mile 4.  Our hope was fulfilled.

I saw M when we passed through my neighborhood and she took a picture, which she’ll send along soon.  R was experiencing operating difficulties because she had a lot of heavy stuff that she was carrying and our friends E and K saw us at mile 7ish and took it from her.

Meanwhile, I knew my pace was too fast.  The second 5K of the race I ran at a 12:30/mile pace.  For the first half of the race we averaged a 13 minute/mile pace and that included a bathroom stop at mile 9. It didn’t take me long to pee, but it took me a long time to fish my race belt out of my shorts.  Damn.

I saw L and M in Williamsburg and stopped to kiss them and thank them for coming.  About 20 minutes later we came to the halfway mark and R went ahead.  She ultimately finished about 20 minutes ahead of me–I think she had a very hard race.

The bridge at mile 15 was tough as always.  I did a little walking on the bridge, and then over to Manhattan.  Around mile 17 a little kid called my name. He was about 10 or 11 and looked like a mini Tony Soprano.  I saw that he had some sort of candy in his hand and I went towards him.  He gently tossed me a fun size of M&M’s, but I couldn’t catch it.  I knocked it down and stepped on the edge, and then picked it up and started eating them.  They were FABULOUS. 

Just before crossing into the Bronx, going at about a 13:40 pace, I saw my friend C and she took the photo in the last posting, and ran with me for a few blocks. It was great to see her…we said goodbye, and I got ready to cross into the Bronx.

At this point, I was ready for it to be over.  between 18.6 and 21.7 miles, I was doing a 14:30 pace.  E and K came up to the Bronx and I said hello, they took pictures, and I grabbed some pretzels and left.  The next six miles seemed way too long…but I felt better after I started listening to my Ipod. 

The next miles are a blur. Every time I started to walk the crowd would cheer me on…and between 22 and 26 it DID get easier.  My pace got a little faster between 22 and 25 miles (14:10/mile), and faster still in the last 1.5 miles…(13:15). I managed to cross the finish line for the third time and M came to the finish line to cheer me on. My overall time was under a 13:30 per mile pace.  I didn’t do as well as last year, but I beat my time from two years ago.  More than 2000 people came in behind me. Right now, I don’t want to move again. Ever.

So there’s my very long race report–thanks to everyone for the enthusiasm; it’s very appreciated. I hope more pictures will come.

Explore posts in the same categories: NYC marathon, marathon