NYC Marathon

I woke up at around 4 am on Sunday. I was tired. It was kind of cold. The clocks had changed. (Had they changed!?! I hope they changed!) I could hear the wind. (Freaking wind!) I took a quick shower to wake up and get a little warm. I needed to be at Central Park South by 6 am to catch the bus. The bus to Staten Island!

Walking through Times Square was so weird at 5 am. There were runners going in all different directions to get get their transportation to the start. I was told that it didn't matter which bus I got on so I hoped on the bus in front of me and in about 15 minutes we started to move. I fell asleep on the bus for a few minutes and before I knew it we were on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge! We got off the bus just after 7 am and I made my way through security and found the charity village. Once there we were met with strong winds. We stayed as warm as possible while waiting for our waves to be called. I was in wave 4. I wasn't starting the marathon until 10:55 am. The 4 hours actually went by pretty quickly. Suddenly our wave was called. I made my way to the green corral and lined up by the letter D.

Party wave!!!!

All the sudden the beginning of the marathons was happening! The first 2 miles were on the bridge. I was on the lower level of the bridge which blocked the GPS signal to my watch. I wasn't too concerned with it except I couldn't quite use my pace bracelet. The wind on the bridge was CRAZY! I was literally getting pushed towards the median! 

Start line!

Fort Wadsworth with Manhattan in the back!

Once off the bridge we were in Brooklyn. (I happen to love Brooklyn and was excited to run through it!) I took everything in while running and just appreciated everyone who was out there supporting the runners. I tried to find a friend around mile 8, but didn't see him.



I remember mile 8 a little too well. I was really feeling it at that point. I think that I just hadn't eaten enough while I was waiting, but who knows. My pace was dropping and hard. I knew that I could only do my best and kept pushing through. I was excited when I got to the Queensboro Bridge because I knew that I was going to finish. Nate also surprised me at the end of the bridge. I wasn't expecting to see him out on the course so I was excited. I remember telling him I just wanted to be done and that everything was hurting. First Ave seemed like forever. It is a straight shot and you can just see for miles. This made it hard to keep positive and moving in general.

When I got back into Manhattan I got my groove back. I was able to keep a better pace and up with my intervals. I can remember seeing Central Park in the distance and feeling like it took forever to get there.
Once I got into the park it was a wonderful feeling of knowing I was going to be done soon!

Soon I could see the finish line. Then I saw the tracking map and ran over it. When I looked up at the finish banner I saw it change to "Thank You, Charity Runners!" It seemed fitting for sure. I checked the app and saw that I finished in 6:05:57.

You are so welcome!

I walked up got my medal and started to cry. Why did I cry? I was happy. I was happy to be done. I was happy to have made it. I was happy that the hardest thing I've ever done was over. I was happy to get out of the wind and cold. (I didn't know that it would take me over an hour to get back to the hotel. Who decided all of this walking pre- and post-race was worth it!?!) I was crying out of relief. I just needed to cry. Then I cried because I couldn't get my bottle of water open. Then the flip top didn't open enough and that really pushed me from annoyed to pissed. I could have just grabbed water off of my belt, but I'm too stubborn for that. Finally I got my finishers poncho and it was the best thing ever! It is so warm! (I can wear it now that I'm home on the reg right?)

I'm not sleeping. I'm just laying, in a poncho.

There were 50, 564 finishers.
And I was one of them!

It hit me today (which is Wednesday the 5th) that I finished the NYC Marathon. Did I finish? Yes. Did I finish in under 6 hours? No, but the wind was a wench so I can let that go. Maybe one day I'll complete a marathon in 5:30 (which was my goal pace). Honestly I'm fine never doing a marathon again. Given the opportunity, sure I'll do it.

As of right now at 8 pm on Wednesday November 5 I have raised $3,685 for Children's Hospital! There is a few more donations coming through so I should have at least $3,700! I can't believe I got that much money for such a wonderful cause! If you didn't get an opportunity to donate or would like to donate again you can do so right here!

Weekly Recap 8/4-8/10 & Race Recap

First let's look at this past week.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 17 minutes of yoga

Wednesday: 4.04 miles

Thursday: 30 minutes of yoga

Friday: 4 miles

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Bobby Doyle Summer Classic (5.05 miles), Walk 2 miles

This week kind of sucked. I tried to do some yoga on Tuesday to break away from life for an hour, but I barely got through 17 minutes. I couldn't shake the crappy mood I was in. I should have had a longer run, but I didn't want to overdo it with a race on Sunday. Plus with tax-free weekend coming up I know I'm going to be tired. This will definitely be a long week and hard to keep up my runs during. I'm just taking this one day at a time. I know that life gets in the way sometimes and that will have to be okay.

On Sunday I participated in the Bobby Doyle Summer Classic. I've never been to Narragansett, RI before, so this gave me an opportunity to see the town. I picked up my bib there about 20 minutes to the start of the race. I also received a pint glass which was given out to the first 100 registered runners (I think). I didn't think that I was one of them, but I did receive one. This was a 5 mile run so ideally I wanted to be done before an hour. And I should have. I've been having some GI issues before runs lately and can't figure out what is going on. I haven't changed anything that I've been eating or anything like that so who knows. At around 3.5 miles I started to feel sick. I couldn't wait to be finished with the run, but knew it was only 1.5 miles until I was done and could go be sick in a bathroom. (Yes a real bathroom! The school was open to register, get your bibs, and use real bathrooms!) I lasted a mile before I did get sick. That added a few minutes to my time. I did finish in 1:00:18. I got my medal and a cup of water before using the bathroom one more time. I didn't take any post-race snacks or anything. I did bring a few things with me and had them in the car for the ride home. Overall I really enjoyed this race. There are very fast people out there and I can't imagine running that fast for a block forget miles. All the volunteers were very nice and always shouted out a great job. (Or in my case "I like your tattoo".)

Now I just have to get through tax free than I can focus on the Zooma Half next month.

I'm still raising money for Boston Children's Hospital too. If you can donate you can do so here. Any amount can help and goes directly to the hospital. Plus we all love tax write-offs!

Sundays are the Day

Girls is back for season 3.

The Walking Dead is back!

What more does anyone need?

I'm super excited. Get 'em.