nyc marathon 2015 recap
It’s still hard to believe I ran a marathon on Sunday. writing a thorough recap would probably take me 8 hours, so I’ll stick to the highlights.
when my alarm went off at 6 am on Sunday, I jumped up feeling pretty rested. thank you, daylight savings. I ate my normal breakfast of an english muffin with peanut butter, ate a couple bites of banana and downed a big glass of water before getting dressed in my race outfit. the day before i bought a pair of fleece pants--with Yodas on them!--to stay warm in the Starting Village--but seeing as that it was already 55 degrees I didn’t need them.
after about an hour of checking and rechecking that i had everything I needed, I headed to the subway to the Staten Island Ferry station. I’ll spare the details, but the ferry situation was a nightmare. what was supposed to be an easy “jump on any ferry and go” situation turned into an hour of waiting while in a human gridlock then shuffling en masse through the ferry doors. in any case, I made it to SI in one piece with time to spare.
I didn’t get the chance to see Tim before he started but I did find coffee and ran into a few other SoleMates. by 10:15 I was in my corral waiting to start. things started to feel real once we were led to the entry of the Verrazano where Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” was playing over the loud speakers. I had felt pretty chill up until this moment when butterflies kicked in hardcre. During “God Bless America” I started to tear up a bit! I couldn’t believe it was actually happening!
the start was a little anticlimactic as i was in the “green” group which runs under the bridge. i did my best to keep a slow pace, although my Garmin was all over the place so I had no idea how fast or slow I was actually running. after a mile, we were out of the bridge and running through the southern most part of Bay Ridge. I was pumped to see people cheering! I felt good -- but hot! At 11 am, it was in the low 60s -- much warmer than my last few training runs.
loved the crowds in Bay Ridge but was super excited to hit my old neighborhood, Park Slope, where I knew I’d see some friendly faces along the course. around mile 7, I saw Maria & Conor. it was so fun seeing them that i definitely picked up my pace. Brooklyn was by far my favorite stretch of the course and I basically grinned through all 12 miles of it. Around mile 8, I heard people chanting my name! I looked over and saw Maggie and a few of her friends. Joanna snapped a few pics of me, including this one which perfectly captures how I was feeling.
i had been running with Sue from my GOTR team and I had told her that with people shouting my name, i felt like a celebrity. after I ran past Mary Beth and Meghan in Clinton Hill, she said to me “you weren’t kidding about being a celebrity.” thanks for my 15 minutes of fame, friends. and thanks to MB for the amazing photo below. :)
brooklyn continued to be amazing, but i could feel my legs getting tired too soon. I felt OK in queens, but after the Queensboro bridge (and a bathroom break) I started to feel in trouble. luckily the 1st avenue crowds distracted me and I was able to keep trucking. however, i felt the need to walk through the mile 18 water station, which, in retrospect, was probably the death of me. I stayed strong through the Girls on the Run cheer station but once I hit Harlem I started walking every 2/3 of a mile. I had definitely hit the wall. I did my best to run the majority of every mile but my running was more like a shuffle.
I’m not going to sugar coat it -- I felt horrible. My legs were lead and everything hurt. But the crowds helped a lot, and thanks to the amazing cheering, I was able to run most of 5th Avenue and Central Park. Once I saw the Mile 26 sign in the Park, I did my best to book it (which was probably super slow). All the photos of my finish were of my head down -- I was in power mode! Crossing that finish line felt amazing, but everything hurt. I texted my mom and brother that I was done and that it was the “hardest thing I’d ever done.” dramatic much?
my first reaction when learning my time was disappointment. I had, perhaps foolishly, thought I would finish 20 minutes faster than I actually did. I had never considered that I would need to walk in the marathon, since my training runs had all gone so well. but boy is the marathon a different beast. it’s crazy how good you can feel for 20 miles and then everything changes as you head into my 21. I’m doing my best to cut myself a break. It was my first marathon and I did the best I could. And I had a blast along the way!
It’s also crazy how now, just five days later, it’s difficult to relive that pain and I’m already thinking “it wasn’t that bad -- I could do it again!”
while another marathon isn’t on my calendar for at least another 12 months, I wouldn’t rule another one out. just to experience those crowds again would be worth it. the energy in NYC on marathon day is simply unreal. the human spirit at its best. it truly is the best tour way to experience the five boroughs.
recovery has been a little weird. i’m not in pain so much anymore, but i do feel a little listless without a running assignment for the day. the marathon became such a big part of my life that it’s going to be an adjustment.
that’s it for now. going to head to a yoga class to stretch out these poor muscles. thanks for reading!