NYC Marathon 2009 - Part 1: The history and arrival in NYC

Anthony Edwards at the NYC Marathon Expo

Columbus Circle

This is it!
Not to steal the title of the new Michael Jackson film, but all I could think about when arriving in NYC was "This is it!". This is the goal I set for myself early this year and now the big day is here. I originally was thinking, as I sat at my laptop on a cold January 1st, that this year I'd get back to running, and this year maybe I'd even run a half marathon by the end of the year. Then somewhere along the way, I can't remember exactly the date, I decided since I'd be turning 40 next year and since it had been 10 yrs since I had run my last (and only) marathon and since I didn't break 4 hrs in that one like I'd hoped and since I may not have this chance again, perhaps I should aim higher and do a marathon. I joined the Raleigh Trail Runners in February, which I am very thankful for since I couldn't have gotten so far without them, so I am sure it was shortly after that when I decided to finally register for a marathon. I considered OBX, Raleigh, Richmond and the NYC Marathon but ultimately decided if I was going to do it and may only do it once more, I should do NYC since I really love NY and it's one I've always wanted to do ever since I went to watch a friend of a friend run it in 1993.

My history with the NYC Marathon

I had actually entered the NYC Marathon lottery in 2000, the year after I ran Marine Corp, and got in right away, but postponed my entry to the next year since Keith and I were getting married that fall. Then in 2001 I took a new job and was unable to put the training time in, as was obvious by a pretty poor and painful performance in the Manhattan Half Marathon, which I was at least smart enough to pay attention to, so I dropped out from running the marathon that year too. After that I ran only one local race in 2002 and then we bought a house in early 2003, had Owen in 2004, moved to North Carolina and took a new job in 2005, had Grace in 2006, and took another new job in 2007. You get the idea. So I hadn't run a race at all, let alone a marathon, since 2002. In 2008, with little training but a bit of running on weekends with Owen or Grace in the jogging stroller and a few times a week at lunch time, I decided to run a local race. The first was the Second Empire 5K, selected because it was sponsored by a nice restaurant, and then later the Jingle Bell 5K, because I got to run with bells on my shoes and a Santa hat! I did respectable in both so this got me thinking about getting back to running more seriously now that the kids were a bit older. So that is what brought me to that January 1st where I planned out several races and a training schedule which I then modified after deciding to enter the NYC Marathon.

Leading up to the race
In the weeks leading up to the race, my knee (classic textbook case of runners knee) was starting to bother me again. But as usual it didn't seem to impact me in races. Not sure if that is due to the adrenline or extra strength tylenol or luck or a combination. But I could only hope that the same would hold true for the marathon. I really cut back on the miles and days I was running, much sooner and more drastically than planned because I was afraid of not being able to run the race if I didn't. But doing that really impacted my confidence at times since I feared I cut back to much too soon and would not be ready. Time would tell, either I was ready or I wasn't, too late now!

Hopes and mantras

In my last blog post, for the Run for Healthier Babies, I ended that post with some hopes for the upcoming marathon. I also wrote down some mantras, since I read that that is what the pros do to get them through and I needed all the help I could get. Some of those were:

• 22 pace, 4.2 race (I know that should be 20 race, 6.2 pace, but I was being conservative!)
• Inspired, no fear
• Respect the distance
• Enjoy the experience
• Feel good!
• This is it!
• Owen and Gracie (Paula uses her daughters name so thought that may work for me!)
• You've already done this 4 times (ok well not really, the training was 3 20 milers and 1 22 miler, but close)
• BQ!

I tried to repeat these to myself even leading up to the race and also reminded myself of what my hopes were by re-reading them in the days leading up to the race. I mainly thought about just keeping the negative and doubtful thoughts out and keeping my thoughts on just enjoying this experience and enjoying the sights at every mile.

Arriving in NYC

I arrived in Newark NJ early on Friday. I was able to figure out the Air Train and NJ Transit to successfully get into NYC, but then chickened out of taking the subway with my luggage for fear I'd end up in the wrong place. I walked a few blocks and then was able to get a cab. I just LOVE that you can look at a GPS map in the back seat these days and also that you can just swipe your card in that same contraption in the back seat and just pick a 15, 20 or 25% tip. How awesome is that, so easy. I got to the hotel pretty early so they didn't yet have a room ready. So after some quick (too quick as you'll read shortly) moving around of stuff from my luggage to my backpack I stored my larger bag at the hotel and headed out with my backpack with some essentials to find the official bus to the expo at the Jacob Javitz center. I found it pretty easily and there was a bus right there waiting that I was able to get on. Good thing it was one of the first buses heading over that day and the first stop, since it got very crowded as we moved along the hotel pick up route and others were turned away to wait for the next buses. I was surprised at the variety of languages being spoken on the bus, this was truly an international event!

The Expo

I texted and called Pauline to determine when/where to meet up at the expo. Her bus from her hotel was stuck in traffic so I navigated the expo alone for a bit before she arrived. I was able to pretty quickly get my number (9258), goody bag, and t-shirt (runs big but it's very cool). Then I entered the Asics Marathon store, which you have to pass through (conveniently) to get into the rest of the expo. It was pretty overwhelming. All the merchandise and people, mostly all speaking foreign languages which I was still amazed at (had heard it was an international event but didn't realize how much), combined with it being pretty warm in there and my backpack getting heavy, made me feel a bit like perhaps I should have skipped the expo on this first day.

Pauline arrives!

I wandered a bit looking at clothing until Pauline arrived. She is a bundle of energy so I felt less stressed when she got there (thanks Pauline!). She got her number, shirt, etc and we walked around. She found a few things she wanted to buy and I decided to get a pricey but very soft hoody with the NYC Marathon logo on it. Then we entered the rest of the expo. We talked to folks hosting other marathons (Edinburgh - guy in a kilt, Comrades - 56 mile race...no way!, and the Disney Princess - got a free crown which Pauline wore for the rest of the expo trip and even forgot she had on when we had lunch at a local diner...luckily Halloween was just around the corner and it's NYC so no one thought it was strange at all!).

Pace group guy pisses me off

We also got some information on other things we were interested in. Pauline checked out the finishers plaques while I asked about how the pace groups worked. I went up to the guys at the pace booth to ask about it. I told one of the guys what my half marathon time was (1:36), what I put on the application for my predicted time (3:40) and what I needed to BQ (3:50). I said that I was not too sure what pace group I should aim for but I didn't specify which ones I was trying to decide between. Immediately without hesitation he told me this was a tough course and that he recommended I start out with the 3:50 group which was the one he was leading. I am not sure if it was his tone or if I was just reading too much into it, but I was annoyed right away since I wasn't really aiming for 3:50 but instead was hoping for 3:4o so I had some wiggle room to BQ. I walked away, bitched to Pauline about it, and then went back over to the other side of the pace group table to put back the 3:50 pace group band and bib and took one for the 3:40 group. Hmmm, I'll show him! Maybe...

Turned out that in wave 1, blue start to which I was assigned (there are 3 waves starting 20 minutes apart and 3 different color starts in each wave, and I think 7 or 9 corrals in each start in each wave to reduce crowding...sounds complicated but it works!) there were no pace group leaders anyway, at any pace. So I would have had to change colors or waves to run with a pace group from the start or try to find them later. I decided to abandon that idea early on and go it alone, but still took the pace wrist band to wear as a reminder of the goal and also in case I wanted to double check if I was on track (it's like one of those bands they put on you to get into a club or amusement park). I had my Garmin so doubted I'd really need it but took it anyway as a reminder.

My brush with fame

We wandered around a bit more and Pauline bought some of those racing sleeves to cover your arms from the cold for the race. We also took some pictures of each other. I had heard earlier before Pauline arrived an announcement about Runner's World booth and Anthony Edwards but didn't hear the details. So I assumed maybe they were playing a recent spoof video clip that he had done that I had seen online earlier in the week or that they were collecting money for Shoes4Africa, the charity he was running for that is raising money to build a children's hospital in Kenya. I had kept tabs on a few celebs that were running in case I saw any of them. Ed Norton, Alanis Morrisette, and David Blaine were a few others. For those who don't know, Anthony Edwards (aka: that bald dude, as Pauline now fondly refers to him) was on ER (Mark Green) and also in Top Gun (Goose). So maybe not the biggest star around today, but a famous face and all around nice guy none the less, since he was raising money for charity. So I told Pauline that I wanted to check out the Runner's World booth before we left. We finally found it in the middle of the expo and as we approach I saw him, Dr. Mark Green (aka Anthony Edwards, aka that bald dude) standing right there, with few people around! I was so excited not really because he was on ER but moreso because I'd seen his spoof video (pretty funny, all about pretending training for the marathon was really just an acting gig) and knew he'd be running the race and now to actually get to meet him was pretty cool. I asked Pauline to take a picture with my iPhone if he let us. He agreed (poor guy, bet he was hating life after a few hours of that at the expo) and was very nice. He asked if we'd donate to Shoes4Africa, which we did. And we signed the notebook they had because the promise is that anyone who donates, no matter how much or how little, will have their name somewhere on the building. Pretty neat. As we walked away I was really excited and immediately posted the picture to my Facebook page and as we walked away Pauline said "who was that guy, he just looks like some regular bald dude"! Pauline you are so funny!

Lunch and the Ann Taylor/Gap fiasco

We decided to leave the expo (it was getting crazy crowded and we were starving) and take a cab to the house of a friend of Pauline's sister who said she could use her place to get changed. We ate lunch at a diner nearby and carb loaded. Then we went to change and I discovered the reason why it's not good to move clothes around last minute from one bag to another. I had all my stuff except for my running shorts! Thus began the desperate search for a place nearby to purchase some so we could go on our short jog around Central Park. First I though maybe I'd head back to my hotel to grab my shorts but then thought that would take too much time so we went on a quest to buy some. Afterall how hard could it be in NYC to find shorts. HA! We stopped at the closest clothing store, Ann Taylor. Yes, a long shot but thought they'd at least have some PJ type shorts or tights I could get by with. And they did have tights but they were too big so we asked the girl to look for a smaller size in the back. 15 minutes, and I kid you not at least literally 15 minutes, and she never returned, so we left. Then we trekked farther down the street and found a Gap. They did have some stretch capri workout pants, which were $40! But I was desperate so after waiting on a crazy long line (forgot about those long lines for everything in the NY area!) I got my pants, changed and we were off.

Central Park

We jogged slowly over to the park and ran over to see where the finish line would be and then ran the last mile or so of the marathon course in the opposite direction, along 7th Ave and along the East side of the park up to 5th Ave. We turned around there and ran back to get changed. My knee was feeling sore as we were doing that run, which made me nervous. Still it was pretty cool to see everyone preparing for the race, setting up the finish line area with all the flags of all the participants. After we changed I left Pauline so she could shower and I could go back to check into my hotel. I walked a bit and then took a cab the rest of the way (which turned out to only be a few more blocks left, I felt kind of stupid!).

6 Columbus

The hotel I booked was called 6 Columbus. It wasn't one of the official hotels but like I usually do, I spent a tremendous amount of time mapping out and researching hotels in the area near the finish line because I knew if this was going to be a once in a lifetime experience I wanted to stay near the action and also be closeby in case I didn't feel well after the race. So after hours and probably days of comparing I decided on 6 Columbus which I booked back in early June. The room was small as expected (we booked the cheapest one called a Pod room, so you know going in it won't be spacious) but was actually larger than the rooms in the boutique hotel we'd stayed in on our honey moon in San Francisco, so we were pleased. And best of all, the bathroom floor had heated tile, very cool! I changed, unpacked and just relaxed while I waited for Keith to arrive.

Dinner at Il Melograno

After Keith arrived at the hotel, we headed out pretty quickly to dinner. I usually plan stuff like crazy but actually didn't plan any of the meals for this trip in advance. So Keith went to work on his iPhone using Urbanspoon (I recommend it if you haven't used it). He looked for Italian so I could carb load. He found a small local midtown mom and pop looking place called Il Melograno. My first impression was perhaps it was a bit too mom and pop. We were seated along a bar by the window until a table was ready. It was hot in the restaurant and we were in a tight spot where all the dirty dishes needed to come past us to get to the small back room where they were to be cleaned. The kitchen was all open to the restaurant and there were a few guys working very hard back there but I had some doubts. Of course I forgot that NYC midtown mom and pop is a bit different than Raleigh mom and pop. Not to knock Raleigh because there are a load of great restaurants in Raleigh, but in Manhattan a bad restaurant couldn't survive in this location whereas in Raleigh it may for a while.

We ordered appetizers (mushroom polenta for Keith, salad for me) and fresh pasta entrees (veal ravioli with sage butter cream sauce for Keith, parpadelle with sausage for me). While this isn't a food blog, I can say that everything was amazing! And cheap! I couldn't believe we got a bill for about $90 which included appetizers, dinner, dessert (one for each of us!) and 2 glasses of wine each). Wow!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel since we were pretty tired and rented an in-room movie, Angels and Demons. I read the book and loved it so was looking forward to seeing it. I heard from Keith it was pretty good...I wouldn't know, I fell asleep in the first 15 minutes of the movie!

Stay tuned for the next post, NYC Marathon 2009 - Part 2: The day before the race