NYC Marathon Recap

It isn't often that a race, any race, goes EXACTLY to plan, especially an endurance race like a marathon. However, it seemed that everything lined up properly today, including the week spent NOT drinking and gambling (much) in Las Vegas, the looong (for me) runs and the insane tempo runs on the track.

I arrived at Ft. Wadsworth a bit indecisive about the outfit...it was chilly and windy, so I decided that arm warmers, a gator and gloves would be the way to go. I almost screwed up the baggage drop as they'd moved the UPS trucks for my wave start to a different place from last year, but that turned out to be the most difficult thing to overcome.

Before we knew it, we were herded to the start at 9:00, which means 40 minutes nose to nose with a zillion people that are either shedding clothes, going to the bathroom, planning splits, etc. It's quite a spectacle. Soon enough, though, we were off with the cannon.

First mile - 6:45...it's always a bit slow due to crowds, the hill on the bridge, etc. Second mile - 5:55, the opposite of the first. Figured I'd settle down once that was out of my system, and I did, to a 6:20 for the 3rd mile. My nutrition plan, btw, was simple: endurolytes every 25 minutes, Roctane every 50-60 minutes. Except for dropping the advil I'd planned to take around halfway, everything went to plan. Took gatorade and/or water, at least a bit, at almost every stop.

I'd planned to run 20-minute 5Ks the whole race for a 2:50 marathon. Tried that last year and died at about mile 18 after feeling bad at 13, 16, etc. This year was much different. I felt great at 6, 8, and 10 miles, was able to push up the Pulaski Bridge halfway (1:22:18 - yikes) and even was passing people on the 59th St. Bridge. I was able to feel strong all the way through 23 miles, though I could feel things tightening at about 21. But from 20 (2:07), I was able to figure out that I only had to run near 7 minute miles to hit 2:50 and was able to maintain. I finally crossed the 20 minute 5K mark for the 35th K but was still ahead of time by then. 35-40K was a bit slower but still under 7:00 pace. At 40K, I was pretty sure I had the time, but was hurting. I tried to stick with a guy that was zipping toward the finish, but couldn't quite keep up. The last 800M were agonzing, but spectacular. I crossed in 2:49:18, 8 minutes ahead of last year (357th overall)!

The season's finally over! Time to ease off, at least for a few weeks ;-).