2015 Marathon Experience
As you may know, I recently ran in both the Chicago and New York City Marathons. If last year’s race experience was more about finding my way around a new city, this year’s experience was running about something bigger than myself.
I wanted to added something more to this year’s race experience so I decided to run for a Charity called Ken’s Krew. Ken’s Krew has helped my older brother David and many other adults with developmental learning disabilities find and sustain jobs. I am very proud that I had the chance to give back to the organization and it really put the running into context. Thank you to everyone who donated, liked a facebook status, read the crowdfunding page, and came away slightly more educated about employment in the disabled community from the experience.
Second, I joined two running groups and met incredible people along the way. It’s amazing how much fun mile repeats on a Wednesday night can be when you have 50 people doing them with you. I began to look forward to staying in on Fridays to knock out twenty milers Saturday morning. Thanks to everyone who had to put up with my stories, jokes, and motivational quotes during those workouts.
The two marathons were three weeks apart (Chicago first and New York second). Since I shared my Chicago experience last year, I’ll tell you more about New York…
After setting a personal best in Chicago, I was determined to do even better in New York.
The Friday before the marathon I met my 62 year old uncle and his wife at the expo. He’s a lawyer in Southern California and runs marathons as often as some people go to the grocery store. I admire his enthusiasm for the sport and he admires my competitive spirit. The expo was crowded but we enjoyed catching up and talking race strategy.
Race morning started with a 5:30 am subway ride to the Staten Island Ferry, followed by 20 minute ferry ride to Staten Island, then a 45 minute bus ride to athlete’s village at the base of the Verezzano bridge. Through all the transportation I met runners from around the globe where we shared stories and talked about the course ahead. One guy was a 60 year old frenchmen running his first NYC marathon and another a 45 year old bronx native running his 14th consecutive. Runners were doing anything to combat the nerves.
After two hours waiting around the athlete’s village they walked us to the base of the Verrazano Narrows bridge to start the race. If you couldn’t feel the nostalgia of the race before, you definitely did then. At the starting line was a large podium where Spike Lee was standing waving to runners. Next to him, an executive from the New York Road Runners was giving a speech and in a thick New York accent said “Welcome to the greatest race in the world, in the greatest city in the world.” For whatever reason that line stuck with me, and I told myself regardless of what happens today was going to be a great day.
Sometimes you just know. When standing at the starting line of an ambitious goal you just know that you will be able to finish better than you ever imagined. You trust in everything you’ve done up to that point to have such a goal in the first place and any nerves or doubts about moving forward drift away.
This was my story for the NYC Marathon. As the countdown to the race continued I knew I was about to embark on a once in a lifetime experience and felt lucky to participate. I trusted in my training — twenty milers in the rain, tempo runs in the heat, and doing 800 meter repeat sprints at 5am, I knew I’d finish better than I imagined. In fact, the 26.2 miles that separated me from the end wasn’t a race at all. It was more like a parade where thousands of complete strangers line the streets to cheer on your efforts. And I was determined to enjoy my parade. Every step of the damn way.
BOOM! — that starting cannon goes off
The first mile is up the Verrazano Narrows bridge. It’s the steepest incline in the race and you have to control your adrenaline to make sure you don’t go too fast. Even if I wanted to go fast, I couldn’t. The crowd was so dense that I wasn’t able to pass anyone which kept me honest.
The second mile is down the bridge and with very little effort I clocked a 6:20 mile. On the decline there was a man running stride for stride with me. I asked him his goal time and he said he was shooting for three hours so we decided to run together. His name was Paul and he was from Australia.
Paul and I ventured into Brooklyn together keeping each other at about a 6:45/ 6:50 pace. He had a small Australian flag on the chest of his running pinny and just about every mile some random Australian spectator would scream their face off cheering us on. Paul reciprocated the energy screaming some Australian cheer back and I just enjoyed the ride. Observing from the outside, you may assume that Paul and I were long time running buddies — agreeing which gatorade stations to stop at and which ones to run through — but in reality we were just two guys chasing the same goal.
The journey through Brooklyn was a giant party. Spanish break dancers, followed by a country music band, rap music, hassidic jewish music, and a punk rock band. Every mile was a new theme. It went by fast and Paul and I crossed the half right on target. We then crossed into Queens knowing we had an obstacle in the Queensboro bridge ahead.
Many people warned me that marathons have been lost on the Queensboro bridge. It’s a full mile up a long incline slightly past the half way mark, very difficult. Luckily for me, I was also warned it provides an amazing view of the city so I told myself if it gets tough, I will just admire the view and forget about anything else. Paul and I took a quick Gatorade stop and braced for the bridge. Get through this tough stretch ahead and we were in Manhattan.
I started to climb at a solid pace. A decent number of runners around us were dropping off and walking along the sides of the bridge. I didn’t have much trouble with it at all. Something about people telling me it was going to be difficult gave me a huge shot of adrenaline and a determination to prove them wrong so I powered through. Soon enough we were at the top about to head on the decline. Mile 15 up, and mile 16 down. I turned to Paul to give him a fist bump and thank him for guiding me up the hill. He didn’t look too good. He said his calves were giving him problems and then told me he wasn’t going to be able to keep the pace and I should run ahead. I wished him the best of luck and kept going.
Mile 16 I exited the bridge on to 1st Avenue where to my surprise, my mom was not only waiting but also orchestrating a large group of strangers in a chant of my name. I felt strong and excited to take on Manhattan — I may actually hit my goal of a sub 3 hour marathon! Shortly after that thought crossed my mind I felt the first twitch in my calves — cramps. It didn’t make sense, I felt strong and was exactly where I needed to be, but for whatever reason my body was breaking down.
I couldn’t let this ruin my race. I had friends who I hadn’t seen in awhile waiting for me on 1st Ave and I couldn’t let them see me look weak. So I convinced myself that calf cramps were all mental and I’ll run through them. To my surprise it worked! I looked at my watch and I was moving at 6:45 pace. I eventually passed different groups of friends at various points on first ave which was an enormous help. I wanted to shout out back at them but I had to conserve energy and just gave a wave. I was blocking out pain but later on they told me I looked strong. It may not seem like much as a spectator to cheer and see someone for a half second but as a runner even knowing that I had friends out there waiting for me was a big motivator. As I made my way past my friends and into Harlem I remember feeling lucky to have people out there.
In Harlem and the bronx, the crowds start to die down. Miles 20 and 21 you really dig deep. I remember looking at the clock and thinking it was going to be very close if I hit a sub 3 hr marathon — I was right on pace. Moving from the Bronx back into Manhattan, you hit the last bridge and brace for a long stretch up a slight incline on 5th Avenue. The incline gets steeper and steeper as you move towards the 23 mile marker and I was fighting not to slow down. The cramps now moved from my calves to my hamstrings and the closer I got to mile 23, the hill got larger and pain sharper. I tried phasing out the cramps like last time but my body just wouldn’t move as fast up this hill as I’d like it to. By the time I got to the top of the hill and moved into central park I was drained of all energy. That last hill took a lot out of me and it felt like someone grabbed my lungs and were ringing them out like an old dish rag.
Luckily, Central Park was roaring with excitement with fans cheering on runners. I remembered how Central Park was the place I trained for my first marathon and how amazing it was to be running there on Marathon Sunday. At this point, sub 3 hrs was out of reach. But I still felt I could get a Boston Qualifying time (sub 3hrs & 5 mins) if I kept moving forward. The Park was rolling hills but provided all the energy I needed to finish strong. Pushing down 57th street towards Columbus Circle (Mile 25.5) I got a last cheer from my family who were waiting for me. Through the trees I could see the grand stands and giant sign that said FINISH. As tired as I was, I took a look around to drink in the finish. I waved my arms up and down to ask the crowd for some more noise and eventually crossed the finish line at 3:04:29.
The executive for the NYRR who gave the speech in Staten Island was standing right there and before I had a chance to catch my breath, I shook his hand and told him he gave a great speech before the race (I was looking for Spike Lee as well but couldn’t find him). I was excited to have finished. Behind the president of the NYRR was a TV reporter that I recognized (I was too tired to try and figure out which network I recognized him from). I asked if he needed to interview anyone because I would be glad to do it. He said no and asked how I was feeling.
Well I was tired, dehydrated, calves were cramping, feet throbbing and somehow had a cut on my arm that stung like hell but I told him “I feel like break dancing.” We laughed and I walked on. Not even a minute after that I bumped into my friend Matt from Chicago who also ran and was excited to see me. A few minutes later our other friend from Chicago, Sascha, found us and we all talked about the difficulty of the race.
We all fell a little short of our goals (this was a tough race!), but we walked down the finisher’s chute (a two mile, very long road from the finish to the family meet up area) laughing about how much pain we are in and already talking about how we can improve for next year. These are two guys I met through training this year that I admire not only as runners but as human beings. I met a lot of others like them this summer through this whole experience. Besides that, I reflected on the charity I ran for and how I may have educated a bunch of people about employment in the disabled community. How I represented my older brother and that this was more than an individual sport.
Limping down this long road with these guys made me appreciate this year’s race experience and although a few minutes short of my goal I feel “I finished better than I could imagine.”
The fall race season is over for me finishing Chicago in 3:00 and New York in 3:04. Again, not quite sub 3 but I always set my goals very high on purpose. Nonetheless, both of these marathon times which came 3 weeks apart are Boston Qualifying times and both had me finish in the top 2% of each race. I’m a smarter, stronger runner from these experiences and the competitor in me is already hungry to start training for my next one. Wherever that is, I’m looking forward to what that journey brings.
More finisher photos
