The Marathon Man...

"The grin on my face spreading from ear to ear."

So, it's been just over a week since I completed the New York Marathon.

What was I thinking?
I guess I never thought I'd actually get into the marathon. It seemed like a pretty safe bet to put my name in the lottery. Thousands try to get in every year and thousands get denied. Of course when I was actually selected I was shocked and excited. Then of course I got a bit of a sick feeling in my stomach.  One of those..."shit, now what am I going to do?" type feelings. I started training.

I won't go into too much detail about the training except to say it wasn't without it's challenges.  From a torn calf muscle early on to IT Band syndrome in both of my knees it was a wild ride.  I mean, I was only running between 2 and 5 miles max back then.  Within a few months of the marathon (a year later) I had run up to 18 miles pretty successfully. I did a couple of half marathons leading up to the full one as well. A couple of cortisone injections in the knees for the pain and I was ready to take on this NYC Marathon!!!

One additional note about training - if anyone reading this is actually interested in running the NYC Marathon, make sure you do a lot of  hill training. No one tells you there is so much up hill in this run... or I chose to ignore it.  If you train for half to be uphill at various inclines you'll be fine.

2 weeks leading up to the Marathon I threw my low carb diet out the window in exchange for some complex carbs, breads, pastas, and fruit. Alcohol was also almost non-existent at that point. Matter of fact I went to my HS reunion the night before the marathon for a couple of hours. I can't remember a social event when I didn't have 1 drink to loosen up... and seeing all my old HS peeps is definitely a good occasion to throw a few back.  Still had fun, but had to get home to rest up for the run.

Marathon day goes like this.  Wake up at 4:10AM - just before the alarm.
Shower, shave, put on Body Glide (deodorant like protection stick that you rub over areas that often get chafed from running a long time), and rug up.  No jackets of course - runners use old throwaway sweatshirts and such so they can peel off layers as they go along their way.  Cool fact - All the clothes that runners discard are collected by NY Sanitation and given to the needy.
4:45 AM - It's cold outside, pitch black, and there's not a lot of people about.  I'm to get the bus right near my apartment over by the NY Library.  On my walk  over I see drunk people just heading home from a night of debauchery.  I remember thinking to myself, "hey - that's what I'm usually doing. What's wrong with me?"
Honestly - what am I doing up at 4 something in the morning getting a bus to go running. Seriously!

As I get to the bus I see  hundreds of athletes and idiots like me getting ushered into lines to get on the buses to Staten Island. I met some dude in line who's run about 10 of them with his brother. This year his brother just got over heart surgery and was still going to run it.  We talked for the entire bus ride over which helped coax my nerves a bit. I felt inspired.

So, now that I hurried up to the start it was time to get over to the 'Green Zone' at Fort Wadsworth Park.  The ground was wet from frost the night before. It's about 6:30 AM... 4 hours from starting time. There were a few hundred of us at that  point, and it was freezing cold.  Dunkin Donuts was handing out free winter hats which I gladly took and put on my cold shaved head.  It was freakin' cold at the park! There was free coffee, bagels, Powerbars, water, and Gatorade all over the shop.  Most people just wanted to find a dry place to sit or lay down.  I found an unused table and sat there. As the park filled with runners I got to talking with a woman from Ireland (now a NY'er) who had run the NY Marathon 4 times and 1 Marathon in Berlin.  She was really great to talk to about what to expect and honestly, she took me under her wing for the next few hours while we waited for our start time.

When it's time they herd you into a corral like a bunch of cows. Thousands upon thousands line up to get to the starting line.  Then you wait.  The heart is pounding, the sun is out, people shedding their additional layers of clothes.  There's a DJ making announcements, but honestly I can't hear him. All I'm thinking about is getting this thing started already. C'mon already!!! 1 minute count down and then BOOM... a cannon marks the start.

I was near the front of the pack to start. Not because I was running fast or anything. Just happened to be where I started. I remembered hearing stories about people who start off running faster than their pace due to the adrenaline rush. It was easy to see how that could happen.  I chose purposely to go slower and take it all in.

The first mile over the Verrazano Bridge is all up hill. The bridge is huge and beautiful.  There's no bystanders, just runners. The sounds of sneakers hitting the pavement and breathing are all you hear. It's pretty surreal - A sea of bodies waving and bobbing up ahead. I did the first mile in 11 minutes...slow! The next mile over the other side of the bridge is all downhill and I made up plenty of time with an 8 min mile.  I realized I needed to pace myself a lot better.  I won't give a recount of every mile... you'd be bored, and quite honestly some of it's a blur to me.  I just ran, and ran, and ran (queue Flock of Seagulls).

"A sea of bodies waving and bobbing up ahead. The Verrazano Bridge."

Brooklyn - Who knew, Brooklyn residents kick ass! What an awesome crowd of people cheering along through the entire borough. The crowds are loud and motivating, putting out hands for high fives and handing out tissues, bananas, gels, etc... There's music on the sides of the road too, and bands.  My only negative comment here is for the bands - stop talking so much. The runners want to hear music, not preaching, not reinforcement... music! The African Drums up in Harlem were super cool, and even with the state I was in at that point of the marathon I could still appreciate it. ...just sayin'.

There's a street in Brooklyn - Lafayette St. that seems to go on forever. It's sort of deceptive as you don't realize at first that you're jogging up a slight incline, but after a while I found myself wondering when this damn street would end.  That was the only point where I put on my iPod and tried to get taken away by some of the music I'd been training with.  It didn't help. The crowds were so loud and energetic that I preferred them to the music.  I just kept on running. I was averaging about a 9 Min Mile overall - exactly where I wanted to be.

At some stage I made it over to Queens.  An odd thing stands out to me and I'm not really sure why.  There was a huge sign that said - "We have Kosher marathon snacks!" and there was a Rabbi jumping up and down and smiling. Maybe I just really wished I tried a kosher marathon snack to see what it tasted like. I'm sure it was nothing like the ham sandwiches they were handing out at the Gatorade booths. ;)
Queens had a lot of people about, but really all I cared about was the dreaded 59th st bridge.  Everyone tells you that this is the one that gets yah. It's really steep up hill and you've already jogged 15-16 miles. I guess since I was mentally prepared it didn't seem to phase me all that much. I slowed down some and dug in. Now I was more interested in seeing my girl and my friends who were waiting for me along 1st avenue.

I was feeling great as I got over the bridge. I had a renewed energy. I knew my time was good, I felt good, my knees really only gave me a bit of pain - definitely bearable and much better than it had been over the previous months.
As soon as I rounded the corner onto 1st avenue there was an eruption of voices, horns, cowbells. The cheering was almost deafening. The adrenaline kicked back in. What an experience.  Honestly, I loved the feeling almost as much as my love for being on stage. What a rush!
I made it up to my friends and gave a quick squeeze hello. Seeing my friends was awesome! The additional support speaks volumes. Anyone reading this - go support your friends if they're running a marathon near you.  They will get such a lift!  Yeah, it's a super brief wave and hug, but it really means a lot.
So, it was a quick hello and then it was time to move on.

Jogging up 1st avenue towards the Bronx around the 18+ mile I hit the wall. Until it really happens to you you have no idea what that means.  You think you're prepared for it and so you'll run through it.  You're wrong.
Cramps - not cramps you've ever had before. I mean cramps in the oddest of places.  My forearms were first, most likely from holding my arms up in a running position. I kept trying to stretch them out, but as soon as I bent my arms again they came back.  Then my abs and butt cramped up at the same time.  I hit the next Gatorade table as soon as I could and also downed a salt packet.  Probably too late, but was worth the desperate attempt to continue. Then my knees started to give in... I'm not sure if my knees started hurting due to a change in form from all the cramping, or if they just finally decided "Hey man - we've put up with this running crap long enough". I hurt so much!  My body was radiating pain. My neck and shoulders stiffened up and my head was pounding. All I wanted to do was get to the end.

For those of you that know me well you'll know I've always been accident prone. I have broken so many bones and had so many sets of stitches. I can honestly say that on this day I was in the worst pain of my entire life.  This hurt more than my multiple broken noses, ankles, wrists, ribs... What's worse is it was self inflicted.
There was a point there when I thought to myself  "This is the stupidest thing you've ever done" (some would beg to differ). I also vowed to never do it again.

The next 4-5 miles were just painful. My times slowed down so much that I didn't even want to look at the clock anymore.  I kept jogging, but not very fast.  Matter of fact at about mile 23 I was jogging so slowly that an elderly woman was WALKING past me.  I looked over at her and said "Something is wrong here. You're walking faster than I'm jogging".  She looked at me and said "It hurts doesn't it?" and passed me by.

That was the turning point for me.  I knew at some point I'd be coming up on my friends again, and they'd be watching me... watching me getting passed up by old ladies walking (that bitch!).  I couldn't let that happen. This time it was pride and ego, not adrenaline, that got me to kick it back into gear.
I ran all out for the remaining miles. I just ran it out.  Nothing should be left in the tank at the end.  I could hear people yelling  "You're almost there" and "A quarter mile to go"... and in my head I'm yelling "Another quarter mile??? Shit!!!".  Then suddenly I could see it ahead - the glorious finish line.  The grin on my face spreading from ear to ear.  Not sure what happened, but I got my stride back and before I knew it the finish line was upon me. I was so proud and relieved...and and and... out of breath.

...and then there was a person waiting for me with my medal. It was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life.  Not just because I ran a marathon, but because I pushed on despite of myself and wouldn't allow myself to fail.  The medal and what it represents to me  is 'Mine' and no one can take that away from me.


Now it's time to train for next year... if I can get in.

"before I knew it the finish line was upon me"

"The medal and what it represents to me  is 'Mine'"