Sunday was the annual running of the greatest marathon on earth. As usual there were many stories to tell, lots of adventure, and the pre-requisite pain that this event always brings to me. This year they say that there were 39,000 runners. We were greeted by sunny skies and an expected high of 53 degrees. I didn’t even have to wear my long pants at 8AM while waiting for the 10AM race to begin. Here are a few highlights (and lowlights?).
1) I had a fun day and weekend. Seeing the US Olympic Marathon qualifier was awesome despite the tragedy mentioned in my previous post. Is it wrong that I get more fired up for this kind of event than professional baseball, football, or basketball? I guess its who I am.
2) Pat Webster runs like a girl. Pat (a guy) is one of my tri-club buddies ran the race this year. We decided to start the race together. Being the creative guy he is, Pat “snuck” us into the all girls starting corrall. Not the slow girls but the fassssst girls. We were two of the only men in there. I can’t say it was a bad place to start. 20 yards from the actual starting line and a much nicer gene pool than I’m used to starting this race with. We did, however, get our fair share of stares from the fasties.
3) ING NYC 26.2 always hurts. Usually quite a bit at the finish. Pain in calves, back, head, and feet this year. This race always beats me up. I finished in 3:40 and change with a 3 minute reverse split. My start was slow and my finish was slow. I had flashes of strength in the middle. I was clearly unprepared for this event. See next bullet.
4) My lead up to this race included a Wednesday deep tissue massage, a suspected broken or badly bruised toe incident late Wednesday night, two beers and a glass of wine the day/night before the race, and two huge meals the day before. Not smart. Add to that a lack of running during the previous 8 weeks and I have excuses for suffering my way to a 3:40.
5) I almost overslept the loading of the bus to the start. The clock in my room automatically changed for DST and I did not know. I wondered why it was light at what I thought was 5:09AM. It was because it was actually 6:09 as the clock said. We departed at 6:30. Missed much of my marathon morning ritual.
6) It was a great day. I ended up at the New York Athletic Club with my friend Kinger afterwards laying down on the fancy carpeted floor drinking a beer. It was a great way to end the day…prior to the airplane flight home I am on as I write this.
Congrats to all the finishers of the ING NYC Marathon, Ironman Florida, and the inaugural City of Oaks Marahon in Raleigh. Special congrats to my training buddy Jon Mixson who hammered out a 3:13 for a Boston qualifier. Uh oh, the competition in the tri club is continuing to increase!!!!
