Since this is also an archive, it’s never “too late” to write a race report. It might not be super interesting to read about things that have happened five months ago, but hey, who cares in ten years. So here it goes, my NYC Marathon race report!
I had trained more and more focussed than ever for this event. Specifically, I followed a seven weeks plan for triathletes who want to do a marathon late in the season. It was about five sessions running per week, one swim and two bike (and two core strength). The long runs on weekends were never super long, but after the run there was between one and two hours of bike every time, just to keep the metabolism going but spare the joints.
I missed only one key workout, but replaced three of the interval runs with races: a short one after the first week of training, a half marathon after the fourth week and a short hilly race after the fifth week. I didn’t taper for these races, but the high volume weeks (high for me) paid off, all three races went very well and the half marathon was a personal best by about four and a half minutes.
I travelled to New York a few days before the marathon and was most generously hosted by Sarah (and her “children”), one of my longest standing tumblr friends. Marathon week was very easy, a short run and a swim on Tuesday, fifteen minutes in my goal pace (padded by warm-up and cool-down) on Wednesday and a super easy five kilometres on Saturday.
During training, my right foot had started to hurt a little after long workouts, and during that very last run before the race, I could feel I quite strongly but didn’t let it bother me much. (Spoiler: I didn’t feel it at all on race day.)
On Sunday morning, I took the Staten Island ferry with what felt like 10’000 people, 90% of which seemed to be Italian. I could catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, but it was a bit far away and I had other things on my mind. Like, running.
I was quite early in the runners’ village before the start and, after dropping off my bag, spent more than an hours walking around, getting coffee, bagels, power bars and what not (more coffee). A bit more than half an hour before my allotted starting time (in the first of three waves), we were called into our corrals. I was in number eight, about in the middle of my wave, which was a bit slower than what I wanted to run, but when I signed up for the race, I predicted 3:20:00, so that’s where I was put.
I just kept to the front of my corral so I could advance a bit when we would walk to the starting line. It was rather cold, but I had my fancy old clothes (to be thrown away before the start) and it was manageable. Just before it was time to go to the starting line, I decided to use the toilet one last time – of course exactly when the crowd starting moving. I caught up with people quickly though and was about in the first third of my wave, I guess.
Here are the crowds at the three starting locations:
I was in the rightmost, maybe fifty metres from the line. Where the elite men were starting, but I couldn’t see them anyway. After the national anthem, it was about time to get going! I had set my Garmin to a pace of 4:12 min/km, a bit faster than required for my goal of sub three hours, but better safe than sorry.
Despite the huge amount of people, the crowd came to a stand still just once after the start, and it was rather easy going, not much pushing or the like. Still, the first kilometre was very slow, maybe two minutes slower than my goal pace. That’s maybe because there were a lot of people running, could it be?
I was running on the curb as it was the easiest to pass people there. The price to pay was having to watch out where I was putting my feet as everybody peed at the wall (and over the curb, subsequently). Note to self: if ever running on the lower deck, keep far away from the edge. That’s not water trickling down from the top deck!
The bridge was over soon, and we entered Brooklyn. The routes of the three different starting locations converged here, but there was enough room for everybody. The crowds along the street were massive, I had never seen such a thing at footraces before. I thought to myself “if it keeps being like this for the rest of the course – that’s going to be easy”. (Spoiler: it wasn’t all that easy.)
I still had to catch up on the time lost in the very beginning but didn’t want to rush. At the 10 kilometres mark, I was about twenty seconds slower than my goal time, so that was okay. It was so warm that I got rid of my arm warmers (as in stuffed them under the waistband of the shorts). Here I am at the 10k mark (lower right corner, black shirt, black shorts, left foot in front):
After the very entertaining 4th Avenue in Brooklyn, there was some zigzagging on very narrow streets, half filled with spectators. I think it was there around where I passed Dr. Andy. (I don’t recognise “celebs” from behind, but it seems they wore bib numbers with their name on them on the front and the back. That’s how I knew.)
I don’t recollect too much from the rest of Brooklyn, just that in some neighbourhoods people were decidedly not interested in the race. Well. Their loss.
I kept my pace in check all the time, and at the half marathon point, I was pretty much on target. The clock here shows the gun time, and it had taken me about two minutes to cross the starting line:
I’m the guy behind the one in red, checking his watch.
The half marathon point was on the second bridge of the race, still a friendly one, and was also where we entered Queens.
I don’t remember much about that part, just that there was a lot of zigzagging. Okay, compared to Brooklyn, pretty much everything is zigzagging, but still. To get from Queens to Manhattan, we had to cross Queensboro Bridge. I had been warned, but it was still awful. We ran on the lower deck, so my GPS went a bit crazy: I knew I was slowing down a bit, but not that much.
No people were around to cheer, only runners suffering on the seemingly endless slope. I tried to keep it steady and then take advantage of the downhill, which made for the fastest kilometre split of the race. I guess. Can’t believe my GPS data from there!
Getting to the end of the bridge, we had to do a 270 degrees turn, onto 1st Avenue. Coming from such a difficult, lonely part onto this avenue with spectators about five rows deep on each side felt like entering a stadium with a huge crowd cheering. Running really did itself for some time now!
On 1st Avenue was the only time that Powerbar gels were offered. I had brought four of my own and started eating one every thirty minutes from the first hour on. I think this is the 2:30:00 gel:
That’d mean that I was already past The Bronx. And over the last two bridges, which were not very steep or anything, but it was a bit lonely and getting hot. The little loop in the Bronx was fun, and it looked more and more like I could finish on time.
Back in Manhattan, we soon started running along Central Park:
The last few kilometres are a blur. Not because I was super exhausted but because there was so much going on. The very last bit is also all uphill and I had to watch out no to lose too much time.
The last curves were approaching, I checked my watch – and was good to go! The gun time was about 3:01:something, but my time was 2:59:09. I didn’t know exactly, but clearly I reached my sub three hours goal.
As you can tell, I was all smiles and super happy. (Maybe more internally so. I was also pretty exhausted.) The post finish photographers had a hard time with me, it took them several tries to come up with this masterpiece:
Finisher!
The walk/shuffle to the trucks with my clothes took about forever as everything hurt, but I had lots of good talks. There were quite a few people with me who just missed their sub three hours goal, but nobody seemed to be bitter about it. We laughed and joked, and I got my clothes in no time.
That was my New York Marathon experience! In case it hasn’t become clear: this race was one of my most rewarding sporting experiences ever. Firstly, just because of the breathtaking scale of the event, secondly, because it showed me that if I work hard for a goal, I can reach it.
Now I just have to transfer this knowledge to my “swimming” and triathlon!
My best takeaway from the race is a time qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which I plan to do in 2013.
