ING New York City Marathon...for Lulu...part 2

Last Saturday night was daylight savings, which meant an extra hour of sleep. Yeah! As much as I hate it getting darker earlier in the day, I won't complain about some extra sleep. But not knowing if my phone was going to manually change over or not (which is what I use for my race morning alarm) meant I kept waking up during the night to check. And then there's just the excitement of running that has you a little more wound up with anticipation.

I've run a lot of marathons this year, and after awhile it's all the same, right? Some days, yes. You get up, do the same things, eat the same things, and go off to run. But this wasn't just any race, this was what wound up being historically the largest marathon to date, with just shy of 45,000 finishers: this was the New York City Marathon!! This was definitely one to lose a little sleep over!!

It was also going to be a crazy cold one too! I had been warned by plenty of people that waiting on Staten Island for the start would be very cold and to bring throw away clothes. I layered myself in a tank, long sleeve shirt and jacket, and didn't have any intentions of shedding anything. Pull on the gloves, put on the hat, and this just might keep me warm enough (might).

With Bart Yasso just before getting on the bus

I headed down to the lobby to meet the rest of my bus mates. I was riding in on the Runner's World bus and by 6:30am I was aboard, enjoying the heat, a bagel and orange juice and the company of Jen, who was running NYC as her 4th marathon. We had a great conversation, and the ride passed with no time. Looking out through the front of the buses window, I could see the police escort car in front of us, the roads mostly desolate aside from the other buses.

We got to the drop off point and upon exiting the bus we went through a security check and into the runners village. Each color group had their own area, with tables set up offering Dunkin Donuts Coffee, Power Bars, Gatorade, water and bagels. With more than enough waiting time on their hands, people had brought towels, fold up chairs and trash bags to sit on. And then there were the very smart ones, who had brought sleeping bags. I walked past several people, who were cozy and snug, laying on the ground in their sleeping bags, looking quite relaxed. And with how cold it was, I was seriously jealous! Someone was handing out packs of hand warmers and I went for that right away. I took mine out and immediately put them inside under my gloves. Even the coffee wasn't enough to keep warm. It was just that cold. Now mind you, I am a seriously cold person by nature, so I'm sure that had something to do with it. But even so, the temps were in the low 30's and we were right off the water, with wind that didn't want to quit.

 Thank God for coffee!

And I had to throw this in here - have you ever seen a UPS truck with flames??!

I found a place with sunlight and made my own "camp." The lady next to me offered me a trash bag to sit on and we chatted. With different waves of runners starting at different times, a massive board in front of us flashed important information about when to enter your corrals and such. The information was listed in several different languages as there were runners from all over the world. When I had registered for the race, I had listed my finishing time as 5 hours, thinking that I wanted to make sure I had enough time to take photos and all. Now I was wishing I had listed an earlier time. I was set to be in the last wave of runners, and our start was 10:40.

 Our View of the start!

I think one of the hardest parts of this race was all the anticipation. It was a ton of anticipation leading up to the race, getting to NY, and my time there. Now we had several more hours of anticipation, and many of the runners I spoke with had been up at 4 am in order to make their bus on time. Then the race started, for the wheelchair, and then elite athletes. The large screen switched over to the televised programing, and we watched as the gifted took the bridge. A roar of cheers rang out through the crowds. The energy was crazy and it made you jolt with excitement.

 Watching the elites get ready

I began to wonder how starting so late in the day would affect my run. I was about to find out very soon! When my corral was finally called to line up I made sure to head over right away. I wanted to try and get toward the front and maybe start a few minutes earlier. We entered into what I thought was going to be the holding area, waiting for our corral start, but as we walked through, I saw that we were heading straight for the start line. There was no waiting time at all! I think I must have somehow been entered into the tail end of wave 2. I glanced at my watch as I hit the starting mats; it read 10:20.

We started off running over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which is actually the longest suspension bridge in the US and my group was on the lower level. It would have been fantastic to be on the top, but even our views were amazing. Everyone was hollering, the sound echoing back as the wind moved through.

One of the best parts about this race, you get to run through all 5 boroughs of New York: Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Manhattan. I had heard that NY is a 26.2 mile long party and boy were they right! I have never seen so many people come to cheer at a race. They lined the streets, they yelled, they cheered, they gave high fives and had banners, signs, balloons and some were handing out treats. Even in the bitter cold, they stood for hours, bundled up with heavy coats, scarves and hats. I really enjoyed the energy and I found myself giving high fives to every person with their hand out. At some points it seemed like nothing but a long line of hands. We may have been only running a 9-10 minute mile, but these folks made us feel like we were flying! With an estimated 2 million spectators along the course, you can imagine the noise! It was an energy overload. And as I'm sure happened to a few other folks, I found myself carried away, running a bit faster than I intended. It all felt great, I was warming up (sorta) and this was just flat out FUN!

And if the New Yorkers didn't think they were loud enough, there was over 120 bands along the course, offering a wide variety of music to entertain us as well. I generally run with an iPod. It's always nice to have when you need some focus or a little pick me up. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. Today I put one ear bud in one ear and left the other one out, and I couldn't even hear the music over the sound of everything and everyone else. It was at that moment, that I decided I won't be needing this today, and tucked it away.

 Every part of New York offered different sights, and crazy crowds. The miles were passing like magic, I felt good, and I wanted to just keep rocking it that way. One thing that sincerely surprised me was the fact that the streets were not nearly as congested as I would have imagined. Having just run the Marine Corps Marathon the weekend before, with about half as many runners, I have to say I felt much more congestion in that race than in New York. Don't get me wrong, it was people, people everywhere, but it wasn't overly difficult to move through and by far much less frustrating than the previous week in that regard.

I came across several friends on the race course which shocked the heck out of me considering the odds. It was a day of sightseeing, taking in the views, and atmosphere. I saw flags from so many different countries, runners proudly wearing their country's colors on their attire. It was bridges and sky scrapers, and again crowds that never ended.

All was going well until around mile 17-18. I started feeling a lack of energy. I tried to just ignore it and stay focused on the run, but really I was trying to ignore the signs, I was heading towards a crash. Maybe the turkey burger the night before just wasn't the right fuel, or I just hadn't been taking in enough on the course, but regardless, I was starting to lose steam and lose it quickly. Looking back, I think the issue was partly because of the late start. For the vast majority of my marathons I am done by 1 pm. I'm kicking back, eating pizza by this point. And things like that can really mess with your system.

As a result I started to really mentally remove myself from my surroundings.  I stopped looking at the people, I paid no attention to the crowd. It was all about getting through this mile. I hate getting to that point, you really do miss a lot of a race as your sight becomes almost like tunnel vision. I just keep pushing through, but I was slowing down. I took a few walking breaks to try and recollect myself, but those miles turned into a blur. Visions of Dory (from Finding Nemo) popped in my head,  with her saying "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming swimming." I felt like I was swimming alright! And I needed to be running!

 Now that's the way to celebrate!  

As we entered into Central Park for the last couple miles of the race I was still struggling with how I felt, but happy to be so close to the finish line. It was a frenzy of spectators that continued to cheer us onward and it was a good pick me up. Large signs marked the course as we came to the last 1/2 mile, and then each 100 meters had a sign with the distance left to the finish. As the finish line came into view, I felt such relief. Crossing in 4:23, I was disappointed with just how much I had crashed on the course, but I was so happy to be done!

As the last mile through Central Park had been crowded, so was the finish area. And we moved slowly, as a pack, trying to make our way out to the open streets. But it was a long, long walk and with all the people, it took a long, long time. By this point it was after 3pm, and I just wanted to go get some real food. The set up required us to walk past every UPS bag truck, and there was no chance to just leave the area. Frustrating, but I also understood the race staff was trying to make things flow as efficiently as possible.

Overall, I was highly impressed with the organization of the event. In order to manage such huge numbers of runners, the work load is high. Over 6,000 people came out to volunteer for the marathon, on top of over 100 people that work full time year round to make this event happen every November. New York has come a long way from its start in 1970, when the first NYC Marathon took place: 127 runners toed the start line, only 55 finished, and the entry fee was less than a school lunch ($1).  

And while you're looking at the numbers, New York offered some pretty big ones this year, giving away over $800,000 in prize money, with the male and female winners getting a whopping 130k a piece! But I don't run to win, or for money, and it's a darn good thing, because I'd be very disappointed and even more broke if that was my goal! I'm running for numbers, in a very different sense, those being 1,500 and 26,000. Over 1,500 orphans living in severe poverty in the Eastern Cape of South Africa are the reason I have run every mile of every marathon this year. And $26,000 is the financial goal to help bring hope and a new beginning to these children's lives . I will probably never win a dime running a race. I can't imagine what it must feel like to win the New York Marathon, the work, the sacrifice, the pride. But I can imagine, what $20 dollars means to Lulu. It means a school uniform.  I ran this race for Lulu, who is 9. She is the sister of Babo, whom I ran for last week. They are considered vulnerable to becoming orphans because their father is gone, and while they live with their mother, she has no job or means to support them. Lulu and her brother told 25:40 that "there is no money for food and clothing." Rules have changed in South Africa, allowing children to attend school with or without a school uniform. But the stigma these siblings face from their peers is awful if they do not have a uniform. Think about the kind of jeering our own kids face if they wear something that sticks out. And for Lulu and Babo, they face that daily as neither has a school uniform. What a difference, a mere $20 would mean to her.

 "Lulu"

New York is big, bold, loud, amazing, and exciting. But in my opinion none of it touches me the way these orphans stories have. $20 won't go very far in NY, but it can mean the world of a different to Lulu. Every dollar donated goes straight to help these kids! So please join me, give hope, give a new beginning, donate! 

My medal

Final Race Stats:

4:23:48 finishing time

23,240 out of 44,708 overall

6,055 out of 16,043 women

1,166 out of 2,621 in my age group (25-29)