NYC Marathon Recap

Well I didn't reach my hard trained goal of a 3:30-3:40 marathon.  In fact I was far from it.  Everyone has their day and yesterday unfortunately was not mine.  I finished at 4:06:37, my slowest marathon yet not counting the marathon I ran/walked one.  What happened?  I think it was a blend of different things that did not let me do my best.  Here is the breakdown....

This was me headed out at 4:30 so I could make it on the 5:45 Staten Island Ferry.  Even though I got an extra hour with daylight savings I was still tired and did not sleep well.  I think I finally feel asleep around 11 and woke up once at 3:30 and then again at 4 to get up.  After the ferry we took a nice and warm comfy bus to the village.  It was even at that point I was thinking how nice it would be to stay on the bus.  I was not looking forward to running.

Went with the black nails that made me happy whenever I looked at them!

I arrived at my village when the sun was barely coming up.  I would say around 6:15-6:30 It was chilly and I am so glad that I bought throw away clothes at good will to keep me warm.  They were also giving out hot chocolate, tea, coffee etc.  Dunkin Donuts gave out hats so everyone sitting around had on an orange and pink hat on which was pretty funny.  Then I began to wait..... and wait, during this time I kept thinking this will all be over soon.  Not very uplifting I know but to be honest from the beginning  I was dreading running this thing.

This was on the ferry ride over.

When I left at 4:30 I ate a piece of Peanut Butter toast and then at 8:50 I ate 4 graham crackers.  Hardly drank any water and did drink a big scoop of caffeine.  Mistake!   Finally made my way to the start at 9:15 and at 10:10 the gun went off!  I was feeling pretty good the first 4 miles expect I was so thirsty and my mouth was so so dry.  I knew then this was going to be a tough run.  I was staying around my 8:00 pace.  And at mile 7 a sever side ache set in and I think it was due to dehydration.  I had some friends that would be cheering me on around mile 11 so already early in the race I was thinking just make it to them and see what happens after that.

Saw my friends, that really helped but as I ran past my street I so desperately just wanted to go home. I really didn't know how I was going to make it to the finish.  At mile 12 I stopped to walk, drink water and eat my shot blocks.  I was trying to eat them every 4 miles.  It was at mile 12 that I began to feel dizzy.   From 12 on I was feeling super light headed and concentrated on not falling over.  I would run then walk, run then walk.  At mile 17 I saw snowflake sparkles, but I knew I had to finish.  I was at a 8:45 pace.  Mile 21-24 was super hard.  It was down 5th avenue but I really felt like I was running up.  It was at a slope up the entire 3 miles.  Finally into the park and just past 24, I stopped eating shot blocks at 20.  I couldn't think about eating anything else because I felt so out of it.  

After mile marker 24 a guy was giving out salt, without thinking I grabbed it and took it down not realizing that I would not have water for an entire mile.  During that mile I wanted to throw up!  I was really feeling sick at this point.  Finally mile 25 and I drank water!  I was at a 9:22 pace and my last mile was at 9:25.  

I was so happy that it was OVER!!  I really can't believe that I finished.  I really really wanted to quit.  Not to mention that it was super crowed the entire race and after you cross the finish line you are shoulder to shoulder with finishers waiting to get their medal, then through the photo line and then the blanket and finally the food bag about 200 meters later.  All I could think about was getting some water.  I was so thirsty.  The worst part was that you had to walk what felt like another mile to pick up my bag and get out of the park.  I felt like I was being herded like a cow.  It was awful!

Finally I met up with Scott and we went and got some food!!  I am not going to lie, when I saw him I broke down in tears.  All of that hard work felt worthless.  Those hard track workouts and tempo runs.  My training was brutal so I could have a great race but when my race was worse I felt like a failure.  I am not sure why things happen the way they do but in the end I am just happy that I finished.  I guess this means I will have to run another one to reach my goals.  

 

After I ate we headed home so I could just hang out with Ivan on the couch.  I am taking that entire week off and maybe two before I put my running shoes on again.  And the next time I go I am NOT taking my watch!  I have decided after this race I am going back to the days when I ran without a watch.  I felt like a better and stronger runner when I was not looking down at my pace every mile.  Those were my best runs and I want to get back to that.

PS I failed to mention that my feet started hurting around mile 9 and were throbbing the last 10 miles.  I am NOT wearing CEP socks again for a race!  The bottoms of my feet right under my pinkie toes are killing me and I lost another toe nail which means on my right foot I have two toes with no nails!  YUCK!

Cheers everyone I finished!  Here is to another and BETTER race!!

XX
Sarah