The New York Marathon

I came to just ahead of the alarm and was down in the hotel lobby ready for the coach departure at 6.45. With the heavy volume of marathon traffic headed to Staten Island the journey took us just over an hour and as we motored further and further away from Manhattan the full 26.2 miles suddenly seemed very real. Last minute fears about the knee (and having to walk the majority of the distance) suddenly surged but I did a good job of blocking them out by listening to the nervous chatter and words of wisdom from the other people on the bus.

Luckily the rain had cleared overnght and left us with a cool but pleasant temperature and overcast skies. Excellent marathon weather. Exiting the bus the huge scale of the marathon instantly hit me as we joined thousands of other runners from around the world all making our way to the starting area. Alongside the multitude of Americans one guy proudly wore a shirt which said "I'm from Uruguay and I have a dream... this is it." A french guy was encassed in a miniature version of the Eiffel Tower and "Harry the German" was right up ahead.


The 40th ING New York Marathon was the largest marathon in the world ever with over 43,750 finishers. To ease congestion the organisers staggered the start with three different waves, placing runners in pens according to their estimated completion time on the application form. After some final stretching and rallying words of encouragement (and one final loo stop) M and I went our separate ways. My Garmin took ages to switch on and I began to worry that it wouldn't be ready as I crossed the start line. Irrationally I panicked that I couldn't possibly run a marathon without it but it reluctantly cranked into gear just in time. After about ten minutes of standing around everyone began walking forward towards the Verrazano bridge. As we turned the final corner before the race began open top buses were blaring out New York themed songs and already policemen and security guards were shouting my name and words of encouragement.

And so it began. Being positioned at the back of the second wave I didn't have any problems with congestion but as the runners spaced out and I reached the middle section of the massive 1.5 mile long bridge with views of New York spread out wide in front of me I suddenly felt a little overwhelmed. It wasn't until I had successfully navigated the steep downhill section of the bridge and crossed into Brooklyn at around the two mile mark that I began to feel much more comfortable. One of the very first people in the roadside crowd shouted my name and as the street closed in and the supporters swelled I settled into my stride.


At the 5k mark I was averaging an 11 minute mile - slower than I had planned, but my confidence was growing, the knee was holding up and so I started to crank up the pace. The fourth avenue was possibly the best section of the entire marathon for me. Each mile got a little bit quicker, I felt fresh and the energy of the crowd was really spurring me on. Suddenly I was at the half way point and back up to a 10 minute mile. I really wanted to etch on my memory every step, every supporter, every banner, all 128 bands who lined the route, the groups of firemen and policemen and church groups and charity supporters but there were so many other things to concentrate on too - and at that precise moment in time it was finding the nearest roadside facility.

Getting going again was a struggle and the next mile took me over the Queensborough bridge and into Manhattan. People were beginning to flag. Seeing fully grown men and women wretching their guts up and stretching out on the floor to stretch their cramping mescles was unnerving but I still felt like there was plenty of gas in the tank so I tried to get my keep down and plough on through. Turning the corner to see First Avenue stretched out in front of me (all 4 miles of it) New York came into full view.


Over the next seven miles I had a couple of gels, a couple of Ibuprofen and plenty of water and passed through the Bronx and over the last bridge back into Harlem. One banner made me smile - "If you're hurting now it's because your kicking ass!" I knew the last 5 miles were going to be tough but I was unprepared that the final three would be the hardest, mentally, I've ever run. The hills, surprisingly, weren't the issue but I swear the mile markers were getting further apart. Entering Central Park was fantastic and I knew I was in the home straight but then coming back out again to run the outside perimetre up to Columbus Circle threw me off and I had a bit of a melt down. The supporters were four or five deep and the cheering was almost hysterical as people screamed "You got this Rosanne", "You own it!" The race photograhers were everywhere and the runners were crowded but suddenly I had just had to stop running and take some time out. As I slowed to a walk people shouted louder for me to "Finish strong" I started running again but I think I'd well and truly hit the wall. There was less than half a mile to go - I should have been flying.



Luckily a guy came up behind me just as we were about to re-enter the Park, slapped me on the back and said "Lets go!" That was it. I was back in my groove. I kept pace with him for about half the way but let him sprint off for the final .2. Crossing the finish was brilliant and also slightly surreal. As I was herded through and given my medal... I stopped for a photo. Not having to run anymore felt strange. I'd had waves of every kind of emotion on the way round but now I felt a bit numb. It was a mixture of relief, joy, fatigue and nostalgia. But underlying it all was a sense of satisfaction - I'd done it and done it well. Walking through the finishers area and back to the hotel was in a daze and it wasn't really until the next day that I felt able to really get excited about and enjoy my success.

Apart from having my family there to celebrate with I wouldn't change a thing. Running a marathon has given me so much more than a medal and respectable finishing time (I crossed the line in 04.33.22) I've genuinely enjoyed every minute of it. I carried the words and images of so many people along the course. I listened to everyone who told me to run harder, run faster, take it easy, stop, keep going, stride out, drink more, keep calm, suck it up, enjoy it, use it, smile. To all the people who sent me messages and called me, texted me, sponsored me, told their friends about me and listened for hours as I obsessed over injuries, routes, pace, blisters,what type of energy gels were best and what I could be doing differently - thank you. To all the people who joined me on the training runs or offered to cycle, walk or meet me at the finish - you were fantastic. I couldn't have done it without each and every one of you.

Arriving in the Big Apple

It's already been a week since I ran the New York marathon (yes I am now an official marathoner - hooray!) but I think that it will stand out as one of the best days ever for a long long time to come. M and I landed at JFK on the Friday before and from the get go the buzz surrounding the marathon was palpable. We checked in to our hotel, dumped our bags and headed straight to the Expo. Our excitement built as a steady stream of runners with their marathon bags kept passing us on our way. Registration was much easier than I had anticipated and once we had collected our race numbers and timing tags we were free to browse the array of stalls with ING branded running gear and accessories galore. Having sung the praises of The Stick throughout the training, M was excited to find a stand dedicated to the device and bought a slightly shorter and stiffer version of the one I have had on loan. The best thing about the Expo was the massive map which showed the route and how the course takes in the five main boroughs of New York City. Beginning on Staten Island, the race starts out with a 1.5 miles bridge crossing (the first of four) before taking in Brooklyn, then Queens, heading on to Manhattan at about mile 16 before nipping over to The Bronx and then using the fourth bridge to re-enter Manhattan in order to finish up in Central Park.


The following day we decided to loosen our legs with a 3 miler round Central Park, taking in the marathon finish line and trialing my ITB strap for the first time. It was raining and everywhere there were joggers of all nationalities taking their last run ahead of the big one. Despite being slow and slightly achy (these were my first post Cabbage Patch injury miles) it was a great feeling to be running again and the Central Park backdrop was very cool. What was not so cool was the stiff knee that developed less than an hour after the run. I was nervous about my ability to go the distance the following day without significant pain but luckily too excited to let it worry me much. I already knew that it was going to be an awesome day regardless of whether I had to run, walk or crawl round the course.


On Saturday evening we layered up against the rain and took the metro down to Brooklyn to meet up with some of M's family for a really decent pasta dinner and slice of Haloween inspired pumpkin pie. We found a lovely french bakery and bought some croissants for breakfast plus we stocked up on water and bananas to see us through to the start line. Once back at the hotel we spent the time before bed laying out all our gear and attaching our names and numbers to the front of our tops. Knowing I was staring pain in the face I calculated the maximum Ibruprofen it would be safe to consumer within a 24 hour period and then stuffed my running pouch full of the anti inflammatories, vaseline, gels and dextro energy tablets. Having been warned of the long wait at the start line in the cold early hours, and looking out of the window at the pouring rain, we lined up our additional clothing (which would need to be discarded on the roadside) and packed our last minute poncho purchases into the regulation see-through marathon bag.

With the clocks going back an hour that night (daylight saving) and feeling pretty content I settled down for a solid 7 hours of kip ahead of the 6.45 bus pickup from outside the hotel lobby.