New York City Marathon 2006 - RunMarathon

MARATHON DAY

Alarm goes off 5am, get up, get dressed, eat, pack clothes, kiss Kelley good bye and leave. I am freaking out! I take a taxi to meet up with Team For Kids and the buses they have arranged to take us to the start line. See Coach Adam for a split second. We get a police escort to the start line and arrive two hours early. I find the Team for Kids tent and use the bathroom. I find a piece of disappearing real estate on the ground to rest and relax the legs. It's solid overcast with a slight breeze and the temp is still in the 40's. I've a got a ton of layers on to shed as the start of the race approaches. Mike shows up and we get a quick picture as I'm re-arranging my layered clothing. I check my bag in at the UPS truck and go back to meet Mike. We start to do some light stretching but pretty much just BS the rest of the time away.

We make our way to the start line and figured we're way at the back of the pack. Somehow we ended up in the Orange start coral, on the upper level and only 100 yards from the start. Inside I'm thinking,
"This is not good! We're going to be trampled by 35,000 people behind us." We look back upon a sea of people waiting for 10:10am. Mike and I chat it up with some other runners while I start to shed my
clothes. Everyone else thought that would be a good time as well. Clothes started to fly everywhere!

10:10am BANG!

"New York New York" is now being pumped out through loud speakers. The mood went from a quite anticipation to an absolute electric atmosphere. Mike and I stayed to the left on the bridge and just tried to survive the wave of runners passing us. For the most part we maintained a steady pace up the bridge. On the downhill side we let gravity do the work and just relaxed. We knew we had a long way too go. During the entire run we held onto that idea. Only til mile 21 did we let go to see how fast we
could go.

Going over the first mile on the bridge you wouldn't think you were in a special race what so ever. That's until you come down to the bottom. It was like night and day. It was from a bunch of people running together, to a bunch of people running together in a big ass party! Right away we could hear music and people cheering at the top of their lungs. The energy from the crowd was overwhelming. It stayed that may during the entire run. I was so glad I didn't bring my Ipod. What a waste that would have been.

Mile 6. Mike and I breeze through mile 6 with a spot on 10 min pace. We did hit a snafu at an aid station. I knocked a cup of gatorade down the shorts of Mike. Poor guy had to finish the race with
sticky shorts for 20 miles.

Mile 8. I will never ever forget mile 8. This is where the three courses from the beginning come together into one final course. You can't imagine what it looks and feels like to merge into a sea of
thousands of runners coming up on your right. You feel like a horse in the wild west coming together with a fellow herd to speed off faster and faster, the only objective is to run. I felt like I had alot more in
me to pick up the pace. I knew I could have but also knew that it would not have lasted.

Mile 12. Mike and I ran next to a girl calling someone and asking them to bring her an Ipod. When she was done I asked to use her phone. She obliged and I called Kelley to yell into the phone I was at mile
12. She asked, "Is that where you are?" "YES...wait...mile 12.2 now!" The weather was now sunny and in the low 50's. Becoming a really nice day.

Mike and I hit the 59th street bridge after completing half the course. I felt ok and could tell my body was starting to feel it and that I needed to be real careful. I was feeling tired but not winded. By this
time I've stopped twice to pee and the music along the route kept our spirits high. My fuel belt had two bottles filled only with energy gels. I watered them down with cups of water and gatorade from the aid
stations. We hit the 59th street bridge and ran into complete darkness. "Oh yeah dummy, I'm wearing sunglasses"

Mile 16. We exited into Manhattan and once again the quietness of a bridge was broken by an unbelievable crowd of people. We rounded onto 1st Ave and I ran right into the arms of my fiancé', Kelley. Mom was shocked and surprised to see Mike Keller running with me. We kept that a surprise from her. We took about a minute to say hello to the rest of my family. Then Grant, Scott, Mom, Mary, Michelle and Jen all found out about me asking Kelley to marry me when I turned around to show them
the back of my shirt and what was written on it. "KELLY SAID YES". Then I took off running again.

Mile 18. Met Dad and Vicki right on cue at mile 18. I introduce them to Mike and then we took off running again. I could tell that my legs and lungs were starting to give way. I was approaching unfamiliar territory in mileage. The longest run I had done was 20.

Mile 20. Right on cue I felt very lethargic, tired and my energy level dropping. Leaving Manhattan over the bridge I got a sensation that I wasn't going to finish strong. My right hip and quad was giving me
indications that the tank was starting to run dry. For the next 2 miles I lumbered along having to force myself to keep running. I was paranoid at any moment my right leg was going to lock up like it did in
the FL Half Ironman. I remember that being very painful.

Mile 22. Coach Adam saves the day. Coach Adam spots me and runs up to meet me. We talk for a few seconds. He tells us to keep "Pull the ropes" with our hands in an up and down motion. That seems to work and gets me back into a groove. My running form had gone to pot and that little trick got it back.

Mile 24. Mike starts to take off once we get into Central Park but I find him a few minutes later. I see a buddy, Quinn, from Triscoop.com on the side of the road. I was really glad to see him.

Last Mile. -I'm now just running with all I have left. I don't care about my heart rate, I don't care about pace, or pain. I stop acknowledging all the people on the sides that are yelling out my name that's written on my shirt. It's just me and Mike. I run into Columbus circle and see me family sitting in the bleachers. I sprint to the finish line & finish my first Marathon! Mike says to me, "You're now a
marathoner". Time : 4:20:53

STOPPED
Mike and I hug and then walk into a sea of Mylar covered runners. The crowd is moving so slowing. Some people are off to the side getting sick. I start to get very cold and feel my legs locking up. I want
to keep moving but I can't because of all the people. We make our way to the Team For Kids section at Cherry Hill. I'm really really cold now and get my bag to get some warm clothes. I ignore a cell phone to call Kelley cause I have to get something warm on me right away. I cover up but realize I have nothing for my legs. I threw those away back at the start. I notice my breathing is very labored and I feel congested. I call Kelley and we meet up with the rest of the group a block west of the Park. We drive home to NJ with my medal around my neck and my legs all sore. Guess I did it right.


DNA