ING New York City Marathon - RunMarathon

Started off very well - used a course-adjusted pace band for the race and although a few miles were a little quicker than planned (like the first mile), we were close to being on track. Had a great time, enjoyed the crowds, and just enjoyed the morning. Kirk and I were chatting constantly the first 10 miles, so it was a very comfortable pace. The crowds were AMAZING - they were 5 people deep in many places - the entire course (except bridges) were lined with enthusiastic spectators. There were bands, random people singing, and all sorts of "entertainment" along the way - I didn't regret leaving my mp3 at home.

Around mile 10, things started to take a turn for the worse. My stomach started feeling very uncomfortable and around 12 I gave in and said we needed to run a little slower to try to settle things down. Around mile 14/15, I gave in - had to take a quick walk break. Kirk suggested I hold off on my 3rd Gu to try to let my stomach settle and take some more water - which seemed to help. Unfortunately, I started to get hungry and tried my 3rd gel around mile 16 - which brought back my stomach issues again.

**Note: I am still not sure why this happened. I used the same Gu flavors and frequency I have trained with all year!

Gave up on eating and tried to drink more water to settle things back down. As soon as that started to get better, everything else started to get much worse. My injured upper leg was completely fine all day, but everything else decided to cause severe pain. The hip flexor on my other leg, both hips, and my feet (the worst!) were just not having it! Kirk was such a good running buddy and massaged my foot a few times - it was a struggle for the last 10 miles - so I could keep going. I was so frustrated that I couldn't maintain even a 10 minute pace at this point, but I was in so much pain I just did what I could.

Finally getting to Central Park was awesome - although I think these miles were some of the slowest. Kirk was hurting a bit at this point too, so we were trying to encourage each other to keep moving when we could and stretching when we needed to. We already knew a PR wasn't possible, so it didn't really matter anyway - we both just wanted to get to the finish line and stop! :)

Finally crossing the finish line - the crowds were SO thick through here - was great. We were super cheesy and held hands crossing the finish line (I hope they got that in our picture!).


Not get injured 5/6 weeks before the race. I think my body was not able to cope with the distance after so many missed miles.

This was my least favorite part of the race! They made us walk almost 15-20 blocks through Central Park before we could get out. I just wanted to sit down and warm up, but if you sat down, it was just so cold!


Lack of mileage during the final stages of preparation. I am very happy with my performance the first half of the race. I think if I was able to complete my training without being injured, I would have been able to finish faster than planned. I need to add consistent strength training and no more standing intervals on the bike.

Also need to figure out what happened with my stomach and nutrition. I'm not sure why the nutrition I've trained with for a year caused problems during the race, but I could have had a better performance for a lot longer had that not happened.


This was my 5th marathon and the best course/spectators so far! I have never wanted to repeat a race, but this one will be on my schedule again. Highly recommended!!