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Comments: Well the Grapple in the Apple http://grappleintheapple.blogspot.comlived up to the hype and Dick Dime crushed the Lance by 3 minutes! The zealot throng of Lance-Lovers were left slack jawed and disappointed; questioning not only The Lance, but themselves. In fact, many have since switched their allegiance to The Dime. The Dime tried to start slow. Knowing that this course sucks up people who go out too fast, I tried to start conservatively. It is really hard to be disciplined because of the excitement at the start and everyone else seems to be racing. The Dime would prove to be no exception here… so it goes. Somehow I managed to keep my first mile down to 7:09, but my second mile clocked in at 5:57 before I settled down to about a 6:30 pace. I stayed at this pace for a majority of the run. At the half-way point my time was 1:25:25 – right where I needed to be to race a 2:50 for the entire course. Unfortunately, I started to feel the lactic acid build up in my calf’s first and then in my quads. I pretty much ran 20 minute and change 5K splits up until around 30K. At this point I knew the last part of the race was going to be a struggle. Still, I was hanging on. I realized at about 20 miles that this race could go south quickly and horribly or I could dig real deep and try to manage my decline in speed and salvage the day. I think I was fortunate in that I did a great job of surviving this run… I knew that No Chance Lance was being paced by Alberto Salazar and Joan Benoit and could close in me so I remained poised and tried to let the crowd inspire me on… utilizing other runners as landmarks to reach and pass… I didn’t have any juice as I entered Central Park but I knew that I was going to finish with a respectable time. Normally I like to run really hard at this part of the race, but today I just rolled in knowing that No Chance Lance had no chance… Race splits: 7:09, 5:57, 6:32, 6:30, 6:25, 6:20, 6:27, 6;33, 6:28, 6;28, 6:41, 6:25, 6;41, 6:42, 6:42, 7:03, 6:40, 6:40, 6:44, 6:53, 6:54, 7:04, 6:55, 7:30, 7:19, 7:24, 1:37 What would you do differently?: Its hard to say... I would have liked to have run a 2:53 or better, and its easy to say that I went out too hard, but then again... maybe I did the right thing. I wish I didn't fade at the end. Perhaps with a little more fast running at the end of my long training runs I can build up a stronger finish. But hey, Dime 2:56:52 - Lance 2:59:36.  Post race
Warm down: Walked to the UPS truck to get my personal gear, ate an apple, changed and went to the family meet-up area to wait on the Lilia-Monster... I didn't have to wait long as she ran a 3:13! Went to the bar... Drank a few beers and had some bad food. What limited your ability to perform faster: Racing to the level of my competition... Lance Armstorng. No, seriously I think I ran as well as I could today. I'm happy and I want to build upon the base I built tri-training this summer and come out really strong next year. Event comments: Great race, great event! Its a toss-up between Boston and New York as far as my favorite races... I'm leaning toward Boston, Lilia is leaning towards New York. A special thank you to Lance Armstrong for running this race. It inspired me to be cheesy and to race hard. More importantly he inspires millions of people to overcome physical hardships with not only action but with money. LiveStong! Last updated: 2006-11-06 12:00 AM
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United States
ING
50F / 10C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 649/38000
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 122/?
We flew out on the red-eye early Friday night arriving to NYC too early to check in to our hotel... Be-bopped around the Apple, went to the Expo and mercifully, spent less than 100 bucks on both essential and non-essential race gear! Ate at Wild Oats (twice) and made it into bed by 7 PM. I fell asleep as my head hit the pillow. Woke up at about 3:30, took a shower, put on a bunch of the old nipple gel (no more bloody nipples for this guy), dressed… dragged the Lilia-Monster out of bed… no easy thing either… nothing is worse than a tired and grumpy Lilia-Monster. Grabbed a cab and headed to the busses.
By the way, this was the smoothest and most efficient mass bussing at a marathon that I have experienced. We were on a bus within a minute or two and on our way in less than 5 minutes!
Arrived to Staten Island at around 6:30 or so and it was COLD. Once we arrived we found the breakfast and I inhaled a plain bagel and 1.5 plain Dunkin Donuts and a cup of coffee. Not the greatest pre-race meal… I sort of expected more.
Luckily Lilia snaked a blanket from our hotel… we basically cuddled in the blanket and made repeated trips to the blue plastic depositories to which I added a bit to the account. I would have preferred to contribute more, but failed to save up enough and my deposit was paltry at best.
At 9:45 I dropped off my personal items at the UPS trucks and headed to my coral. I didn’t enjoy the shameless people (men and women) going potty on the bridge… but whatever…
3 minutes to go.
I didn't really warm-up for the race. I never usually do, I prefer to conserve my energy for the race. Luckily at around 9:30 the temps sort of went up to the mid-40s and the sun was trying to come out. My feet were numb and felt like bricks.