New York City Marathon 2006 - RunMarathon


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New York, New York
United States
ING
48F / 9C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 4h 15m 22s
Overall Rank = 16767/37000
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 2779/
Pre-race routine:

We went out to dinner as a group the night before, I was lucky enough to go up with 6 friends who also were doing the race. Dinner was at Sardi's which was pretty cool. Saw part of the fireworks on our way back to the hotel. I packed my stuff and was in bed at about 9:30. I did not sleep great, got up at 4:30 and got ready to go. Body glide on everything that moves, ate part of a bannana and a pb sandwich and met everyone in the lobby at 5. We took cabs to the library where the busses were and boarded the busses, not too long of a wait.
Event warmup:

The warmup consited of staying warm! It was a little chilly, probably in the low 30's. We all hung out in the blue corral together. I learned from last year and had a light sleeping bag to keep me warm, extra clothes as well. I had some coffee, drank a gatorade and ate about 1/2 of a pb sandwich. We just chilled there till about 9:00 and the the others left for their corrals. I was running with a friend of mine who had not done a marathon before so he was a little nervous so i went over how the start went, where we go, etc. I think that that helped me be not as nervous. We made our way over to our pace group, 4:15. I learned after missing them last year that you had to get there early so it was nice this year not to freak out. We dumped our sweatpants and herded towards the start. From the time the gun went off till we crossed the start was about 7 minutes I would guess. It is a little nerve wracking because it is so crowded an you are trying not to trip on all the discarded clothes, water bottles, etc.
Run
  • 4h 15m 22s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 09m 45s  min/mile
Comments:

Overall I think that it was much easier to do it the second time, I knew what to expect and how crowded it would be. It was neat seeing all the bands, the neighborhoods, the smells, etc. It really is like a slice of life running this marathon, you see and experience a little bit of everything. The one thing that suprised me was that even though you are so close to finishing that you can hear it, the urge to quit was amazing and powerfull.I remember thinking at mile 25 I would alternate between thinking that if I could figure out a way to get out of the park I would quit and then being mad at myself for even thinking about quitting. I think my friend Alex said it best when he turned to me at about mile 22 and said that he would pay someone $100.00 a mile to come and finish it for him.
Just a great weekend all the way around, we went up on Friday and came back Tuesday night so we got to hang out together as a group and see the sights.We went to the Today show on Monday and they managed to get a nice closeup of my finisher's medal and all of us on TV.
I would highly recommend this marathon, it is an experience that you will never forget.
What would you do differently?:

I think I could have come in closer to 4 hours if I had really pushed it, but this is not a race that you can make up time if you fall behind.
Post race
Warm down:

My only knock on this race is the after the finish part, I really could say that I've done an ultra-distance because they herd you for what seems like a couple of miles before you can get your stuff from the UPS trucks and leave the park.It took me about 1.5 hours to get my stuff, find my wife and walk back to the hotel. I think that that's the coldest I've been in my life!
We all met at Maxi's in Times Square for a big fat burger and a few beers that night, it was awesome!!
One of the funniest parts of the weekend was watching people go up and down stairs, you could tell who ran just by how they walked and groaned.

Event comments:

Probably the best organized race I have ever done, how they get 39,000 people to the start and the stations along the way are truly amazing.




Last updated: 2006-11-08 12:00 AM
Running
04:15:22 | 26.2 miles | 09m 45s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/37000
Performance: Good
Course: What a fantastic race, I have nothing to compare it to since this is my second and my first was also NY but you can not beat the fans out on that course! My goal this year was 4:15 so the main focus was keeping the pace group in sight. This is not as easy as it sounds, our girl could magically move up through the crowd, we would have to dodge and weave and sprint to catch up to her and then if you slowed for water you would have to do it all over again. The bridges were not bad, none of them bothered me at all, I could not remember which one everyone complains about, we were on about mile 18 when I asked someone and found out that it was the Queensboro bridge at mile 16. The crowd never really thinned out till we got to Manhattan, about mile 18. I took gels at mile 10, 14,18 and part of one at 22, it was coming back up so I skipped the rest. I can't remember how much water or gatorade I took in but really concentrated on staying hydrated this year. I brought a water bottle with me for the first few miles so that I did not have to stop at the water stops till about the 8 mile mark. I felt OK, not great but not bad. I remember thinking early on that something was wrong, my plan was to run the first 10 easy, really concentrate on the next 10 and then just try to hang on for the last 6. It seemed like i was working too hard on the first 10 but my splits were pretty even so I decided to just go with it. At about mile 17 I could tell I was getting a blister, I had to run on the side of my foot for a while and then all of a sudden I had a sharp pain, I thought I had done something horrible like broke a bone or something. I looked down an saw blood oozing from my shoe right near the big toe so I knew that the blister had popped, it really did not feel to bad after that. Miles 22 and on were tough. I was really struggling to keep focused and not walk.The uphill stretch on fifth avenue is rough, it's up a slight hill and you can see runners for miles. I had been able to run with Alex up till now but he was feeling bad and said it was OK to leave him and go. I knew I was still on pace to be around my goal so I pushed on. The last 2 miles were the hardest, you are so close but it's so far away. Once I got the the sign that said 400 yards to go I could not stop from smiling! I saw my wife at the finish, she was right in front on the bleacher so I stopped and gave her a kiss, (and almost fell over) and ran to the finish. My splits are as follows: 5k 30:32 10k 1:00:19 15k 1:29:56 20k 1:59:55 1/2 2:06:28 25k 2:30:25 30k 2:59:26 35k 3:29:51 40k 4:01:18 Finish time was 4:15:22 I kept my mile splits with my watch, I missed a few of the mile markers but they were all pretty even, from 9:21 to around 9:45, a couple of slower splits at the end.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5