The start was pretty crowded, though nothing like Boston. I crossed the line within seconds after the gun. The cool part was that the fast women started on one side of the bridge and the fast men and elites on the other, their start line was set back a hundred yards or so, which was compensated for further in the race before the two streams of runners merged. This way we got to see the elite men run by us after the starting gun. That was pretty cool. Then I saw Lance and a whole bunch of girls yelled at him "Lance!" He tried to ignore us first, but then gave in and waved back at us and there he went.

I started with the pace group for 3:15. I wasn't real stoked about our pacer. He didn't look at the splits adjusted for terrain (which Nike kindly provided for any finish time at the expo). And he hasn't ran NYC before. Also at mile 4 he had to go to the bathroom and we ran by ourseleves for a 1/2 mile before he cought back to us. Angie ran with me for the first mile and then I went fast (sub 7) on the downhill part of the bridge and she stayed back. Our fist miles (as the rest of my miles) fluctuated quite a bit around the goal pace but averaged just about at 7:25-7:26. I felt really strong throught the first miles, I think the good sleep, proper fuel and hydration the night before as well as cool temprature and no wind made for a winning combo. I started pulling ahead of the pace team at mile 5, but was still close enought that I could hear them chat for the next mile.

At some point between mile 7 and 8 I didn't hear or see them any more. I was feeling really strong, I was dropping low 7min-miles, never exceeding my goal pace till mile 15 (uphill) and then again not till 21. Seeing 1:35 something on a 1/2 mary mark was really encouraging and I even thought 3:10 was possible for a while. At the same time I was really freaked out the whole time that I would blow up at 17 or something, but just went for it anyway: you can't win a lottery if you don't buy a ticket.

Mile 20 came around an I was still really strong. From 20 on I started fading a little bit, but it wasn't painful as when I ran Colfax and I kept it in control, keeping my first mile the slowest and never running over 8 again. Last 2 or 3 miles were the hardest, I was fatigued by that point and it took lots of mental effort to keep the pace under 8.

The crazy part is that from the 25K mark to the 30K mark I had my fastest 5K time ever: 22:09. And between 10K and 20K my 10K was only 27 sec slower then my PR 10K. I guess I really need to work on my 5K and 10K :)

Maybe if I pushed a little later or not as hard I could have done even better, but I tend to think this was the best I could do on that day and this is better than my previous PR by 6 mins, so I'm going to say I wouldn't do anything differently if I ran this again.

I was so happy when I crossed that finish line, I couldn't get the smile of my face for about 10 min, people must have thought I was nuts! It was quite a walk to the bag pick-up and to the family reunion area, so that was my cool-down


Nothing


Wow, I really loved NYC marathon! I am sure doing a PR and feelilng great played a role in it, but it truely is an amazing event regardless. The views are gorgeours, the people are lined up and cheering the whole time, the bands... The organization was great! I would do it again!