BELIEVE - NYC Marathon Race Report

...... a friend of mine sent me a text in the afternoon on Saturday, November 2nd.  I was crossing Broadway and walking on 49th Street in NYC.  I could see the lights of Times Square to the south of me.  Her text said "You are so prepared!  You will do awesome!  Believe it, baby!!!".  Tears came to my eyes as I read this text.  She was right - I was prepared, I was going to do awesome.... and I needed to BELIEVE it!  It was at that moment that I decided I needed to stop in a Duane Reade store... kind of like a Walgreens if you're not familiar with NYC.  I paid $4.99 for 2 black sharpie markers... only needed 1 but the only choice was a 2-pack :)  That was it!  I was going to write the word "believe" all over my hands on Sunday morning and when I started to doubt myself or hit the marathon wall --- I was going to see those words "Believe" on my hands! 

 The line on Friday night to pick up race bibs and get into the expo

 Number 17660

 A really cool quilt with Boston Marathon stuff

 I love this motto "You're Stronger Than You Think"  I also noticed it this summer on the back of my PowerBar applesauce pouches while training for my Ironman

 Cool Banner

 LOVE

 My sis-in-law, Erin, came to NYC with me.  Here she is in Times Square

 
 5K Dash to the Finish event on Saturday morning - did not run in this but saw some of the race when we were running in Central Park

 Central Park

 Beautiful Fall Colors!

 a path in Central Park

 The final 0.2 miles of the 5k/Marathon Course.... a little bit of a hill

 Freedom Tower

 Reflection pool - World Trade Center

 Gate that the Immigrants entered through  -- Battery Park in lower Manhatten

 part of my pre-race dinner --- Whole Wheat Organic Pizza dough from my favorite grocery store -- Whole Foods!  yum!   I read in a magazine that Whole Foods had this pizza dough and that it was a great option for someone travelling

 guess you have to improvise when you don't have a pizza pan --- used the broiler plate and some tin foil..... at least I remember to buy the tin foil BEFORE I came home to make the pizza

 left a little piece of Sturgis at the start of the marathon.... my Goodwill sweatshirt :)

 anyone know LESTER?

 what's left of the words "believe" on my hand after the marathon

 "believe" and "you are stronger than you think"

 Serendipity Frozen Hot Chocolate @ 11pm after the marathon! .... one was mine and the other was Erin's :)

 The Finisher's Gear tent on Monday morning - Packed with people!

 after I purchased a few finisher's items, I walked back to the finish to reflect on my race ....

 a blue and yellow line ---- to remember The Boston Marathon 2013

 .... the spectator stands.... can't help but think of the finish line in Boston when I see this photo  ---- a forever memory for me

 cool photo of the city

 stopped by the set of the Today Show for a few minutes....

see the orange medal ribbon and my nose in the upper left-hand corner --- screen shot of the Today's show on Monday morning :)  last 2 minutes of the show and I managed to get on TV :)

... missed the Good Morning America show :(

3 photos taken by my sis-in-law

 me ... near Central Park

 the Elite Men

... Central park on the left... mile 24ish

here's a link to some pretty funny race photos --- pretty focused @ every point :)

http://www.marathonfoto.com/Marathon/New-York-City-Marathon--2013/LastName/RANDOLPH/BibNumber/17660/offering/myMarathonfotos/RaceOID/27042013F2/Language/en?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=0%20Proofs%20Online%20ENG-SPA%202PM%20(11)

live video of the finish --- fast forward to where the race clock says 3:20 and you'll see me run through the center gate.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=9306900&pid=null&syndicate=syndicate§ion=

my pace never waivered more than a few seconds for all 26.2 miles ---- I've NEVER had that happen before in a marathon --- I usually hit the wall somewhere near mile 20 and slow down at least 40-60 seconds per mile for a couple miles

 super focused!

3:19:59!!!!!!!!!!  the title of my Blog Post is BELIEVE --- it was my mantra for 26.2 miles.... yet I STLL CANNOT BELIEVE I ran a 3:19!  that's 20:01 UNDER my Boston Qualifying time for 2015.... I haven't mentioned it before but for Boston 2014 my qualifying time wasn't enough this year due to the overwhelming interest to run Boston 2014 and that was really hard for me to take..... so I KNEW what I had to do in NYC --- I needed the biggest BQ cushion I could get and I DID just that ---- BQ-20 minutes get to register on DAY 1 --- and this time it WILL BE ME!  already reserved my place for Boston 2015 :)

THE RACE DETAILS:
I was so nervous on Friday and Saturday.... I know my sis in law felt my nervousness :)  I woke up without an alarm on Sunday morning --- couldn't sleep anymore --- had the bonus of the time change for an extra hour of sleep.  I got up, ate breakfast, and headed to the subway.  Rode the subway or should I say STOOD on a very crowded subway train at 6am.  Then got on the Staten Island Ferry --- actually got to the station in time to take the 6:30am ferry but decided to wait for the 6:45 ferry so I actually had a place to sit down for the 30+ minute ride over to Staten Island.  The sun was just coming up over Lower Manhatten as we rode across the Hudson River - it was beautiful.  Got off the ferry and waited in line for chartered busses to take us to the start village.  Waited for about 25 minutes then boarded the bus for another 25+ minute ride to the start village.  Got off the bus and was searched with an airport wand.... all runners were searched.   Then we all proceeded to the villages which were separated by waves.  I walked to the very back for the Green Wave.  Grabbed a fresh bottle of water and sat down in a quiet spot to put all my gear together.  Did a little bit of warming up and then made my way towards my starting corral with thousands of other runners.  Our wave started at 9:40am but we had to be in the corral by 8:55am..... it was very crowded in the corral but I managed to find a patch of grass to sit down on for about 10 minutes before they moved us up to the actual starting spot --- and then we stood there for what seemed like forever.  We could see the elites doing sprints towards the bridge to warm up.  Then they introduced the elite men... sang the National Anthem...... we listened to the Mayor speak..... and THEN of all things....... they shot off a CANNON to start the race..... A CANNON, really?!?!?!  after the events at Boston last spring they chose a cannon --- made my heart skip a beat for just a second for sure!  And just like that - our wave was off ----- I had heard that people under the bridge at the start were often peed on by the runners above --- so I ran in the middle just to be safe but quickly found out that the middle was very crowded --- so I took a risk and ran towards the outside to pass people.  Never got peed on :)  I was so nervous at the start... I kept looking down at my watch --- not anywhere NEAR the pace I needed to be at for my goal time.  (which by the way, my goal time was 3:30 --- and IF I was having a really good day --- I thought 3:28 would be a stretch-goal for me!  ------ NO WAY --- 3:19 BABY!!... did I mention before that my finish time was 3:19!!!!!!!!!)

The overall race was pretty much a blur for me....I guess when you're keeping a 7:38ish pace... it should be a blur..... at every mile, I sipped on my water or electrolyte drink and about mile 8, 13, 16, 20... I took little sips of some PowerBar applesauce. Never stopped in a water station at all (I carried water in my fuel belt).   I listened to a few of podcasts and didn't turn on my actual music until about mile 21 when I ran out of podcasts :)  I scanned the crowd for my sis in law and a Matilda Jane TK friend of mine -- only managed to see my sis in law at mile 8.  They both said they saw me at other places on the course, but I missed them.  

Well, there's my marathon of a Race Report!  Next up... a 10K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning (won a FREE race entry so I couldn't pass that up!) and a 50K Trail race with Ross on December 28.... then a little break before Ironman Boulder training begins in February 2014.

There's nothing a man can't do if the spirit's there.    ---- Franz Stampfl

 
3:19:59   -----   2728/51,000+ runners  ------  55th in AG -----   269th woman