TCS NYC Marathon Recap
TCS NYC Marathon Recap!
I have such mixed emotions about this race report. I missed my goal by almost 30 minutes, but loved NYC! Here’s a look at how my day unfolded…
Let’s start with flat Jennifer! (Armpocket, Garmin 620, Swiftwick socks, FuelBelt Bib Holder, Asics Cumulus 17)
I scheduled room service to arrive when I woke up at 4am. I had coffee, a Picky Bar, and they brought hot water for my oatmeal.
I met up with the Asics Blog Team. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed these folks!!! Read their blogs to see their journey to the NYC Marathon for Asics called Five to the Finish!
- The Ginger Runner
- Sharp Endurance
- Runner Unleashed
- Mom’s Little Running Buddy
- Running. Loving. Living
We were sporting our hobo chic throwaway clothes!
Asics bussed us to the Athletes Village.
I had an oatmeal on the bus and then noshed on this banana bread throughout the morning.
I ran into Courtney! Seeing a familiar face in a big crowd is always comforting.
I had time to use the port-a-potty, sit down for a bit, and then it was time to enter my corral. It was too funny that they had straw on the ground.
The Course: you run through: Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Bronx, and finish in Central Park in Manhattan
NYC is the largest marathon in the world with over 50,000 runners!
Goals:
- A: 3:33
- B: 3:40 (BQ)
- C: have fun, smile, and give high-fives, because it’s not my day!
My corral started at 10:15 and we were on the lower level of the Verrazano Bridge. Contrary to the rumors, I didn’t get peed on, lol!
The weather was in the 50’s at the start and I felt great. I had control of my breath and was hitting my goals. I ran into Heather Zeigler (an amazing runner) around mile 9 and she snapped this pic. Obviously I was having fun!
And then mile 11 happened. I landed funny on a sewer cover. My ankle went left and my knee went right. My stomach sank. At first I thought I had hurt my ankle, but quickly realized it was my left knee. An amazingly kind gentleman saw what happened and got me to the medical tent. This was the first time I’ve ever had to visit medical in a race and it’s the first time I called Jason in a race. He told me to shift gears, smile, and do my best to finish. He met me at mile 16 where I just wanted to cry and quit.
This was on the bridge to the Bronx around mile 19. Y’all, I’ve never hurt like this in a race. It wasn’t pretty.
I had to visit a second medical tent, and I met up with Jason again at mile 23 where I handed him all of my stuff. I needed to lighten my load.
By this point, I knew that I could push through and finish. Deena Kastor gave us so much great advice during our shakeout run before the race. She said to smile even when we were hurting and miserable. People are watching. We should show our love for running. This race is on the bucket list for thousands of people and we should be grateful. So….I raised my hands, put on a smile, and finished as strongly as I could!
I was SO proud of myself for not quitting and so relieved to be done!
Here’s my post-race knee pic!
I took my butt straight to medical for some ice.
I may not have had the race that I wanted, but I did get a necklace and a cape!
We picked up a street pretzel after the race….hello salt!
For dinner, I was craving pizza….
And, of course champagne!
We ordered some more ice for my knee back at the hotel. Bless their hearts, they thought it was for drinks!
And I crawled into bed with this chocolate cake!!!
The numbers weren’t pretty:
- 5k: 24:25
- 10k: 49:22
- 15k: 1:15:03
- 20k: 1:45:54
- 25k: 2:17:54
- 30k: 2:48:07
- 35k: 3:20:33
- 40k 3:53:25
- Finish: 4:05:57
Nutrition:
- Picky Bar and coffee
- Umpqua Oatmeal and banana bread on the bus and athlete’s village
- 1 GU 15 minutes before race start
- Cocogo in my handheld (discount code: JENCHOOSESJOY)
- GU at miles 7, and an attempted GU at mile 15. My stomach felt really sick, so I just drank fluids.
Takeaways:
- Amazing crowd support!!!!!
- Considering the logistics for point-to-point races are tough, NYC did an excellent job managing traffic and 50k runners.
- I loved running through all the boroughs.
- The last few miles through Central Park were stunning with the crowds and fall leaves.
- I’m a lot tougher than I realized.
- Considering that I stopped at 2 medical tents during the race, my time wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
- I felt really comfortable at my scary ‘A Goal’ pace.
- To everyone that yelled “JEN CHOOSES JOY” at me during the race….THANK YOU!!! I know I didn’t always look joyful (lol!), but it was such an awesome reminder!!!!!!!
- I’ve made peace with the fact that is was a bad race. It’s in the past…upward and onward!
#choosejoy
