Mission Accomplished

I did it, I finished my 15 New York City Marathon. I now have life time qualification to do it again. I am kinda numb about that.

It was the most fun race I ever ran, being a maratourist was a step into a new world of fun. To see the whole pile of photos click this. Below are some sample pictures.

I spent the morning sitting of the grass with my teammates Sandy and Barry and a friend of a teammate Sander from Holland. Barry lives on the West Coast now and comes back every year for the race and he has been a great pre-race calming element for me. Sandy and Sander from Holland let me so much I forgot to have prerace jitters.

The new wave start went well. I was in the third wave which meant that I started 40 minutes after the first wave. So by the time I got off the Verrazano Bridge the leaders were in Queens. Was was not gonna win anyway, but this took away any chances I ever had. There was also no congestion at the usual chock points in front of the Brooklyn Academy of Music and at the entrance to the Willis Ave Bridge. The cheering masses were just as beautiful even though I was so extra far behind the leaders. According the the official results page there were 38,356 starters, I thought there would have been closer to 50,000 with the new wave start, maybe soon.

My race went well, I hit the wall on First Ave, but got my second wind as I came down 5th Ave. I will fill in some more details later, but this morning I am gonna go to the Today Show Set and show my Mom my medals!

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My

The porta potties match the trees

Typical Fort Watsworth

I told these guys it is not good English to use the word "that" in front of f***ing Central Park, it is just f***ing Central Park. They did not speak enough English to understand me. Maybe they did not know what it said on their backs.

Post finish