2009 NYC Marathon Race Report

My official results say I ran had an official time 4:46:35 with an average pace of 10:57.

There was so much more than that. First the weather was great. Cloudy and cold at the start. Cloudy and cool for the race.

My first 20 miles I was running exactly were I wanted to be. Each mile clickin away at 10:15 or so.

Wait I for got to talk about mile 4. The Joyous Noise was kicking out a great version of "You Can't Always get What You Want". I was feeling so good I just had to stop and sing along. The the singer gave me the mic. This was the 19 marathon I finished, probably about 85 hours or running and this was the most fun 10 seconds.

Back to running. I think the concrete of 1st Ave had an effect on my quads. Just as I got seriously cramped up on the Willis Ave Bridge. My teammate Mark appeared out of nowhere. He was not in the race, he was just finding PPTC runners and squeezing extra speed out of them. He did that and more. He even magically found me some Ben-Gay when the medics ran out.

My last three miles were brutal. They took about 12 minutes each. But I knew I had the sub 5 hour race in the bag.

The worst part of the race happened after the finish line. Why must the NYRR keep us on the road in the Park all the way to the exit at W77th Street when we do not need to retrieve a bag from the UPS Truck. The road is not wide enough to accommodate the masses of mid pack runners and UPS Trucks. It turns into human grid lock. I almost collapsed twice and had to stop and sit. Why do I have to walk all way to W77nd Street, there is a nice exit at W72nd Street, before the trucks. There must be a reason, but I can't figure it out.

So I got back to the PPTC "reunion school" and puked my brains out.

Can't wait till 2010.