November 8, 2018
It's day 4 of recovery. Physically, I feel great. Mentally, I feel like I'm suffering from PTSD.
I'm going to get right to the recap because it's only a matter of time before I have to use 110% of my brain cells trying to help someone with their math homework.
I'll start with race morning/getting to the athletes village. Can you say NIGHTMARE!? Sorry, New York. You had a reputation on that end for a reason. In all fairness though, I suck at logistics and get lost if I'm not following someone during our Saturday long runs - so this was no small feat for me in the first place.
Actually, I have to begin before race morning. Way back when I was asked to select my transportation to the start. This is issue numero uno. I do not plan well and trying to figure out the best route from my hotel was too overwhelming at the time so I more or less closed my eyes and selected the ferry. I heard that was a fun way to go and thought I'd just figure out the rest later. My future self was not happy with my past self for this decision because I later learned this meant I had to take the subway to a ferry to a bus. If you know me, you can appreciate how arduous this task seemed. I'm actually wondering if people were more stressed about me making it to the starting line than through the race.
Now back to race morning! When I exited my hotel, the streets were mobbed with runners. My plan, of course, was to follow everyone to the start. BUT to my horror, ALL these people in the streets of Times Square had selected the bus transportation option. Not ferry. Shit! I walked in the opposite direction of all the runners in New York City and down to the empty subway station by my hotel.
There was one police officer and an attendant in the subway....and me. I was clearly freaking out as I asked the attendant how to get to the Staten Island Ferry - and actually how to take a subway in general. Witnessing this, the police officer used his card to get me through the gates so he didn't have to watch me struggle to purchase a ticket. I retained as much information as I could from the attendant...which was basically the directions down the stairs to the tracks and the letter of the first train I was supposed to take. Then I hoped for the best which, of course, was to see another runner ASAP. And thank sweet Jesus, one runner showed up. ONE. And I attached myself to him like a parasite. Dan - if you see this. THANK YOU!
Needless to say, I was extremely relieved once we arrived in Staten Island with all the other runners. After a brief wait, we boarded the ferry and took a beautiful ride on the water. Oddly enough, no one was really talking. Just taking lots of pictures. Once the boat stopped we all made our way on to land where we waited in line for the busses, and I tried to determine if I felt seasick. Thankfully, my new BFF Dan, was very calm and reassuring though this ordeal UNTIL we got like a 1/2 mile from athletes village and the bus stopped. We were both in wave 1 and short on time before our corrals closed. By the time the bus started moving again, we knew we'd have to run to our corral so that's when we said our goodbyes.
I got to my corral in time to use the toilet and that's about it. I'm not sure if that was a good thing or not. I didn't have much time to think about race nerves, but I was shook from the transportation debacle.
At the starting line, I basically had a ready or not mindset and was just thankful to be where I needed to be. I knew the first bridge was supposed to be tough, and I worried about finding my pace.
When the race started, the crowd was thick for the first 1-2 miles and honestly I didn't notice the incline on that first bridge at all. I don't know. I was really focused on getting a good mantra going. I started by repeating lighter, faster, stronger, longer because I was about 10 lbs lighter than I'd ever been during a race, and I felt that would positively impact my performance. The problem was that I kept getting the words mixed up and saying lighter stronger faster longer - which was annoying me because faster and longer don't make sense. If you're running faster it won't take longer, and I was worried that was messing with my subconscious. Eventually, I stuck to God controls your body; you control your mind. It might sound weird, but I truly felt I was leaving any body trouble in the hands of God. And it always helps me to get spiritual. By the end of the race, I gave both my body and mind up to Jesus.
Anyway, miles seemed to kind of just go by for a while and when I got my first wave of doubt, Manhattan showed up! Like they showed the F up! All the sudden I felt like I was on top of the world! People were shouting my name, I was smiling, and slapping everyones hands. In Manhattan, I decided I was a superhero! It was magical. And I actually teared up. I imagined seeing my husband who was at mile 16 and saying "I've got this!" "This is my race!" and just being so badass.
THEN the Queensboro Bridge showed the F up and I returned to a mere mortal. By the time I hit the top of that incline, the 3 hour pacers I'd noticed at the 13.1 mark had disappeared. Somehow, I still convinced myself that I was close to them and didn't lose determination. Also, I'm pretty sure someone said "LAST HILL" like shortly after that bridge, which happens in every race way before the actual last hill, and I had to laugh thinking "what an asshole" to myself.
I cruised my way to about mile 22 (which I see is now because I significantly decreased my pace) and then was pretty uncomfortable till the end. Those hills through Central Park are evil. I did my usual, it's only 4 miles, 3, 2, 1 count down. Somehow, I still thought I'd come in around 3:05 although I really had no idea and had no f's to give at that point.
As I approached the finish, I heard the announcer say someone was coming in at 3:05 and that lit a fire under my ass. I hauled it to the finish for 3:07 still hoping maybe the clock was a little off.
Finishing was surreal - as usual. And in the long walk through the finishers shoot to get my post race poncho, I met some very pleasant runners. We chatted our way excitedly through each station until we met our people.
I felt pretty good post race. Like better than usual so my husband and I walked back to our hotel. Along the way, many New Yorkers congratulated me. It's making me smile even now! And one final thing I'll mention about the race is how quickly the city went back to business. I mean the next morning, it was like nothing was ever shut down. Amazing. I just love New York.
I feel like I wrapped that up abruptly but that's how the weekend went - it's all kind of a blur. Seems unfair how how long we prepare for these events...then they're just kind of over and we're left to mourn until the next one.
So now, it's time to recover. And in a few weeks, I'll drag you along on my next adventure to Boston 2019! Goal TBD