Six years ago, I volunteered for the marathon at a water station mile 21. I was slightly over a year into running, I had done my first three half marathons. The jump to the marathon distance was still pretty intimidating. As I handed water cups out, I could see the pain in many athletes eyes. At the same time however, I saw strength, I saw people pushing through the pain and continuing on. It inspired me and left me thinking a marathon is possible.
My goal was to just run a marathon to see if I could do it. With that as my primary goal, I viewed the NYC marathon was just another marathon, one of many and I wasn’t about to wait for a lottery or do 9+1 to try the distance. When I eventually did NYC back in 2016, it was my 13th marathon (and 7th one that year). While I enjoyed the crowds, my coworkers and friends coming out to cheer, I didn’t like the long wait time leading up to the race (I done marathons where I had parked at the start minutes before the race started where here I waited over 4 hours to start) and it’s huge fee (I done marathons for as little as $50). I had no plans to race it again. I didn’t even do any another NYRR race till 2018.
My perspective changed when I joined running clubs in 2017 (WSR and QDR). It was watching how important the race was to teammates who became friends and watching them train their butts off that got me to change my opinion about NYC. The magic wasn’t in the distance itself, it was in inspiring people to do something they thought was impossible but had the heart to try and then spending 1-2 years getting to achieve it. I wish I had seen this earlier. I had a friend that ran his first marathon back in college when I was a junior but I didn’t see what the big deal was until pretty recently. Maybe if I went out to watch it, my running journey would have also had started earlier. I decided that I would rotate years between running it, volunteering, and cheering.
Pre race week:
Wednesday: I did a dress rehearsal of the last 8 miles of the race course with 2 miles at marathon pace. Upon Shirley’s suggestion, I went to lululemon and got my free shirt. I also got some snacks, water, and tonics. I also decided to also go for the recovery boots. Despite using them often during the Ironman weekend and using them after a few half marathon and marathon races, I still don’t really know if they work. They do feel nice though.
Thursday: To my luck, I woke up a few before the marathon feeling symptoms of a cold. I started taking more zinc but continued along my way, determined not to let it change my tapering or training (I ran in drizzy rain that morning). Later in the day, I met Kevin by chance in Flushing as I was heading to Sacs for the first QDR marathon dinner in Astoria. Kevin gave me some advice on the marathon and the idea that if I lose the 3:20 pace group, I could wait till another group comes and I could then latch on to them. Then keep repeating instead of falling apart to 9:30 miles. Dinner with the team was fun, I dressed as Green Arrow. It was surprisingly warm night.
Friday: I went for breakfast pizza at the New Balance popup with some QDR folks. I ate two slices, a bottle of gatorade, and I got some coffee. I don’t normally drink coffee but I thought something hot would help against my cold. Next we walked to the Jacob Javis convention center. I separated from the group in the line to get in but found David and Scott. Getting the bib was super quick and we walked around the convention in search of freebies. To which, there really wasn’t much (you want freebies? Do smaller races!). We went back for more free pizza but found that the store was closed for an hour or so. We next went to Soho for the lululemon repair lab. I got a few more snacks and water. I wanted to do another boots session but the other two didn’t seem for it and I was hungry so we went for lunch at LuAnne’s Wild Ginger. I actually wanted to go for vegan Dim Sum but it was another 10 minute walk which was too much time on feet leading to the marathon. We visited the Tracksmith popup a block away. I was amazed to see someone buy a $57 shirt after using a 20% of coupon. Later in the day I met Kevin and gave him a ride to the marathon shuttle bus company in Astoria. Then I picked up some delineators to transport to mile 14 the next day. I next made my way to the QDR marathon dinner #2 in Portofino. Some Democrats party organization was having some sort of function there and they rented out like 70% of the restaurant space and had speeches and a lip sync musical performance that took over the entire restaurant. It wasn’t the best time to eat in the restaurant but I still had fun with the team.
Saturday: I woke up to find that my cold had spread to my throat. Now I was sure I won’t recover before the race. I also had some upper back pains which seem to come out of nowhere as well (is this what my 30s are going to be like?). I was still determined not to let it influence me and I didn’t want to back down from race goals. I did a shakeout run with WSR and some drills with Corey, Nate, Max and Shirley afterwards. Then we went to Aubergine Cafe where I tried to drink away the cold with a pot of tea. The pot must have had 7 cups so I drank quite a lot. Afterwards, I transported the delinears that I picked up the night before. Interestly, I was told I looked stressed about the race. I went home and ate a late lunch before taking a short nap. Then I got a haircut and I was off to Flushing for QDR marathon dinner #3 at HK Food court. Now, I definitely think that eating out the days before the marathon is introducing new variables to and possibly negatively influence performance but I feel like the NYC marathon if anything is about the community and I definitely wanted to spend time with the community. I did have a time goal but I also knew that I should have fun with it. That’s why I also didn’t stress about the taper, I didn’t do medium long runs or speed work the week of the race but I continued to run. I was sort of reminded of coach David Roach who often questions “perfect” taper. To me, races are about celebrating your training. A cherry on top if you achieve your ambitious race goals but if not successful, always eager to try again soon.
“We don’t rise to the occasion, we fall to our level of training”
--Archilochus
My goal for the NYC marathon was 3:20. It’s pretty ambitious when you consider that my PR in the half marathon is 1:39:00. To do 3:20, I would need to do two 1:40s in a row. Pretty impossible. NYC was originally supposed to be a fun run, coming off a recovery marathon in Berlin and then enjoy NYC giving high fives to friends cheering with CIM being my real speed attempt at the distance. Things changed when I DNF at UTMB and after a lackluster performance year I was hoping for a breakthrough race before turning 30. I’m very familiar with parts of the course, I have been up and down the Queensboro bridge hundreds of times in the last three years and I have worked closeby in the last few miles of the course, where it hits central park for the last six years. I have done dozens of short lunch runs up and down cathill. I figured the ability to visualize points to reach instead of trying to hang on for x amount of distance would be an advantage. Plus I had friends and teammates cheering along Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan so I had that boost. Henry was pacing the 3:20 group, Dave and Victor were also running with him so I had a solid, strong group to run with. If there was ever a race to set crazy goals for, this would be the one. Weather ended up being perfect as well.
Race Morning
I woke at 4:30, ate a banana for breakfast and set up my race kit. I met Slavic who I offer a ride to the Queens Center Mall, the latest QDR shuttle bus to Staten Island. I found parking right by the mall in seconds (as expected on an early Sunday morning). Met Lily who offer to meet us at the finish line with a bags we gave her. I was relieved to have a change of clothes afterwards. The shuttle bus went pretty smooth and it was nice to be surrounded by friends during the ride. I ate my Spring Energy Wolf pack which was a 300 calorie oatmeal and fruit mix. It worked well on a practice long run before and this was the main purpose of me getting a pack of it. Most races I would be able to eat 3 hours before at home or at a hotel but for NYC, I had to be able to eat something on the go. I ate another banana two hours before the race as well, a total of 500 calories. We ended up by the start village around 7:50 am. We had to walk about 5 blocks to get to the village. Then security which went by fast. I wore throw away clothes for the first time in any race, I never liked the waste. Sure it might get donated but there are definitely more effective ways to donate old clothes. This morning was a bit cold so I decided to bring a dress shirt and a sweatpant that was way too big for me (pre vegan Vik).
In the village I pretty much lost everyone else except Slavic. We went for the Dunkin Donut hats, got tea, honey stinger waffles. Slavic also got a banana and bagels (he started an hour after me though he was hesitant about having enough time to digest). I ate 3/4s of the honey stinger waffle an hour before which gave another 100ish calories. We next just sat down for a while to kill time. I drank a beet juice mix about 30 minutes before racetime and I consumed a spring energy long haul gel about 5 minutes before the race. I saw Henry heading to the corrals and I was able to meet up. He and the other pacer moved to the end of corral E and our pace group quickly formed. Quite a few people had questions about pace and Henry said he would go by pace effort. A bit slower on the bridges but then faster on downhills which made sense. It was great to see Dave and Victor (who I didn’t recognize at first with his hat on).
The corrals collapse and we moved to the bridge. From the village you get warnings about the start line starting and to not be alarmed by the sounds. From the bridge, the cannons were pretty loud. There was a DJ and it was a nice party to the start of the race. Not as scenic as fireworks for each corral during my first marathon (Disney World) but definitely one of the more lively starts. I immediately covered my watch, I silenced it as well. I would not use it at all to give me feedback. If I fell behind the pace group, I resolved to simply not give up and just run with my heart.
Staten Island - The Verrazano Bridge
Right off the bat, the task at hand seemed to be moving along the crowd of runners while not zig zagging like crazy but still steady passing people. Many people stopped at the middle of the bridge to take pics and then there were people definitely not able to run at a level near the corral groups. At times on the uphill of the Verrazano bridge I fell behind the pace group but I caught up to them on the downhill. I was surprised to see mile 2 marker and we were still on the bridge.
Brooklyn - the crowd effect
Immediately hitting Brooklyn, you feel the crowd’s energy and it definitely pumps you up. I asked people cheering to tell me where they would be by mile marker but I completely forgot where everyone said they would be, I should have written it down on me. I think I heard my name a bit before 65 street but I didn’t recognize anyone from the direction it came from.
Running with the pace group was interesting. After a bit, you know all the members of the group and it’s nice to work together to achieve a common goal. Henry was pretty encouraging to everyone in the group. Here and there he would tell how we were doing target goal wise which was good to hear. Like at a certain point we had a 20 second cushion, another point it was closer to 30 seconds.
My nose kept getting stuffed and on the rolling downhills I found myself having to clear the nose often before focusing on taking in deeper breaths (I use downhills as a chance to take longer breaths).
Around mile 10 I started losing the pace group. The corrals merged and the Brooklyn streets were just too narrow for the amount of people there. I wanted to speed up to get back in the group but it was just too crowded. I kept my eye of some people from the group that were part of the pack and stuck with them. By the time I hit the pulaski bridge, I lost sight of them and was feeling pretty low for losing them so early in the race. I reached 13.1 at about 1:41, a minute slower than the 3:20 pace. In the last 5k, I fell behind over a minute, not including the little cushion we had.
There are no tangents in Queens
As we started descending the pulaski bridge Senior Guzman caught up and called out my name. It woke me up a bit and I then headed right to where I knew Woodside Sunnyside cheer station would be. It was a bit hard to find them at first but I saw Jason and a few face after some scanning and went in to give high fives. I probably added like 20 steps but I felt so much better seeing the cheer station. A little after I saw the QDR cheer station before the mile 14 water station and similarly, went for the high fives. Then I focused on catching up to Senior Guzman who I could still see up ahead. The race was a lot less crowded at this point. I saw Cindy and Mike as course marshalls before heading up to the bridge. My hammies were feeling it at this point. I was happy to see the mile 15 marker on the bridge and thought I had already gone so far, that I could hang on for quite a bit more. Mile 16 on the bridge however felt like forever.
“You feel pain but you chose whether you suffer”
--Science of Ultra (?)
Now I was a state of hurt going into Manhattan but at the same time I was content. Looking back at it now, I wish I could have moved faster but at the moment I was happy with whatever my body was able to put out. Here and there I would focus on my cadence, keeping my steps short and quick before pain would set in the mind again. Still I wasn’t upset. I also tried focusing on being grateful as I practiced in the last few runs but that mindset didn’t last too long before I went back to feeling tired and in pain. I definitely need more practice on this mental side of running.
Lily and Hong were waiting for me at mile 17 but didn’t know what side at the time so I stayed in the middle keeping an eye out for them. I ended up passing by not seeing them, later on I would find out that they missed me by a few seconds. Soon Ali caught up to me and I said hi. I would have tried to run with her but I knew I was in bad shape so I went my own way. Maybe a quarter mile later I saw her running strong ahead of me. Around 86th street where I started my last dress rehearsal just the Wednesday before, I tried visualizing the rest of the course. I knew the bridge to the Bronx was close and then we would quickly be in Harlem. A little later and then Central Park, I just need to make it to CP.
The Bronx was short and don’t remember anything remarkable about the quick pass through the borough. In Harlem towards Marcus Garvey Park, I got pushed by an Achilles athlete. The guide gently push me on the side to make space for the athlete. I remember how lifeless the body felt during the encounter. I felt immediate relief and happiness seeing Central Park. I tried rallying myself by saying I could at least get a sub 3:40 marathon. I passed by the conservatory gardens where I would often go for a lunch walk back when I was an intern at City Parks Foundation. The happiness feeling faded after about a half mile and I really felt the hill towards 96st street. I knew I was close to entering the park but at the moment, it felt far away. Kaithlyn passed by and encouraged me. I finally entered CP but it didn’t have the magically effect I thought it would. I felt too weak at that point. I tried tapping into my emotions, I made a list of 19 things I was grateful the day before but I couldn’t focus on it. I wasn’t able to tap into anything deeper for a stronger finish like I hoped I would.
Around mile 24, I started feeling a side stitch around my liver area. It felt like when I use to run in recess after lunch back in elementary school. I haven’t been clearing out my nose since Queensboro so maybe I wasn’t breathing effectively. Anyway, it felt like it was slowing me down. In Central Park I saw Christine’s yellow QDR and saw her cheering for me. I weakly replied. Sanjaya caught up and asked if I want him to carry me to the finish. I passed by senior Guzman and tried to encourage him like he encourage me back at Pulaski. Near the east drive, Stephanie caught up to me and tried to get me to run the last bit with her. I wanted to keep up but wasn’t able to. I started struggling to keep my head up. It just felt really heavy. I didn’t make a comeback in the last bit of the race at all.
The After Party
Upon finish I still felt pretty weak and I needed to take a break to rest. However the race forces you to walk it out. I met Raymond and got my medal from him. Next I met Bobby and got my goodie bag. I made it only a bit farther before feeling dizzy and stumbling a bit. Someone on the race management side saw and I ended up in the medical tent. I have been in a medical tent 3x in my life, my first marathon back in 2014 via wheelchair, my first half ironman finish last year via two ladies carrying me, and this race via golf cart. There I moved to the hornet team. I got three cups of a clear Gatorade looking thing and a PT, Ali, stretched out my legs. It was similar to the stretches my sister learned in medical school. Dave said hi, I remember him saying that not getting to the medical tent was his goal but I guess things happen. I got a blanket with a warm bottle to keep warm. My blood pressure was checked and the reading was good. After a while, I got out and started walking again. I was told to stretch out or I would get more sore, advice that I was pretty sure I was going to ignore. The medical tent was farther back and I had to redo some of the walk. I got my poncho and remembered looking at the crowd of slow moving ponchos people. At that moment, no matter our time, speed, journey there, we all looked the same. It took me about an hour from finishing to reach Lily and Hong. That’s about how long it took me to reach my friends after my first marathon. I originally wanted to go cheer for the remaining runners, all the way till the last finisher but I also felt that I should hangout with my friends that came out to support me. After catching up with Slavic we got some life saving tea and I chose the latter, making my way to hotpot in flushing to eat with the gang.
