Race Report

New York City Marathon

Sunday, November 4, 2001

Six years ago I had run this race. I remember the emotions as I ran it then and thought that I wouldn't ever feel any better accomplishment. Two months later I nearly died when I went into septic shock from Crohn's disease. The only reason I survived that illness was that I was in such good shape from training for and running the marathon. If I hadn't done that I wouldn't be alive today.

So we come to NYCM morning six years later. Same start area, everything looks much the same. I met Ron Horton, Doug Shearer, Carol from Germany, Daniel Wellner, and Cheryl Link at the start and we kept each other company and calm while we waited the couple of hours until the start. The official buses get you to the start anywhere from 2.5-4 hours before the start. This has to do with the road and bridge closings required for the marathon. The security was tight entering Fort Wadsworth where the start was. No without a number was allowed in, all baggage had to be in the clear bags they gave us at the expo, and everything was gone through by police before we were allowed in. There were police helicopters overhead, police up on the towers that had the lights and the towers near the start. There were even police (I assume they were police) with binoculars up on the towers of the bridge. (You could see the flashes of light off of the binoculars.)

We lined up in our corrals, and eventually were allowed out onto the Verazano Bridge where the start was. After a few speeches, the national anthem, and the singing of God Bless America, the cannon was fired for the start and we were off. Well the elites were off, it took us a bit to get to the start. After about 5 minutes we hit the start line and started up the incline onto the bridge. When you hit midspan (about the 1 mile mark) you could see a fire boat spraying red, white, and blue water in the air below the bridge with the view of Manhattan in the background. I think it was about this point that it actually hit me that I was running the race again, I started to get a bit teary eyed at the thought. The second mile is basically downhill on the other side of the bridge. I like downhills. I've learned basically to just "flow" down them, this was the easiest mile of the race (now if only mile 23 could have been as nice.).

Then on the other side we hit the streets of Brooklyn and start getting the crowds. The crowd support in NYC is phenomenal. People are along almost all of the course cheering you on. Our penguin "course support group" was at mile 3. I ran on keeping a fairly good pace. In fact I was running a bit faster than I wanted to, but I was feeling too good to rein it in too much. I slowed a bit intentionally after I ran mile 4 in 10:52. The course continued winding on through Brooklyn with people lining both sides cheering us on. Police were spread out on all of the overpasses and fire engines were at all major intersections. Runners cheered the firefighters as we passed each one.

About mile 8 I came across an inspiring sight. One of the Achilles runners from the early start was literally crawling along on his hands and knees. He had thick pads over both and was slowly making his way along the center of the road. The runners passing him on each side yelled encouragement to him as they passed. I have no idea of what his finishing time was, or if he even finished though I'm going to ask the leader of my Achilles group the next time I see her.

At mile 13 we hit the bridge across to Queens. It's fairly steep, however since it wasn't time for my walk break (I had been doing 10min run/ 1 min walk splits) I just continued on up it. Many of the other runners just started walking up it. Down the other side and on into Queens. The crowd support was a bit less there because we were basically winding through an industrial area, but they were there. And when we got to the more residential areas it picked up.

Mile 15 and we are hitting the 59th (or Queensboro) Bridge. This bridge is the killer of the course. It's a steep upgrade that seems to go on forever. The bridge itself is about 1.5 miles long and there is no crowd support on it. We run on the lower level so you only have sights off to the sides and can't see Manhattan in front of you.

The emotions of hitting First Avenue are difficult to describe. It starts as you hit the end of the bridge, you hear this roaring off in the distance as if there was a waterfall. As you get closer you hear that it is people cheering. You come down this sharp downgrade, around a sharp curve to the left. As you come out you hit a wall of sound. People are literally 10 rows deep cheering for everyone. If you had your name on your shirt they would be chanting your name. This continues for miles. I passed the hospital where I work on the right and two blocks later met up with my wife and son. After a quick hug and kiss, I switched out the bladder in my Camelbak for a new full one, reassured her I was fine, and then continued on. At mile 18, my friend Gina, who had been my training partner for my original marathon six years ago met me and started running with me. She had just run the Dublin marathon a week ago (and broken the 4 hour mark) so she couldn't run the whole race though she had been registered for it. She ran with me until they asked her to get off the course just before mile 26 since she didn't have a number. (She didn't get back in town until Sat night before the race, so she couldn't pick up her number anyway.) The funny thing was that Gina was waiting for me right next to the "Penguin scream team".

Over the bridge into the Bronx we went. This is a steel grate bridge, but they had laid carpeting over the steel grates so it wasn't all that bad to run on. The Bronx was alright. Not as much crowd support and by that time I was starting to hurt. The neuropathies (nerve pain) in my feet had started to give me trouble. (Thinking about it now, the earlier doses of my medication for this were probably starting to wear off but I didn't think about taking more.) Also the streets there are a bit rough with a fair number of uneven areas. Not enough to trip up the usual runner, but enough to make my feet hurt more.

Mile 22 we were back in Manhattan making our way down to Central Park. My legs were getting tight so I tried to pick up the pace a bit at times. I found if I went a little bit faster for a bit, I'd take longer strides and stretch the sore muscles. As we got closer to the park the crowd support started picking up. (Let me say that at no point, other than the various bridges, was there noone cheering, just was a bit sparse in areas.) Around mile 23 I saw the Penguin "support group" for the last time (they had been at miles 3, 8, 18, and 23 that I saw). Soon after that we entered into Central Park and the cheering crowds basically carried you the rest of the way. Down Cat Hill, so named for the black puma statue up on the rocks to the right. It was about this time that I knew that nothing was going to stop me from making the end. I could crawl the rest of the way if I had to. After mile 25 you head out onto Central Park South again with quite allot of people cheering along it. For the last 5 miles of the race I had been steadily passing people, keeping to my 10:1 run/walk pattern. I continued passing people for all of the last mile. Then we hit Columbus Circle and the turn back into Central Park. Six years ago I fell at this point, so I made darn sure that I didn't trip and fall this time. Hit the 26 mile mark, came around a bend to the right, and could see the finish line.

The NYCM finishes by Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The only problem with this is that the last third of a mile is uphill to the finish. I have to say that I was so pumped to be hitting the finish that I didn't even notice the uphill portion. As I crossed the finish line I threw my hands up in the air and yelled "YES!!!" I got a smile from the folks manning the finish line for that. Since the clock had read 5:34 when I crossed the finish line, I knew I was sub 5:30 chip time, though I messed up the hitting my watch at the finish, so I didn't have the exact time.

On to get my medal, blanket, water, finishers bag with bagel, raisins, peach cup and power bar in it. Then got my baggage from the truck and met up with my wife, hugging and thanking her for putting up with me through all this craziness. Had to walk several blocks to get to a bus to get back cross-town to get to our parking garage. My feet really were hurting at this point so they weren't very happy with me. As soon as I had gotten through the finish, I had taken my meds and some Tylenol to help with them but they take a while to kick in. While walking the streets on Manhattan and on the bus, many people were offering congratulations to all of us nuts walking around with a medal around their neck.

The NYCM is an experience. The emotions I felt crossing the finish line and knowing that I just proved to myself I've overcome the hell I went through are difficult to describe. My feet were hurting so bad at that point that I had just wanted it to end, but it was also such a lift to have done it again.

I didn't want this to get lost in the length of my marathon report. I wantedto put out a special thanks to the NYCM scream team. They came out on the course at several points. I personally saw them at miles 3, 8, 18, and 21. Thanks to Julia, Ellen, Peggy, Glenn, Ken, and Milt. And I"m sure I'm forgetting someone else, I apologize for that. Thanks again to all of you, you really helped out!

email comments to Mike at michaelweber@worldnet.att.net