NYCM2005 - Daniel Wellner Race Report

Race Report

New York City Marathon

Sunday, November 6, 2005

Well, the first week of November was a very exciting,
interesting, and fun week for me. On Tuesday, I went to the Javits
Center for a volunteer briefing. It took me over an hour to get there
by the crosstown bus and I didn't learn anything new, but I really
enjoyed the excellent food the organizers provided for the
volunteers. On Wednesday, I ran about 3 miles along the East River
Promenade with Lloyd, my friend from Arizona. Lloyd did not get in by
the lottery but he came to NY to run as an Achilles guide. (There is
a lot more to that story. Vide infra.) I tripped on a crack in the
pavement and skinned my right knee. Luckily, the wound was
superficial. On Thursday, I worked a few hours at the registration
desk, picked up my number and visited the expo. I stopped at the New
Balance booth to try out their new 992's, but they hurt my feet just
putting them on. However, they still had some 991's. The 991's were
very comfortable and they were on sale. I hope to make them my next
marathon shoes. I saw Karen B. at the RnR booth. I gave her a hug,
being very careful not to knock over her medal display ;-), and we
had a nice chat. In the evening, there was the annual NYCE Penguin
W&B (wings and beer), a great get-together for the local Penguins.
Jeannette, Bo, Shelton, and Harriet were there and even Karen B. was
able to join us after a long day of work at the expo. Friday was
another day of teaching in the morning and volunteering in the
afternoon and evening. I registered many French runners, who were
happy to find someone who could speak their native language. There
were also many from Italy, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, England,
Ireland, and even some from Belgium.

Saturday was the pre-race pasta dinner. I have been
organizing this dinner for the Dead Runners Society every year,
starting long before the Penguin Brigade existed. Later, it became a
joint Dead and Penguin affair. Lately, there have been fewer and
fewer Deads and more and more Penguins. This year there were 20
guests, including only one Dead. It was nice to see Bonnie and her
family, Shari and Dan, Sue and Ben, Barbara, Nancy, Chelsea, and many
other Penguins and friends.

Getting back to the story of Lloyd, it turned out that his
assigned athlete was, to put it mildly, unsuitable. I had the idea
that Harriet could become his athlete, so I made sure they sat
together to plot their strategy during the dinner. Things eventually
turned out perfectly: Harriet ran as an Achilles athlete and found
two strong, handsome men to accompany her as guides (one of them was
Lloyd). For the rest of that story, you must read Harriet's report. You can find it by clicking here.

Besides organizing the dinner every year, I also inherited
the job of setting up the Penguin Condo in Fort Wadsworth where
Penguins can sit together and relax while waiting for the race to
start. That was originally Ron's job, but two years ago Ron abandoned
the large pink banner that allowed the Penguins to find each other
among the 35,000 runners milling around. So last year I made a new
Penguin banner and I successfully set up a meeting place for the
Penguins. This year, however, I saw in the NYCM handbook that the
staging area was arranged differently. It was divided into 3 parts
according to color. The orange area, where most of us belonged,
looked like it had only one large tent located next to the medical
tent. I planned to set up the Penguin Condo in that large tent.
Unfortunately, in a marathon, things do not always work out according
to plan.

Now, it's Sunday morning. I planned to get to the start early
to find an empty place and set up the Condo. I got up at 4:00 and had
a quick breakfast. Out on the street, I saw another runner looking
lost. I offered to share a cab with him going to the Public Library.
He was Italian and did not speak a word of English. At 5:00, there
were no lines for the buses. We got a 5:15 bus and I expected to
arrive at F.W. by 5:45 at the latest. Unfortunately, our bus driver
did not know the way and he got lost in Brooklyn. After going forever
in the wrong direction, he turned around. We finally arrived at 7:00,
(one hour and forty five minutes later!) I walked over to the large
tent I had seen on the map and saw that it was full of runners
standing in lines. These were the portopotty lines. There was no
place to sit down. Fortunately, just a few feet away, there was a
smaller tent that was not completely full. I covered a corner area
with the mylar blankets I had brought with me. A runner asked me if I
could give him one of these blankets. I said "OK, if you help me
attach the Penguin banner to the side of the tent." He was very nice
and he helped me. Then I sat down and waited for Penguins to arrive.
I ate a bagel and two containers of yogurt. Ken and Ellen were the
only ones to come. After some time, another Penguin arrived. She had
to go very badly but all the lines were very long. I knew a place
where she could go and I took her there. She went behind the
portopotties. Two policemen saw her, raised their eyebrows and looked
at each other. For men it's much easier: there is the world's longest
urinal. No waiting in line. Lots of people taking pictures. Lots of
people pointing and laughing.

When I returned to the Penguin Condo, Ken and Ellen were
still there and Sue McNulty had found us. I told Sue it was time to
bring our bags to the UPS trucks. Last year, the race started before
I could even get to the bridge and I was determined not to let that
happen again. Sue and I went to stand near the front of the women's
"corrals" (that's a joke, there are no corrals!) and, after waiting a
long time, we started moving toward the exit. We got on the bridge
early. It was already warm enough to be comfortable in a singlet. The
national anthem was sung and the cannon went off precisely at 10:10.
It took us 3 1/2 min to get to the starting line.

Sue and I ran the first mile together and then we decided it
would be better for each of us to run our own race. My first mile
(uphill) was 12:00, my second mile (downhill) was 10:00. After that,
I averaged 12 min miles for the first 15 miles. I drank a little
water at each aid station and I took 2 packets of salt every 5 miles.
That worked very well. I passed a lot of people on the Queensboro
bridge but I was beginning to do some walking. On First Avenue, I saw
many of my students who were cheering for me and taking pictures. I
saw Vaira and Andy (our doorman) at the 70th St corner. Vaira gave me
so many chocolate chip cookies I did not know what to do with them. I
ate some and gave some to other runners. They are a great source of
energy. After mile 20, I started to do a lot of walking. I would run
until I could no longer run, and then I would walk. When I thought I
could run again, I would start running. I kept doing that till the
end. As I approached the finish, I would walk more and more and run
less and less. I had been hoping to finish in 5:30, but by mile 20 I
could see that this would not be possible. My final time was 5:50:27.
My chip time was 5:47. I was very happy that I was listed in Monday's
NY Times.

The medal this year was very beautiful. I was so tired I
could not walk to the UPS trucks to get my bag. Some of the chip
clippers had already left, so I could sit in one of their empty
chairs. I watched runners coming in and receiving their medals. I saw
Bonnie finish. I saw Ken and Ellen finish. Ellen was elated because
of her PR. She was actually faster than me, but she arrived later
because it took her almost 20 minutes to get to the starting line.
Ken's bag was in the same truck as mine, so the three of us walked
there together. Ken and Ellen went home, and I sat on a bench for
another 20 minutes. Finally, I felt strong enough to get up and take
the M79 crosstown to go home.

I think my time is not too bad, considering that I never did
a long training run for this race. It was a good marathon and I
enjoyed every minute of it.