I found this link on mapmyrun.com. It maps the run nicely.
| NYRR Elevation Map: | NYRR Elevation Map |
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| Mapmyrun Elevation Map: | |
There is so much here, that it's gonna take some time to get it all in.
Let's see. A few years ago I did my first Olympic Triathlon. The NYC tri. I was supposed to wake up at 2 am and leave the house by 4 am. At around 1 am, I woke up and turned the alarm off. I have no idea why. Well, I woke up at 3 am with Lee waking me up and asking me, "shouldn't you be up?" Well, ever since then I am very scared and worried I'd miss my wake up. This is just a precursor...
The plan: Wake up at 1:30 a.m. Leave the house at 4:30 a.m and pick up Anu and Ed. Anu is a lifeguard at the YMCA. They were going for the 9 + 1. Pick them up at 4:45 and pick up Jim at 5 a.m. Drive to the finish, park and either subway or cab it to the start. With Brooklyn, we parked at the start and the subway ride back to the start was BRUTAL. This time we got smarter.
I went to sleep early. Hell, I went upstairs at 9:05 pm and was in bed by 9:15. So far so good. While I was in bed, I visualized over and over what the next day would hold. The wake up, the pickups, Central Park, Times square and the finish. I just kept visualizing it as I went to sleep.
While I was sleeping, Lee kept calling this Pizza place to make an order for the next day. We were having company and the place was going to open an hour after sundown. Well, I guess they have caller id because they decided they should call this crazy person up. They must have thought it was an Emergency. Well, they called at 9:36 and I woke up, well actually jumped up out of bed and picked up the phone. It rang twice becuase Lee was having phone trouble. When I picked it up, she did as well and as soon as I realized she got it, I hung up and went back to sleep.
I next woke up at 12:00, got out of bed and looked at the clock. I was about to turn the alarm off when I realized what I was doing. Made sure it was still on and went back to sleep. Alarm goes off at 1:30 like planned. I jumped out of bed.I turned the alarm off and was on all 4 on the floor. Like a cat ready to spring. I'm looking at the clock not comprehending why it went off. I'm thinking back and I knew I already ran the race. I did. Then it dawned on me that I visualized so much that I was confusing myself and I didn't actually run the race. Oh well, gotta get up.
Went downstairs and the dog was very happy to see me. He decided that if I am up then it must be wake up time and we're going for a walk. Nope...."Shhhh....Go back to sleep poochie".
Got ready. Did the usual. Left at 4:30 toward Anu and Ed. Splitting headache. Sent Anu a text, please bring Tylenol. She only had Bayer. Oh well. No relief.
Picked them up. Picked Jim up. Drove to city. Found a good parking spot about 1/2 block from the subway. Went down and slowly a lot of people trickeled in. It was hot as hell down there.
Waited about 20 minutes for a local stop subway. Time is tight. Most people got out at 86 because the corrals were at 90. I remembered that after 6:35 you were supposed to go to 97th. Most people got out at 86 and we got out at 96th. Walked a block in the heat and humidity. The line to the porta-pottie was HUGE. Chip time - it's all good. It's 6:50 with a start time of 7 and there are at least 60 more people in front of us and about 40 in back of us. Oh damn. I don't like to start the day like this. Suddenly some woman comes up and tells us that there are a bunch more porta-potties with no line. I went to investigate. She was right. I yelled to my crew and I ran forward and hurdled over a fence instead of going around. I had a feeling there were more porta potties and that we were at the first line. Just scared to go look. Should have. Still, went in and was out by 6:55. Damn - I needed that. No TP but always carry my own so all good.
My bib was 5384 and I should have been in the 5000-5999 corral. Coming out of the porta-potties, I was in the 14,000-14,999 corral. BAD. I tried to climb over the barrier which I knew was a big no-no. OOPS. This big bad guy with a clipboard started yeling at me - "You want to get disqualified? What are you doin? Get back down". OOPS....OK...Sorry sorry sorry. Mea culpa and all that. Plan B - I started walking between people trying to get ahead. Slowly I moved up. Managed to get up to the 10000 people. OY! Got stuck here. I heard the race start and slowly started walking with the mass of humanity.
Long walk. Got to the start and the clock was already at 12:20. Nothing to do about it. Started running. Hills kept coming. Flashback to the NYC Triathlon. The last part of the tri is a 10K in Central Park. Same direction. Recognized the hills. More crowded tho.
At about 2.5 miles, I heard the cops in back of me and the shouts to make a path. The pros were coming and they were exiting the park. Never saw them...Would have been nice.
When I usually run, I don't have a bottle or fluids. I figured I'll stay away from the fluid stations until we get out of Central Park. SMART! The fluid stations were a disaster. They also ran out of fluids and/or cups in some. People were not happy. They counted on it.
Jim caught up with me suddenly. He started with Anu and then left her. He was just having a slow and joyful run. He wasn't trying to PR. Still he passed me.
The loop was over before I knew it. Just another 1.5 in CP. We're out. OMG! Beautiful. Loved coming out of Central Park. Right before we left I saw a girl with a sign that said, "Will you marry me Jennifer?". Cool.
Running down 7th and into Times Square was awesome. The throng, the noise, the people - sensory overload. I was surging down 7th Avenue. Passing people. I pretty much hate NYRR but that part was done well. They had misting stations and medical tents. I got an ice handoff a couple of times. Put ice down my shirt and on top of my head. Felt good. Also, had my sponge from Patriots. Kept icing my chest and dropping cold water on my head. Feeling good.
42nd street was great too. Cars on the other side were honking at us. Momentum was moving. West side highway on the other hand was very anti-climatic.
West side highway was beautiful but I didn't like it. Less people - less magic. On the other hand, they had more music. Times Sq and 42nd had people playing live. Here we had DJ's. Heard the Beastie Boys - "Brass monkey. Tat funky monkey. Brass monkey chunky, that funky monkey". Started singing with them. Good music.
There was a TNT guy who biked around Central Park at least 3 or 4 times with a whistle in his mouth and a cowbell in 1 hand. Then he was riding up and down the west side highway. He was pretty cool if not nuts.
Passed mile 12 and feeling good. Started running harder. Saw a guy wearing a pink spandex, form fitting outfit. Full length too. Should not have worn that. Not with his body type. Started a little. Jim told me that he saw a guy with a sign that said "GO PINKY". When he saw this guy, he asked him about it and the guy responded that he just "likes pink". Takes all kinds.
800 meters....400 meters....200 meters. Pushing - pushing - pushing. Passing - passing - passing. Done! Felt good. Was going to run more but I had enough.
So, I still hate NYRR but they did a pretty good job with the baggage. I didn't check in anything but they were pretty organized about that. I guess different comittees handle different things.
Couldn't find my crew so made it back to car. Eventually Ed got there then Jim and then Anu. We were all soaked, tired but felt good. Nice medal too. Very iconic (hate that word). The medal looks like a manhole cover. Figures.
At the finish, I saw a guy cross the line with a hat on that looked like the green of a golf course. There was even a little flag sticking out of the hole and a golf ball attached with a string circling the flag. Cool.
I ate and I drank and drank more. Brought my protein drink too. Dropped Jim off. Dropped Anu and Ed at home (close to the YMCA) and then headed to Union Tpke and Queens Blvd to pick up family from the subway. They didn't want to come in from the city in the van because there were 4 stinky wet people. Picked them up got home and had a big family lunch. I was shaking a little. Figured my blood sugar was low so I ate. And drank and more. Even ahd a little cake. Still I was so thirsty. Later when I took my sister and kids to the subway, I asked Lee to give me a bottle. Drank the sports bottle in a couple of seconds. Couldn't drink enough. Suddenly I felt like I needed to Pee. Then it hit me that the last time I went to the bathroom was 7 am and that it's now after 5 pm.
Went to sleep early. Tired but feeling good.