Another Map of the NYC Marathon
Elevation Map of the NYC Marathon
Course Strategy for the Marathon
EXCELLENT article from Mary Wittenberg about the Essence of the Marathon
I found this link on mapmyrun.com. It maps the runs nicely.
Here are some Demographics on Finishers.
| Elevation Map |
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| Bib | 53355 |
| Wave 3 | 10:20 am |
| Orange start | no idea what corral. |
Now what does this mean in English: Last wave. About an hour and twenty minutes after the pros. It means that I will sit and freeze my butt off an hour and twenty minutes longer than the pros. Gerry is going before me. That means I will never see him. Usually he catches up to me. Good for me. Hopefully, I'll see someone I know. Hopefully it won't be completly dark before I finish. Francois sent me an email telling me that he will watch for me on tv and cheer me on after he finishes. He then called immediatly to apologize for the email and to make sure I know that he was kidding. It's all good - I was getting my butt kicked in the pool anyway. It is all good really. I simply don't race anything longer than 5 miles. Up to 5 miles, I'll really try. Anything else is an exercise in endurance and I just want to finish and live to fight another day. In this case, Goofy looms in the distance.
The route: House to Alley (1.64) -> Water route (10.0) -> During the water took a break at Northern Blvd and Little Neck and ran East on Northern Blvd. Ran past Peter Lugers (the aroma...), past Leonards, down Doctors row to Manhasset and then back to Little Neck(2.4 * 2) -> Went to upper Alley and did a shortened 5 miler (~ 3) -> Alley to house (1.64). I figure 20ish tho the calculator says more like 21. I hope it was 21 because my otherwise my pace was off. Still felt good.
Showered, ate lunch and off to the YMCA. Spent the next 6 hours on my feet at the YMCA. Felt G O O D! No pain. Legs a little tired but lower back - check, quads - check, calves - check. Sunday woke up late (8:20am), breakfast with the kids, shopped at Target for Jeremy's trip and off to a funeral. All in all a great morning/day. Didn't run in the rain - AWESOME!
The big dilema: Pace group? I ran 5 Marathons and I never had the chance/opporunity/choice. What do I do? I would like to do well and this is an option but takea slower group and do what? Take a faster pace and can I keep up? Run my own race at my own pace (alone) which I always do anyway and do what?
Going to take a vote.
Gerry said: 1)stop thinking, enjoy the experience, be totally present in it. 2)I always fly solo. The pace team is a terrific idea, but you don’t need it-both because you already have a great pace, AND, for your first nyc, be TOTALLY present in the moment. It IS life changing because of the enormity and the people.
As of right now, I plan to sign up for the 4:15 and hopefully do something. I don't know what I did right at the L.I Marathon last time but hopefully I can do it again or better. I did Paine to Pain and got stronger. I ran the bad hills in L.I. I just did MD row. Hopefully....
Little stressed about Marathon day but I can't let that get to me. I am getting a ride to Staten Island with Francois and crew. His brother is driving us and Len. But the afterwards is questionable. Got options which is better than no options.
Option 1: Meet Binesh and shower/dress at his place. Already would have delivered a bag to him. Afterwards I can either a) taxi/subway to LIRR to home b) subway to Queens and pickup at Union Tpke c) ask my Mom to be at my sisters house and ask her to pick me up from Binesh d) weather dependent - my guys will commute in and meet me at Binesh and then subway or subway/LIRR home.
Option 2: Shower at some sports club with guest pass provided by Francois and then somehow get home.
I'll stop grinding my teeth at night once these things are settled.
Got home early - YAY! It was actually 9:08. Wanted to go to sleep early. Been getting less than 4 hours of sleep now for a while. And now the bad news. Jeremy has a test in Navi (Prophets) the next day, thursday. In complete silliness, he forgot his notes at school. By the time, I got home from work, he had already called someone and got notes faxed to him. They were'nt completly legible but they were something! I wasn't happy that he forgot his notes before a test (again) but at least he dealt with it like a man. He gets top grades so I'm not worried. Tested him on it and he knows it. Now, I got home from the pool to find out that a friend of his, Omer, also forgot his notes. I don't know if Omer has afterschool activities but apparently he only realized this at 8:50 pm! I was out swimming, kids all sleeping and Omer calls. Lee tells him that she can fax it but Omer's dad is not there to deal with the fax, can she scan? My honey does not know hot to scan (for now...This will be dealt with shortly), so she told him to call Josh who faxed it to us. Omer calls Josh who tells him that he cannot scan now and his sister won't do it for him. Josh then calls us. Get what's coming here? They both call my wife who tells Omer that she doesn't know when I'll get back but that only I can can scan. She tells him if I get home before 9:30, Omers bedtime, that I will call. Shoot. I got home at 9:08! All I wanted to do was to start the wash, eat, move wash to dryer and go to sleep. Marathon and all...
Moral dilema as to what to do but then nature takes over with a big sigh and I call Omer. He apparently has been fishing for notes but still haven't found anything. OK...Scanned 7 pages (go to scanner, sit, scan - repeat). Took a while. Then processing into a PDF document. Damn it....Finally emailed it to him at 9:54. Meanwhilw, his mother wants him to get the notes already, study and goto sleep. No pressure except that he called the house again to pressure me and sent 2 emails. OK...Sent email, confirmed he got it and actually offered to help read this and study. Again the nature thing. He said no thanks and I was done. It's 10 pm but now the urge of the computer takes over and bedtime switched from 10 to 11:30. On the positive side, 11:30 is a lot earlier than my normal 1:30-2am bedtime. On the other hand, I was really looking forward to going to sleep at 10. Oh well, at least I did the right thing. Karma and all that. It's who we are.
Could have simply not called him and pretended I got home late. Just not me.
Walked to the expo. Saw more and more and more runners. Got real crowded near the Javitts center. Got in and got my stuff. Pretty fast but crowded. Went to the pacing table and found out there is NO pace group for my time and my wave. The guy suggested I jump over to the wave 2 pace group. I don't know if that's allowed. Whatever. Trained by myself for how long? I'll run by myself. Got my picture taked with Ryan Hall and Brian Sell. Those guys look good. Hall made a comment that he can run a 2:05 here. That would be a course record besides Americans haven't won here in a long while. Awesome stuff.
Met up with Len and Francois. Right before we were all going to split, Francois said we should talk for a second about Sunday morning. Good thing too because I told Len how to check his bib for transportation and that's when we found out that he has NO transportation set up. Plans out the window. Went to transportation table but no more opening on the ferry for him, only the 5:30 bus. He was ready to leave it when I told him to take it anyway as backup. Not sure what we are doing yet.
Went to sleep lastnight at 10 and woke up this morning at 7:40 with a few interruptions in between. That's almost 10 hours of sleep! That's about 2 or 3 days of sleep for me in 1 night!
Had this nesting thing going on today maybe due to the rain that's coming. Ended up cleaning gutters. On my neighbors side, I had to balance on his fence and all I kept thinking was if I fall do I a) rip out my gutters trying not to or b) jump of the fence and getting injured less than 24 hours before the marathon. Ended up not falling - how awesome is that?
Saturday proceeded normally. Had lunch and went to the YMCA. Tried not to stand the whole time but hard not too. I wanted to watch the kids and I was talking to people. Trying to chilax. Left and ate at home. Lee walked LC with Jessie. Lot of kids were trick-a-treating early. Made sense - had great weather, promise of bad weather and of course the Yankees game that night. This worked very well for me. I was afraid that kids would come until late because of the time change. Luckily for me they all stopped after 7:30.
Tried to get the kids in bed but phone rings. Francois called. Small change of plan. Instead of Francois picking me up at 5:30, he will pick me up at 5:00. We will go to Merrick Park(?) and a Renegade will drive us to S.I. A few minutes later again he calls. I don't pick up - he is beginning to stress me up. Then again he calls. Change of plan again. Pick up at 5:00 and we go to Len's house. From there, a Renegade will take us. Getting stressed out from all of this.
Got the kids in bed and changed the clocks. Got in bed by old 10:00, new 9:00. Wake up scheduled for new 2:00. It'll be 5 hours of sleep. All good. Been there - done that. Got rest during the week.
Woke up a few times during the night but that's fine. Woke up at old 2:00 and saw the clock turn back to 1:00. Actually, I sat up in bed fast thinking I overslept but Elizabeth told me to go back to sleep. Clock went off at 2am. Went downstairs and started getting ready. Plan was to text Francois at 4am to make sure he is awake. He texted me at 3:50 that he is awake - Thank God for that. I told him if he oversleeps that I would go over there and ring his neck.
Saw a message from Gerry on Facebook that there is only a light rain on this special day. Took the dog for a walk and realized that there is no light rain. Just rain. Luckily had a poncho because it was wet. Came home and found out Lee was up and waiting to say goodbye. Cool. It's 3:50 and the phone rings - Francois is running late, pickup at 5:15.
At 5:20, I called him. He's on his way and not exactly thinking as he is driving. Easy directions and all that. Get in the car only to find out that he forgot to bring the throw away cloths for me. "Should we go back he asks?" Nah, I tell him it's not that cold. Drive to Len's house. Supposedly close by. Seems forever. Get there and Len is ready. Ike is there. Haven't seen or ran with him in a while. It was nice to see him. Nice Mercedes too.
Drive went well. Before I knew it, we were on the Belt Parkway doing 80. Little bit of a drizzle and we seem to be chasing a car that looks a lot like an undercover cop. No ticket please. One level is closed, the other is still open. Over and over and we're at the toll booth. Sea of humanity over there. Ike drops us off as a cop screams at us to move and that he can't stop. Don't want him to get a ticket for his troubles. Saw a limo drive by and also a Hummer limo. Geez.
Go through security and it now seems real. Three different running villages based on color (Blue, Orange and Green). Lot of people. Big lines at the porta-potties.
I'm cold! I'm wearing a running singlet, sleevies, long sleeve shirt, gloves and shorts. Dunkin Donuts had a little booth. I don't like coffee but the smell was amazing. Suddenly a crowd. Went to investigate. They were giving away warm hats, orange or pink. I was cold and didn't care. Grabbed a pink. The men refused pink - I couldn't care less. All I wanted was to get warm.
Got a power bar and walked around to investigate. Found a string of porta-potties that weren't touched. Cool stuff. Then we went in search of cardboard boxes to sit on. There was 1 tent and it was filled with people. Managed to find a box with Garbage bags and found someone who gave us the OK. Don't know if he should have but it was enough. Grabbed a bunch and found a piece of real estate. Saw Gerry on the way. He and Tom were in HazMat suits which even covered up his sneakers. How cool is that? He was nice and warm in his windbreaker.
Len and I spread the garbage bags and got in them. Looked like homeless people.
Len napped. I thought about it but didn't want my G.I system to settle down. I wanted to stay vertical and have my digestion system working.
In out line of sight was a row of porta-potties. Plenty of males and females ducking behind them to pee. One woman was completly in view too.
Took a long walk and hit the porta-potties again. Now there were lines and the wind was hitting them too.
When I got back, Francois already left. He likes to stretch and warm up and run for a long time before race start. Len was just about to go too. Went a little way with him and wished him luck. Sat with Gerry and talked a little.
Heard the double cannon and saw runners on the bridge. They were waving at us. Is this for real?
Soon enough it was time for us too. Went toward the start.
We were kept on being buzzed by 2 sikorski's helicopters, a bell helicopter, an NYPD helicopter and a coastguard helicopter. Cool stuff.
We were on a ballfield trying to get into the non-existent corrals. Jackets everywhere. I knew I was in the "wrong" place. Made myself forward by walking on the throwaway jackets. Last pee and here we go. On and on we go and suddenly I hear the double cannon shot. Frank Sinatra's, New York, New York was playing, people singing on the bridge. On the bridge, it was VERY windy. Someone took off the garabge bag he was wearing and the thing took off. Up and across the bridge.
Colors: Green - Lower level. Blue - Upper level, right side. Orange - Upper level, left side. I was Orange. Glad of it too for the view. The view was awesome. Before I knew it, we were at the middle of the bridge, at the 1 mile mark. And then we were going down. NYRR was smart enough to cover the grated sections with plywood. Thank God for that. After the bridge, Brooklyn!
Brooklyn was amazing. First thing I hear was "eye of the tiger" on an uphill. That was awesome. Some of the longest miles were in Brooklyn and the sights were unbelievable. Neighberhood predominantly spanish and Arabic. People were great. Bands, Sound systems and speakers sticking out if windows playing music. Water stations were a bit annoying in some of these areas. Streets were narrow in some sections and I had to walk through just because people were stopping. I didn't want the water but I couldn't get through either.
Different sites:
The neighborhood switched to a higher quality but less specators. Williamsburg.
Where's Queens already? Almost at the Pulaski Bridge. Close to it and I am running behind this couple. A space opened up as they were slowing down and I was going to pass through them. Suddenly a water station popped up and the woman made a hard right. The man, to her left started turning too. I yelled out whoa and the guy got all pissed off. Now they say that NY'ers are horrible but all the NYers I saw were nice. This was a German couple and the guy got all pissed off at me. He yelled at me and hit me in the back. Wasn't a hard hit but with the whole body working, it hurt. I didn't curse at him but I did turn around and yelled back at him, "blah blah blah blah". Felt good to do that and I was glad I didn't curse back at him. Still, I felt his hand there for the next 4 miles.
Pulaski Bridge and into Queens. Saw the Alley Pond Striders group. High Fived Laughlin and Debbi. Heard my name mentioned after I ran by. Saw the Brickwell poster but none of them. Missed the Renegades completly.
Got on the 59th street bridge expecting the crowds. Everyone talks about the crowds coming off the bridge. Supposed to be magnificient. Disapointing. Was pretty good but Brooklyn was better. Wasn't until 70th+ were the real crowds made noise. Len said the same thing. He was running next to a 3:30 pace team leader who tried to rile the spectators.
First Avenue was a mixture of subtle uphills and obvious uphills. Miles splits were getting longer.
Gerry and Francois got it into my head that I could do a 4:15. At 1 point it seemed like I was going to do a 4:06+. Awesome. At this point, my miles started getting longer. Mile by mile I knew it wasn't going to happen. The next question was whether I would make the 4:30 NY Times cutoff. I knew it would be tight but doable.
On First Avenue, I saw a spectator throw a football to a Marathoner who caught it. He threw the ball back, underhand, to the spectator (friends/family). Dude caught it with 1 hand.
Saw some specators yelling at 2 marathoners with Boston Red Sox shirts that they suck. All were smiling tho.
Mile 17 was a sponge station. Got one. Loved the sponge but what a mess.
Constantly doing mental math as to what I still got to do (Bronx, Manhattan, Central Park etc) and time. Got to the Willis Avenue Bridge. Finally. A lot of grating on it and they only covered the left side of it. WHY - WHY - WHY? Made for traffic. Passed it and downhill to a hard right. At the bottom there was a jumbotron and everyone paying attention to that. Idiots. Had to fight my way through to make the right turn. Only about a mile or so in the Bronx.
Next bridge was the Madison Avenue Bridge. Don't really remember it. I sort of remember there was another jumbotron with pictures from the Expo.
Harlem was cool. Lot of Gospel singers and church quires. Crowd was with us. Smelled vomit along way.
I see Central Park. The end is near. The whole way the temps were funny. When the wind hit - I was cold and I rolled the sleeves down. When the wind was off - I was hot and the sleeves went up. Here and now, I got hot. Started striping for the home stretch. Long sleeve shirt came off. Sleevies went down. Gloves on and off but now off. Grabbed some salt and swallowed it. I was thirsty but my stomach was saying enough drinks.
I see NYRR headquarters at 89 and Central Park West. We're in the park. Back to the NYC Triathlon course in the park. Here I thought I was done with that.
I see a "1 mile to go sign". Didn't hit mile 25 yet. Hit 25 and it looks like sub 4:30 is possible.
Little fuzzy here. We get out of the park here and hit Columbus Circle and back into the park. Was crowded and up hill. Crossed mile 26. Couldn't step up. There was no sprint to be had. Got to the 100 to go and there's the finish. Crossed it and got a blanket and a medal. Didn't see Cinthya tho.
Got a food bag. Hungry. Bit into a bagel. Hoping for a stale bagel but the garbage they gave us was worse. Couldn't swallow it. Had to find a garbage to spit into. Apple was good.
Usually they refer to a death march as walking the marathon. Here it had a different meaning. Once we crossed the finish line, we were corralled (literally) into a tight roadway in CP. Couldn't exit the park. There were 3 exits and the slowest wave (wave 3) had to walk the least. Had to walk from the finish line at (65/66) to 77th. They kept yelling at us to walk and not to stop yet it was worse than the LIE. Couldn't walk to much because of all the people.
I understand why they wanted us to walk, with the blood pooling and all that but this was ridiculous. This way they could also keep an eye on us. Well, a woman collapsed. People started screaming for medical. Meanwhile, medical was sitting on a lifeguard chair on the side not paying attention. There were 50 people screaming and she's not paying attention. Lost it and yelled at her to get off her a**. Little further and a medical guy standing on the side, started talking to a woman on my left. He was asking her how she was. I honestly thought he was trying to pick her up until I heard him suggest they go to medical and that it's ok... Then I realized she was crying. Little later during the walk, a golf cart with a runner on a stretcher passed us. He was being evacuated to an ambulance.
Finally got to the exit and started looking for my crew. Borrowed 2 phones and through to Elizabeth. Binesh was waiting for me in my waiting area. Found him and started walking to Elizabeth and the kids. Met them and started walking toward Binesh's house. Started shivering badly. Rolled up sleevies and put long sleeve shirt back on. Took a shower, ate a little and on the way to the subway. Got picked up by Elizabeth's parents.
Got food from Naiomi's, walked doggie and finally ate. It was 7:20 and I am finally having real food. Long day. Enough.
Had my Special Marathon dinner picked by kids. Had 2 slices and my daughters crust, followed by Chumus, falafel balls and spicy stuff. Awesome. Next Special Marathon dinner in 2 months or so. So thirsty that night. I knew I was still dehydrated but just had nothing to pee and when I did the color was off. Nothing could satisfy the thirst.
Kids woke up early because of the time change. Took them to school and went home for a massage.
Legs are ok. Stairs are not that bad. Little sore. Still overall tired. Didn't work out yesterday or tonight. Going to swim on wednesday. Looking for it actually. Swimming is stretching and an icebath all rolled in 1.
Everyone is telling me that I will do it again next year. I tell them I won't. They keep telling me that I'll change my mind. I won't. I had fun. I did. It was an experience. It was. Defintly something to do once. Not interested in a repeat. If I really want to do it again, it would be easy. I already have 6 races out of the 9+1. But who cares? Not me...
I think I got everything. Might have to add later.
Also saw Uncle Sam and the Blues Brothers.
Forgot to mention other results....Francois was going for Boston. Needed a 3:15. All good until mile 23. Cramped up. Walked/run. Got to the finish in under 3:30. Spent 2 hours at medical - like last year. Except last year he was going for 3:30, made it and also spent 2 hours at medical.
Len...Was going for Boston too. Needed a 3:30. Made it under 3:30. Only 1 problem. A BIG problem. His chip didn't work. As far as NYRR is concerned, he DNS. Never started - No Boston for him. I told him to fight it. Between the photos and video he might have a case. He's happy he's not injured and that he mentally knows that he can do it. Even if he has to do it again.
Lastly, one more result. Gerry was over 5:00. Got hurt at mile 20ish. Went to the porta-pottie, turned and snap/ouch. Hobbled to the end. Not giving up. Kudos to him. Yes, I use that word. Woulda been easier to give up but didn't. Not his year of the Marathon. Walking with a cane now. Hopefully, he will be ok and soon.
Good news regarding Len. Checked last night and his result time is posted. There are no splits obviously. He called them up and spoke to them. They yelled at him and threatened never to let him race again but they acquised(sp?). He's going to Boston!
Lastly - Heart Attacks. Unconfirmed completly but I heard that someone had a heart attack - Not sure if during or right after. Last year 3 people died. Not good.
Swam on Wednesday night. Really did me good. Last of the pain behind the left knee is goneish.
In Brooklyn, I saw a cop holding his ipod in his hand. He connected the little speakers to it and was blaring music for us. Cool.
Lastly, Williamsburg. I alluded to the fact that it was a disappointment. It was. Those people aren't my people per se yet I was embarassed to go from a neighborhood that completly turned out to nothing. Still felt better when we almost hit Queens. It was near a Synagogue or a Jewish school and there were people out and they had a (renegade meaning not NYRR) fluid station and a sign that said something like, "we
The first: I was really excited to eventually see my guys. Everytime I thought of them, my chest sort of caught. Well, around mile 21 and up a hill, I thought of them and suddenly had a massive chest pain. Heart attack? Too funny!
The second: After we got the garbage bags to lounge in, we needed a piece of real estate. Len wanted to sit near the porta-potties. I said "NO!" Since it was windy, I wanted to sit near the tent they had. You see they had a tent but it was full. By sitting next to it, at least we had wind cover from one side and it was very windy. Found a place near these 2 Chinese women. Sort of encroached on their turf - sorry. I was watching them at one point. Those 2 women had a 7 course meal...Couldn't believe it. My friend Greg had a Peanut Butter and Jellie bagel with a power bar and a coffee 10 minutes before the NYC Triathlon. Ten minutes before jumping into the Hudson! This was ridiculous. Who has fish and rice wrapped in seaweed and 6 other courses right before 26.2 miles?