Here are some maps for reference.
Here are some Pre and Post Sandy Pictures.
This is a small, very small, Marathon but that's ok. Boardwalk running which sucks and I hate but it's a 20-30 minute ride away and the RD seems like a damn good guy. I e-mailed him, asking about an address for mapquest. No problem. Skinny Karen (Karen Pompay) did it last year and won the Womans race. She did 3:30ish or there about and it goes to show you how small it is. I think around 40 people did it. Last year was terrible weather. Boardwalk running sucks but when the weather is bad, it gets worse. No protection from the elements. All the race reports I saw mentioned getting sand blasted. People got chafed from getting hit by sand. Very limited support and not to much of a crowd. On the other hand, long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt if I remember correctly. Will check.
So it was a hectic time but then again it always seems to be hectic. Still, I have an excuse. My maternal aunt, Rivkah, who lives in Australia died. Not really close to her since the distance and all but I gotta deal with my mom and all. So a brief lesson into mourning for us Jews. There are seven relationships that you must sit Shiva for. Shiva is a 7 day mourning period where you may not leave the home, must wear ripped clothing and sit on the floor or a stool as long as it's a lower seat. Shiva literally means the number 7 as in you mourn for 7 days. The 7 relationships are: Mother/Father/Brother/Sister/Son/Daughter and Spouse. Makes sense, right? All others may NOT sit shiva unless gotten special permission from Rabbi for example for people who were raised by a person and regard them like a parent. My mom consulted a Rabbi who told her she only has to sit Shiva for a few hours because of the distance and that didn't make sense to me. Then a more senior Rabbit called her and explained. She has to wait until Sukkot is over since you can't mourn on a festive holiday and then sit for the full 7 days. So she waited and starting Sitting Tuesday, October 9th.
I wasn't sure if I was gonna come but she dropped enough hints that I came home earlier, ran 3 miles and took the car over there after making sure family is ok for the night. Good thing too since only one friend and the Rabbi showed up. Wednesday Yael went and I visited again on Thursday but this time I came by the LIRR and cab. The plan was for me to take her car home Thursday night. I was gonna take the day off on Friday and be with her and since Lee has the car, I would need a car to do this. Also, since she can't use the car anyway, I thought it would be nice to have a 2nd car on Saturday AKA "Marathon Day". Lee and the family would visit on Sunday with me and then we would return the car as well.
Friday, since I had a car I also scheduled a PTA meeting at Jessie's school for 9am. Ended up helping and didn't leave the 10 min meeting until 10:30. Meanwhile I am carrying stuff up and down stairs and doing clerical work. The stairs tho I wasn't planning on it but how could I have someone lift a heavy box up/down stairs when it's obviously to heavy for her? Wasn't raised that way...
So between this and work, I didn't look at directions. I was confident, I had taken care of that.
Friday night came and the weather report. Saturday was gonna be cold and windy and this race is on the boardwalk so no protection from the elements.
Plugged in address to mapquest.com and it finds a match in Oregon. Shoot! Looked through all the emails and I found something that I think is sort of correct but definitily not a warm and fuzzy feeling. Actually, I'm pretty sure I would get lost. Pickup is between 6-6:45 at Connelly's bar and race starts at 7 so I decided to leave the house at 5am and get lost. In retrospect, I should have tried Far Rockaway as the neighborhood instead of Rockaway Beach and also probably should have looked up the address of the Bar. Still, I had mapquest directions and a trust in myself.
I pull over and ask the guy about this race thing and he tells me I am here. So, I ask where is Connelly's and he points to the building behind him . D'oh.
I park and go in to get my stuff. Stuff? They give out a RFID chip in a little ziplock and 2 pins to pin this to my shirt and that's it. Weird. Quickly go to use the indoor plumbing and it's small and not the most private and I am glad I am one of the first. From there, I went to walk the course to see how cold it will be and it is. Decision time: 2 pants, 2 shirts (sleevies), warm hat, hand warmers inside my gloves and my muffler. I took a garbage bag with me too but ended up not using it.
Meeting starts and the RD is nice enough. Tells us we run then we come back here "to drink and bullshit". Nice.
So, last year it was 40 runners. This year 80 people signed up but the results only show 67 people. The race is growing...
We all head out to the starting line and without much fanfare we start. The course as explained is a little weird but here it is:
Before we started, I started talking to a guy wearing a Hellsgate Running Club Jersey and of course he knows Courtney. Nice.
The wind was blowing hard against us in the direction we originally started with. I can't remember if it was East or West.
The first 2 miles is to a garbage can that we are supposed to go around using the honor system. Actually most of the race was honor system based.
As we run, my shins are on fire. Hurting and on fire actually and that's weird until someone yells out "Mile 1" and then it was very weird. I looked at my watch and it took me 10:37 to run the first mile and I feel like I was running hard. What?!? Not good. Oh well. Continued running and circled the garbage can. At mile 3, my watch said 27 minutes which made a lot more sense. Into the wind, I slowed down and with the wind, I sped up. Still, shins are on fire and tight.
Crossed the start/finish line and continued running. Talked with a few on my way but eventually started talking to a guy named Michael. He was the one who shouted "mile 1" earlier. We stayed together and ran and talked. This was his first and he had done the Labor Day Half and knew what to expect. Ran to the end of the boardwalk and turned around back to the start/finish line and the next 8 miles following. At the last turn around of the first 11.1 mile loop, my stomach was waking up on and off and I wasn't sure what to do. Indoor plumbing was available on the boardwalk but not everywhere and I was afraid it wasn't gonna be available when I needed it. At some point, we picked up a guy named Felix and he and I both stopped at the restroom.
Left and caught up to Felix. Ran him into the Start/Finish line. He was hurting bad but I made sure he smiled (bravely) to his wife and 3 year old girl but he could not keep up and I continued on. I was chaseing Michael and running well. On to the turn around. I passed some people and eventually saw Michael again as I was approaching the turn around. He had already cleared it.
Michael took some clothes off at this point and was wearing a white shirt and I was chasing white shirts. Still, I passed white shirts but not him.
At the start of the second loop, I saw a concession stand opening. I want my coke! When I got back to the start/finish line, I stopped there. They were waving me on telling me not to stop but I did. Unfortunatly, they only had Ginger Ale. Sucks. Continued on and crossed on the start/finish. Only 8 miles to go (4 out and 4 in) - Nice!
I got to the 2 mile garbage can... No more water. Continued on. Eventually saw michael again before the turn around. Told him to wait for me if he wants to run together and he said yes. Grabbed a bottle of water and ran with it. Hate doing that. Passed a few more. Chasing and chasing. Michael disappeared until again I spied a white shirt. Picked up the pace. Only 2 miles to go. Picked off the white shirt. It wasn't Michael. Finish line in sight. Picked up pace and finished about 20-30 seconds after Michael.
I wish I didn't have to use the bathroom early on. Michael was a riot. Very interesting guy. It would have really helped me. He used to be a Math teacher (remedial stuff) and is now a preacher in New Jersey. He mapped the course and had a napkin with mile markers written for every mile. Nice stuff.
Finished and got a medal. Cheap kind of medal which sucks. Went in search of food/drink at Conneley's. Got my long sleeve cotton shirt, hoodie, 3 bags of cookies and a huge apple strudel. Age group winners also got a huge cheesecake to take home. Wish that was me...But it wasn't. You also got 2 drinks free but I just wanted a coke. They had subs but I didn't know what was in it so I skipped. Drove home and was home in 30 minutes to eat lunch and shower. Awesome.
Fast enough and I was ready to take Jeremy to tennis at Alley Pond. I was there the day before so they were suprised that I was there and vertical and walking normally. Awesome. After that, also took the kids to swim but had Lee come with. Glad I did...They had a pet expo and it was interesting. Made the decision to bring LC over to get checked out. For $ 20, he got a physical and free heartwarm meds for a whole year just so that vet students can practice. Well, the 3 that examined him got the case of the year probably. They were bugging out when they heard the whole tumor story.
Next day, Sunday, ran 8 with Gail while Lee ran with Adele 6 miles. Awesome. The following day, Monday, I rode with Donald to the wall and back - 34 miles. Feeling great.
Post race thoughts: I hate and still hate boardwalk running. Loops suck too. Not too much of help on the course and they did run out of water on the 2 mile mark. Not too many spectators either. Lot of people were suprised at this too. I don't think they even realized there was a race. None of us wore bibs... Still, the swag was good. Except for the (really) cheap looking medal the rest of the stuff made up for it. Also, 30 minutes later I was home. Hard to beat a low cost race that's close by, starts early and gives great swag. I still don't like boardwalk running and probably will not be there next year because I don't want to repeat races anymore but it was good and I wish them luck.