New York City Marathon 6/11/2011

TJC

Thats great, cheers!!

Marthastew

Very, very best of luck to those of you who are running New York, have a wonderful trip and a great race.

RoverHogan

Marthastew wrote: »

Very, very best of luck to those of you who are running New York, have a wonderful trip and a great race.

+1
looking forward to the race reports

Emer911

You can track your runner on this site

Oisin11178

34 timing mats on route. Amazing:D

heffsarmy

Frank did run it? Do you know how Ken got on?

Oisin11178

No i didnt run it heff. Ken did 3.59. Looked like a hard day for him but a good experience id say.

sideswipe

3:35 for me, tough course but WHAT an experience, hoped for sub 3:30 but wasn't to be on the day. I will take memories of this race to my grave! Will post full report when I get home, pints are callin!

horanc

3:27:01, superb event on a tough course. The support was amazing:)

opus

Some nice pics on the Guardian site, looks like a really nice day in NY.

New York marathon – in pictures

belcarra

3:51 for me so am well pleased with a pb of over 30mins on a tough enough course. That last hill before central park was a killer! Full report to follow in a day or two... roll on Philadelphia now in 2 weeks!

kandikane

heffsarmy wrote: »

Frank did run it? Do you know how Ken got on?

Dave been a poxy month for me got over there had a sniffle from the flue jab i got in work and that turned into a barking cough and flue ran the marathon with me coughing up crap after the first half was having breathing problems as i crossed the line and had to be taken to the medical centre and put on an ebulisor by the doctor,he told me to knock the running on the head till the newyear,out of 11 marathons a crap time but had the craic the second half going around bands and dancers on every cornor an experience i will never forget this is one marathon i will do again trip of a lifetime.

sideswipe

Where to begin? The beginning would be a good place I suppose so first a brief history-

I started running at the beginning of 2009 with a view to changing my lifestyle, getting in shape, quitting the fags and as a tonic for the company I ran going to the wall. It’s been a life changing journey! I followed the ‘novice’ thread mentored by Amadaus, more as a lurker than anything else, as I only found the forum when the training for DCM 2009 was well under way. I was quickly hooked.

To cut a long story short I made all the rookie mistakes, ended up running DCM that year with a dodgy knee limping arround in 4:22. Determined to learn form my mistakes I ran again in 2010 making less mistakes and learning so much from the generous and extreamly helpful regular posters that frequent these parts and ran 3:43, now I was well and trully hooked. On to Cork last june and I managed another pb of 3:36. At this point I felt I was just plodding in training, getting quanitity rather than quality.
It was time to get with a program and so decided upon the P&D 55 mile 18 week plan for an Autumn Marathon, but not only that, I desided after missing out on the New York lottery that I go the gaurenteed sports travel route. I started training shortly after Cork but hit a stumbling block straight away, a thigh strain probably caused by doing too much too soon after Cork caused me to miss a few week of training and so a 18 week plan quickly became a 12 week one. I decided to set a target of Sub 3:30, training had not started well and I had heard warnings on boards and elsewhere about how tough NY can be.... pffft how much tougher can it be :rolleyes:

Pre-race:

Arrived into NYC late on the Friday night and headed straight to the hotel in midtown. It was already quite apparent how busy a weekend it was going to be, it took an hour and half with taxi Q’s and traffic.
Headed to the Expo on Saturday which was a painful experiance, it was packed! Did what I had to do and got out of there. Wanted to just rest up for the day but unfortunatley my better half, who was on the trip with me, had other ideas! Fell into the trap of walking around far too much- visited the 9/11 memorial as well as a few other tourist traps, my legs were tired already.
I decided not to do any run as I had intended, but try to relax instead. Easier said than done, I was wired, I honestly don’t remember being that excited since before I found out

Santa Clause was an elaberate hoax

. There would be little sleep tonight!
After carbing up I heading back to the hotel to get my stuff organised I tried to sleep. The only word to decribe it was ‘fitfull’, I’d wake every view minutes, look at the clock and take a few seconds to understand the numbers, was that pace, distance, time- '**** it’s only 2:35 am', I couldn't sleep and the clocks went back in the US meaning it’s was only 1:35 am!

Eventually morning did come, up at 4:30 for breakfast. This was the first problem I encountered, although I was hungry at that hour because of the time zones, the bus to the start was leaving a 6am, thats 3 hours and 40 minutes before the gun, I’d have to snack out in the start village as well to keep myself going and the butterflies in my stomach were not leaving much room for anything else! The bus to the start was special, the energy was electric, the views back across the Hudson to Manhattan were spectacular with skyscrappers being illuminated by a glorious red sunrise, whats that they say about a red sky in the morning..... shepards warning, in this case I should have heeded a few warnings but not about the weather!

The start village was part rock festival, part refugee camp as people milled about, lay on makeshift cardboard beds, some had tents and sleeping bags. I forced down a bagle, banana and some coffee and sat on the kerb taking everything in. It was cold but the sun was starting to warm me up, the same warm rays I’d be trying to avoid in a few hours time!
After waiting around and dropping my bag to the UPS truck it was into my coral in the first wave. The nerves had gone now, I wanted to hit the road. My legs felt really good after the best (proper) training cycle I’d ever done and a good taper. I was ready. One rendition of the star spangled banner, a cannon shot and we were off.

The Race:

Leaving Staten Island behind straight away I was running up hill to the center point of the Verrazano-Narrows bridge, I expected congestion but this was mental, I was hoping for 7:58 min/miles but knew that this would have to go out the window for the first couple of miles, the Garmin beeped for the first mile at 8:48, not too bad but the worying thing was the mile marhed seemed off to me, it was closer to a full 9 min/mile on my watch when I met the first mile marker! Still can’t figure this out as the first mile is an almost straight line, little did I know but even though I tried to race the shortest possible route this would turn out to be the longest of my Marathons to date at just shy of 26.5 miles!
Even after the first mile my sub 3:30 plan was already on it’s knees. I panicked a bit, I had promised myself I would take it easy on the first few miles and try to peg back lost time slowly, no chance, the second mile is more down hill, I picked up the pace a bit and started to weave through the crowds like the idiot that I know know I am! The 2nd mile beeped on my watch 7:25, but the mile marker seeded just as far off and so it went on. I avaraged 7:40 min/miles for mile 2 to 8 but it almost seemed I was measuring km’s to the mile markers!
I had bobbed and weaved, using up energy and was only about level with where I wanted to be but with far too much energy used. I was looking from pace band to watch trying to understand what was wrong, had I got the pace band wrong? (Of course I now know I had, I never thought to allow for the course being longer).
I was not enjoying myself, I’d forgotten there was one of the worlds best marathons happening around me, I was running a seperate race in my own little world and I needed to snap out of it. I was part of this amazing spectacal, hundreds of thousands of people were cheering me on, kids wanted to high five me but I was oblivious. I started to look around at the crowds, people were cheering like it was a champions league final, the enthusiasum was truly unbelivable. One sign that helped me stop focusing on my timing issues was this one-

“Hey you guy’s with no name on your shirts- U ROCK TOO”

I settled into it and started to enjoy it as much as was possible at PMP. The course had been pretty level so far, I was having more problems with the drink stations, I’d brought a straw that was tucked into my baseball cap which worked well for drinking on the move but had lost it early on somewhere, I had now resorted to taking water at each sation (every mile) and just gulping a mouthful except when taking a gel. It was clumbersome and I felt I wasn’t taking enough fluids, by now the sun was stronger than I’d expected it would be at this time of year.

I was closing in on the half way mark but was still miles off on the mile markers, the half way point was half way up quite a sever incline on a bridge that marks the end of Brooklyn and the start of Queens, a look at my watch said I was 1:44:40, 20 seconds inside my time but I was feeling the strain.The next couple of mile are a bit of a blur but I do remember feeling there was more inclines. The support in Queens was just as amazing as the early part of the race although i sensed those around me were starting to feel the distance like myself as the high 5's and cheering back to the crowds had decreased about 80% or so!!! We turned onto Queensboro bridge and I was holding the pace ok and actually passing quite a few on the incline up to the centre of the bridge, the view out to Manhattan was amazing, though I was taken a back with how high the bridge was, something I’d never noticed from a taxi.

The second half of the bridge is a pretty sharp desent as we hit the streets of Manhattan for the first time. The crowds as we head north up 1st Ave are huge, but I’m really starting to struggle, I’m running on the far right hand side of the road where there is shade from the buildings, I seem to be on my own, I try to take some encouragement from the crowds but I’m starting to enter my own personal hell, I’ve slowed badly, I couldn’t understand it, I still can’t really- I’d done 18 miles with 14 at PMP and had felt a hell of a lot better that this! Mile 17 beeped on my Garmin, holy **** 9:05! Feck this, I thought it’s far to early to implode, I picked up the pace up 1st Ave but it was still a big struggle especially after losing all the time I had worked so hard (too hard) to make up in the early part of the race. A nice decline on mile 18 helped me claw back some time but as we headed up the bridge and away from the crowds and Manhattan I felt empty, I walk through a water stop and take a gel at the 19mile marker. Miles 18 & 19 had been 7:38 & 7:48 respectively, i was 60 seconds outside a 3:30 finish but knew it was beyond me, I’d slowed again, mile 20 in the Bronx 8:34! My pace was yo-yoing. The second Bronx mile was 8:03 but I knew it wasn’t in me. This was supposed to be the most enjoyable marathon in the world and I was dieing, the devil on my shoulder was telling me my goal was gone “just stop, walk for a while......why are you killing yourself, just enjoy it?” he was making some good points!

Back into Manhattan, I keep moving but have slowed a lot- mile 22 and 23 take me to central park, I had decided to keep moving to the park entrance where my wife is waiting, but I’m really hurting, my pace was 8:21 & 8:40. My B goal was a new PB but I can’t even think about that. I get to the meeting point feeling like I’m walking, I can’t see her, the crowds are mental but they might as well be shouting against me! ****, ****, ****, everything was going south. The garmin beeped, 9:10!

The voices in my head were telling me to walk, I felt I'd nothing left. I walked through a drink station taking some gatorade for the first time and really didn’t know if I could start running again, but I manage to shuffel on. I get a shout from up a head, Mrs Sideswipe was jumping up and down, screaming at me with energy I could only dream of! I go over and get a big hug and get pats on the back from those around her, I have to admit I had a tear in my eye! ‘Fcuk it, only 2 mile left’ a new, more positive voice in my head raised it’s voice for the first time, “let’s go get a new NYC PB”,

I grit my teeth and push on, it’s a rolling couple of miles with plenty of inclines but I dig deep, mile 25 goes by at 8:21. Out of the park, past the Apple store at the top of 5th Ave and around the corner by the Plaza Hotel, it felt like there was hundreds of thousands of people cheering us on. Mile 26 at 8:13 and Up to Columbus Circle to re-enter the park for the final stretch and yet more hills! It seems to go on forever but eventually I see the blue carpet and line, it was over- 3:35:21, a PB by 1:23. This was definatley my toughest race to date, I really don’t know why It was so tough as I felt I should have been able for the pace but alas it wasn’t to be. Plenty of mistakes to learn from both in term of training and race day tactics which I hope will mean improvments for my next marathon, though I don’t think I’ll have the natural ability to go much beyond 3:30.

In tems of a marathon experiance this will take some beating, even with the mental struggles I encountered along the way.

neilc

Great race and report sideswipe. Don't be too hard on yourself, you'll smash 3:30 next time. Well done again.

PaulieYifter

Well done sideswipe - read that article in the Indo on you earlier in the year saying NYC was your next target - look forward to see you crack 3:30 next time (maybe in Cork?)

Krusty_Clown

sideswipe wrote: »

though I don’t think I’ll have the natural ability to go much beyond 3:30.

Great report. Really brings back fond memories. An easy marathon, it certainly ain't! Don't worry about that 3:30. You'll kill it soon and when you're running 2:55 some day soon, you'll back at the above comment and get a kick out of it.

sideswipe

PaulieYifter wrote: »

Well done sideswipe - read that article in the Indo on you earlier in the year saying NYC was your next target - look forward to see you crack 3:30 next time (maybe in Cork?)

I am thinking Cork at the moment. Think I'll do some 5/10K's to try to build more some speed first!

Don't worry about that 3:30. You'll kill it soon and when you're running 2:55 some day soon, you'll back at the above comment and get a kick out of it.

Thanks for that Krusty, I can't even dream of those kind of times at this stage!

slowsteady

Well done Sideswipe. The tough ones are the ones we learn most from.

Was mad to do NY sometime and after reading your report want to have a go even more:)

Ruarl Runner

Target Time: 3:59
Actual Time: 4:05

Firstly well done to all for completing this. It is a tough marathon which is made much more difficult by the long wait at the start and then those bridges are a real drag, very hard to remain on pace with the crowds. The course despite the 3 waves and different starts never thinned out at all and there was chaos at the water stations mainly by people cutting across grabbing drinks and then deciding to stop to drink in the middle of the road...

A sub 3:45 was very much on the cards but for an injury I picked up leaving the Bronx (I hit a hole in the road decending from the last bridge at mile 20 -21 forced me into a walk/shuffle and mile 24 alone took almost 15 minutes to complete as I have to stop a number of times.

Wasn't too disappointed for two reasons (i) took over an hour off the last time I ran this course in 2007 and (ii)the whole experience was amazing (with the exception of the very long wait in Staten Island where I was on the 5:00am bus and waited around for almost 5 hours before the race started.:eek::eek::eek:)

Crowds were amazing and some of the signs that come to mind which made me giggle along the way include:

''Run like you Stole Something''
''Chuck Norris never ran a marathon''
''Runners have balls........ Sorry ladies''

And to the crazy lady who scaled the barrier to come over to me at mile 24 when I had stopped and screamed at me to ''get my ass back on the road and get over the F&^king finish line.......'' thanks :o:o!!!

It is an amazing experience, scenery fantastic, crowds just buy into the marathon big time and really make the occassion special but note that this is defo not for anyone chasing a time.....

belcarra

I've finally updated my log with a race report here.