NYC Marathon - 11/5/2006
Tina Devlin
Yesterday I had by far the most amazing experience of my lifetime. I ran the NYC Marathon.
While it is all still fresh in my head, let me get out all the details. If you want to hear them, you can stop reading now!
On Saturday morning hubby & I headed up to NYC, and three train rides later, we were checked into our hotel. I use the word “hotel” loosely, as a hotel in NYC for $300/night is more like a box with a bed & a toilet. Needless to day, we had arrived & headed over to the expo. The hotel was very close to the expo and the spot where I had to catch the bus to the start the next morning (The NYC Public Library), it wasn’t, however, extremely close to Central Park. I’ll get into that later!
The expo, for having over 35,000 runners, was extremely well organized. Actually, the entire race was extremely well organized. I picked up my race packet & my small shirt (which luckily fit me, but the 7ft. man behind me was not happy that all they had left were smalls). We headed back to the hotel & relaxed for a while. Around 6pm we got a taxi over to the pasta dinner at the Tavern on the Green. My life flashed before my eyes driving in a taxi in NYC, and I thought I might never see my family or the finish line of the NYC Marathon the following day. Luckily, we made it in once piece.
The line for the pasta dinner was never-ending, literally. It must’ve been ½ mile long, and I thought we’d be waiting for hours to eat some buffet-style pasta. Much to my surprise, they moved the line along very quickly and were inside & eating in five minutes. In line we met two very nice people, Tim & Shamar, who would prove to be extremely important the remainder of the weekend! We sat & ate with Tim & Shamar, listened to music & danced in our chairs, chatting, and then exchanged contact information for the next morning & headed back to our respective hotels. We went back to the hotel, and I was asleep by 9pm.
Sunday morning the alarm went off at 4:15, and after hitting snooze a few times, I woke up & got dressed for the big event. NYC at 5am is extremely strange. It’s quiet, and peaceful and there are hardly any people out; mostly just marathon runners walking to the library to catch the bus to the start. I got some coffee & a bagel & headed to the bus. The ride to Staten Island was quick, and I got a chance to chat with a man from Ireland who came all the way to the US just to run the NYC Marathon.
Upon arrival to the start, I met up with Tim & Shamar, and we got some coffee, peed a lot, and listened to the blues band from LA play. We caught a quick glimpse of Lance Armstrong’s head just before we entered the bridge for the start of the race (at least I did), and then he was gone!
Onto the bridge for the start, and I could hardly believe all the people. I have never see anything like it. They sang the national anthem, and then the guns went off & we had officially began running the NYC Marathon! I was thrilled. The weather was perfect, I had a good running partner in Tim, who was running my same pace, and I couldn’t believe after all the training & anticipation, it was finally here!
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was incredible, you could actually feel it swaying under your feet with the weight of all the runners pounding on it, and it almost felt like a small earthquake. It was a very strange feeling. If I told you every single detail of all 26.2 miles I would most likely bore you to death, and this would be 20 pages long (Plus, I am sparing Tim reliving the minute details!), so I will just give you the highlights.
Let me start off by saying that there were people lining the streets & cheering the entire 26.2 miles. At some points, people were 10-deep and pushing the barricades screaming & yelling. Every borough we ran through welcomed us. All the children in all the boroughs were holding their hands out for high-fives, some were handing out candy, oranges, water, tissues, Vaseline and every other essential you could imagine. You definitely did not want for anything on the course, and you certainly didn’t need to carry nutrition with you, because it was available everywhere.
Mile 1-10, I felt incredible, not tired, taking in the scenery and the people, listening to the music, danced in the streets, taking my time and jogging along enjoying the race, and chatting with Tim. Tim had a great idea to dedicate each mile to someone special & say why, so we did that almost the entire race. Around mile 4 I saw a man in a pink fairy costume – It was Keith Straw! I started yelling, “Keith Straw, Keith Straw!!!” He heard me, and turned around & yelled “Tina!” and we waved & then he went along his way and I told everyone around me, “I know him”. HA HA.
Mile 10-15, starting to feel a little tired in my legs, but not bad. Stopped through all the water stops to stretch & drink, and used the port-o-pots (which were terribly nasty and I sometimes wonder if people are that nasty in their own homes).
Miles 15-20, more people cheering & yelling, lots of music, saw a soldier running with a tank on his back covered with pictures of fallen soldiers, and it made me tear-up a bit. There was a man running in a Rhino costume with a saying on it that said, “Save the Rhino’s”, I’m still not sure I understand the point of the costume, but he sure did look funny! My husband was supposed to meet me around mile 17 after the Queensborough Bridge, and we had agreed he would stay on my left so we could see each other in the crowds. Unfortunately due to the location of our hotel, it was a logistical impossibility for him to get on my left, so he stayed on the right and unfortunately we missed each other. L He was there with a sign for me & all, but I didn’t see him.
Miles 20-26.2, these were the most incredible miles for me. Since I had taken my pace so easy the first 20 miles, I felt incredible at mile 20. I got some sort of crazy adrenaline kick, and I was ready to pick up the pace. I had ironed my name onto my shirt, and everyone (and I mean everyone) was screaming my name and high-fiving me. For the last 6.2 miles, I must’ve had 4,000 people yell my name & high five me, it was incredible. I mean, I’m no Lance Armstrong, but I certainly did feel like a celebrity. I had a smile the size of Texas on my face the last 6.2 miles. I just could not stop smiling, it was incredible.
Around mile 24 or so, I finally saw my husband!!! There he was, in the crowd, yelling my name & waving . Due to the fact that there were barricades up, I could not get to him & hug him, but he was there & it was so good to finally see him!
I finished with a huge kick, everyone yelling for me, cheering, the crowds were amazing & I could not have asked for a better day or better company running the race. I had completed my 4th marathon; I felt great and had an amazing day! It was truly incredible. I quickly called my parents because I wanted to let my Father know how I made out. My Dad has run several marathons, but he also did NYC in the 80's, and told me what a great race it was. He was so right!!!!!
My official time was 4:53:41. It was my 2nd slowest marathon, but I didn’t do it for time, I did it for the experience. I felt great the entire way, I had plenty of energy after the marathon and thank God I did, because I had to walk 40 blocks from 77th & Central Park West to 38th Street to Penn Station! I got my copy of the NY Times this morning, and highlighted my name in the finishers section. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share with you at a later time!
Thank you to my husband for traveling with me, standing in the freezing cold for hours on end looking for me, walking all over NYC to try & see me, and putting up with my moaing on the way home. :)
I did it! Thank God it’s over!!!
Tina Devlin
