NYC Marathon. Check.

Well, I did it. I finished the NYC marathon. Of course, not without pain and my usual "issues", but I was so happy to finish.

Nice medal, but cheapo lightweight plain ribbon!

The weather was PERFECT. 40s at the start. Not sure about the finish. High 50s? Sunny skies. Wind, but not as much as Saturday. And so many spectators. It was incredible. We were up early to meet at 5 in the lobby to catch the subway to the Staten Island Ferry to catch a bus to the start. It all went like clockwork. Clocks were set back on Sat night/Sun AM. We got to the lobby. No Mike Schmitt. At 5:05 I called his room. Jessica said that no, Mike wasn't on his way down. Their clocks said it was 3:50 AM. I told her it was 5:05 AM and we had to leave. Get on the ferry and who comings walking on ... Mike. I don't know how he pulled that off, but good thing he laid everything out Sat night.

There were people everywhere on Staten Island checking our numbers on the walk to the corals. We must have had to show it to 10 people. Understandably, they take security very seriously here. Peter and I sat together in the green coral and ate our breakfasts waiting for the 8:10 cutoff for bag drop before walking to the corals to wait for 90 minutes. Lots of waiting, that's for sure. But I brought plenty of clothing so I was warm, except for my toes. There are LOTS of people from all over the world at this marathon so many languages were being spoken all around us. And lots of people to talk to.

After opening the closed corals if that makes sense, we walked to the bridge on ramp to wait for about half an hour. Still had my heat blanket so I was relatively warm. Then, we were off. At about 3 miles I could feel my hip. Oh no. This could be a long day, I thought. My mind just wasn't in the right place for this marathon. I was conting down the miles to the finish after 2 miles, and several times actually thought about quitting. But I kept pressing on. We ran through Brooklyn for many miles and my friend Summerson Springer ran up on me and we chatted for a while. It was great to see her. She was running faster than me, so shortly she went on ahead.

I think my first portapotty stop was at about 6 miles. Then another one at 11 or 12. Then a couple more after that. I was drinking at every water stop hoping to keep the cramps at bay at least for a while. But with the cool temps and an apparently full bladder, I just had to stop. I wish I could get those minutes back but that's not to be. There are lots of hills on this course. Long bridges, hilly Central Park made it a challenging course. But I loved it. I loved seeing the city, all the runners (very much shoulder to shoulder the early miles with some tripping going on), all the neighborhoods, all the bands, all the spectators. Not a fan of huge marathons, but I liked this one. Liked the running part of it better than Boston.

So when did the cramping start? Twinges at 13 but then more heavily at about 18. But this time I wasn't stopped in my tracks for minutes at a time rubbing my adductors and weeping. I was able to stop for a short time, get the cramp to release (mostly hamstrings) and keep moving (albeit slowly). My first half was a 1:53 on my garmin. Finish time 4:06:50 on my garmin. Haven't seen an official time yet. I was satisfied with that. Not happy with the time in the overall scheme of things, but satisfied. My goal was to finish and that's what I did. So I met my goal. Hoping that if I can do speedwork and tempo runs and lose weight in 2012, unlike this year, my running will improve. But for now, I'm a NYC marathon finisher and I'm happy about that.

Late afternoon we made our way to Manhatten. Some went to mass, some walked Fifth Avenue. It was alive with people on a Sunday night and all the stores were open. (I didn't buy anything). I was surprised. We stopped for a burger before riding to the top of Rockefeller Center. We were starving and the burgers and fries hit the spot.

Here's a toast to a very good day.

More later. Have a great day!