NYC or BUST

NYC or BUST

The New Your City Marathon is the pinnacle of races for most runners. I however had never put New York on my bucket list. Not for any particular reason. Visiting New York just didn’t interest me. Carolyn had gone for business some years ago and loved it. Chicago is my town and I love it there. Not that I dislike New York at all, I just could think of a lot of other places I’d rather go first.

When Fleet Feet decided to have our annual owner’s summit in NYC the same weekend as the marathon, I didn’t think much about it. New Balance being the headline sponsor, and an awesome vendor partner of Fleet Feet, happened to have some race entries for purchase. With some prodding and coaxing from Carolyn, I threw my name and check in the ring. Our son Tyler, owner/operator of Fleet Feet Tallahassee, jumped in as well. Now I was fully committed to going to a town I had no real desire to go to and a race that wasn’t on my bucket list.

The training began, the heat, humidity, early mornings struggling to make it through each training run. Why was I doing this I asked myself?  I’m not even sure I want to train for this race or go to New York. But I pushed on and kept at it. Carolyn continued reminding me that it was a once in a life time opportunity that most people never get. I felt bad knowing I had this awesome opportunity, and here I was complaining about going. She assured me over and over that Tyler and I would have a great time. I finally wrapped my mind around the whole experience and mentally committed to having a great time.

I don’t think I had one training run that was not incredibly difficult, hot and or humid. I had been told that there were hills in NYC, and on the last half there were more. It was time to hit the Skyline hills in Jensen Beach. I spent a lot of hours there. Sometimes as much as two-hour stretches just running the hills. I had no idea how many or how big they were in NYC so I was hoping this was good enough.

The big day had finally arrived. Carolyn dropped me at Palm Beach Airport on Thursday morning and I was bound for the big apple. Tyler would depart from Tallahassee and we would arrive in Newark about the same time. I arrived a few hours later. The sky was clear and blue and the fall air was a crisp 50-something. It felt great! I found Tyler and we grabbed our Uber and headed to our hotel in Midtown. I had no idea where or what Midtown was but we had arrived. We rolled up to the Lord & Moris Hotel. This would turn out to be one of the highlights of our trip, sort of.  I imagine it was the last reasonably priced ($350 per night), clean hotels left in NYC with a block of rooms that the majority of the owners could stay in. We were greeted by two life-sized, white ceramic stallions just at the entrance. They stood atop green Astroturf. Just above the steed’s head was the large “Lord & Moris” sign gleaming and welcoming us into the hotel. The shoulder high walls leading to the entrance were lined with deep green foe foliage. We entered and again the walls were draped with more green foliage. We’re sensing a Derby or Preakness theme here. After checking in, we worked our way to the elevators that clattered up to the 18th floor.

Room 1804 would be home for Tyler and I for the next four days and nights. We entered, surveyed our situation and laughed. There were two queen beds with a partition between them, kind of a stable feel. The partition had small vertical openings so you could see through from each side. There was no walk area around the beds. The only way to get into bed was to crawl in from the front. There were no other chairs or tables in the room, just two beds, a very green wall, same color as the turf, and a six-inch ledge to put some of our things on, and no closet. Now we were having fun! But it was clean and comfortable.

Later that day we visited the 9/11 memorial. It’s incredibly powerful to see the monuments. You’ve always known the gravity of what happened there, but when you’re standing in that spot, looking around, and seeing all of the names, it’s quite moving. That’s when you really get the magnitude of what took place. Seeing all of the names of first responders is incredible as well. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and taking in the sites. It was beautiful.

Friday was spent in meetings and workshops with our Fleet Feet team. Since New Balance was hosting us, they were giving us the full VIP experience, which was amazing. Saturday we started off at the Javits Convention Center, which is where the marathon expo was held. New Balance invited us in before it was open to the public. We had the entire place to ourselves. I’ve never seen an expo so large, it was spectacular! New Balance had over 40k square feet just for their part. It was a home run! We were all super impressed at what they had created, absolutely beautiful! They also gave us the opportunity to shop early and pick up our bibs and packet as well. It was a very special treat. The rest of the day was spent taking in different parts of the city and doing a retail tour.

Back at the hotel, lying in bed, staring at each through the brass and wood slats, our stable, we selected an Italian restaurant to get our carbo loading on. I decided to first pack up my running vest for the marathon. My vest was all packed up and ready to race. I decided to peruse the race directory and check out the route. As I’m flipping through, I notice a page with what you can and can’t bring on the course. The obvious things, NOT to bring: fire arms, smoke bombs, concussion grenades, liquor, hydration vests, explosives, knives, pets. Wait! What, no hydration vests?! Was I reading this right? Maybe I was reading things you “can bring”.  Let me read this again, it must be a mistake. Nope, it actually said, “No vests, Camelback, hydration vests”, etc. Wow, now were screwed! Tyler and I both train with a vest and that’s where we store all of our nutrition and hydration. Plan B is officially implemented. Find the nearest running store and see if they have anything left on the shelves we can use to carry our hydration and nutrition.

We take a $30 Uber ride to a local running store. Fortunately they had some Nathan handheld water bottles left. We both grabbed one. Tyler managed to find a Spy Belt to hold the rest of his nutrition and stuff in. For some reason I had grabbed my UltrAspire waist belt from home when I left. Not sure why, because I haven’t used it in several years. But I’m glad I did so we were hooked up. It wasn’t the perfect scenario but we would survive. At least we would have everything we needed with us. Now it was time to carb load. We then made our way to the best little Italian restaurant I’ve ever been to. The pasta was handmade, meat sauce was perfect and our bellies were full.

We lay in bed and finalized our race plan. Now it was time for some rest. At 4:15 a.m., the alarm goes off and we’re up. New Balance, being so awesome, arranged for charter busses to pick all of us up at the hotel and shuttle us to the start. We were on the bus at 5:15 a.m. and took off at 5:45 a.m.. It wasn’t enough for New Balance to shuttle us, they added a police escort the whole way. We blew through every light and were there in no time. It was extremely cool! If that’s not enough, we were now shuttled into the New Balance VIP tent. We were feeling really spoiled by now. They had bagels, nutrition bars, water, coffee, fresh fruit and our own bathrooms. This was over the top and we couldn’t be more thankful. It’s an experience I’ll never forget.

We had several hours to hang out, hydrate, have a bite and get loosened up. When they announced it was time to head to the coral, I walked out, looked around and it was just awesome. The sky was so blue, the air was a crisp 50-ish degrees with barely a breeze. I looked over the vast sea of runners, heard the music, and I got chills. A huge smile that I couldn’t contain came over my face and maybe a tear. I looked around, turning in circles trying to take it all in. I knew then, this is why the New York Marathon is so special. This is why it’s the pinnacle for runners. But I didn’t know the half of it yet.

We started on the lower level of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. We heard the countdown over the PA and then the loud boom of the cannon announcing the start of the race. What no one tells you is the Verrazzaon Bridge starts off uphill for the first mile. Thank goodness for all of those hill miles I put in. Mile 2 as you come off of the bridge, you begin to enter the south side of Brooklyn. And then you see it, the streets lined with thousands of cheering spectators. Clapping, yelling, cheering words of encouragement, hands out offering up high-fives and everyone partying! Now I’m really feeling the love! It’s like when the Grinch starts to get his heart! What is this feeling, what’s happening to me? I couldn’t stop smiling.

As the miles go on, the crowds seem to grow larger and more enthusiastic, as if that’s even possible. There are millions of people lining each side of the course. The boroughs are beautiful, the architecture awesome and the people are incredible. I thought I understood the NYC Marathon at the start, but it’s not until you see this that it really sinks in and makes sense. These people love their borough. It’s their home and they’re very proud of it. They want you to feel the love and they’re going to make sure every last runner coming through their home feels it. And trust me, you feel the love! You can’t help but feel it the entire 26.2 miles.

My run was going great. I was right on pace, sometimes a little fast so I would dial it back. I felt amazing and kept wondering if I’d blow up. But it was going along great until mile 20. That’s when I felt a sharp, stabbing pain in my left arch that brought me to a screeching halt. I could barely walk on it. I wondered if my plantar fascia had torn. I hobbled for a few minutes, discouraged and wondering if this was going to be the next 6.2 miles. Luckily it started feeling better and I could get back to running. The pain continued to come back for the remainder of the race. The last miles were spent run-walking.

As I came into Central Park, I had two miles to go. I thought I could run it in from there, but was once again reduced to intervals. Central Park is a very special place. The leaves were in full color, it was spectacular. Before I left for NY, Carolyn and everyone kept telling me to just soak it all up, look around and enjoy myself. I made a special point to do just that. I watched the people, looked at the trees the architecture and so on. That was great advice for a first time NYC marathoner.  Coming into the finish stretch, the street and turns were familiar from watching the marathon over the years. Just ahead I saw the the giant finish shoot and arch. A welcome sight for sure as I passed under the finish. And there it was, the medal, in all its glory. I had just finished the New York City Marathon.

Once again, we were kindly shuffled off to a VIP tent where New Balance had our drop bag and a nice finisher bag for us. Tyler and I congratulated each other, then hobbled off a little broken in search of a ride back, a hot meal and cold beverage.

At dinner that night, Tyler looked up at me with a big smile and said, “We just ran the New York freakin’ Marathon”. We laughed. Yes we did, we did indeed run the New York freakin’ Marathon. I felt a little guilty for all of my complaining leading up. There are so many people who try for years to get in. So to have this opportunity and experience, to be treated so well by New Balance, Fleet Feet and the people of New York City is a real privilege.

I now get why people love New York City and why the NYC Marathon is so special. The people are awesome, the city is beautiful, and It’s a race like no other in the world. I hope to have the opportunity to go back one day and do it again. If it’s not on your bucket list, consider it. And if it is, I hope you get there.

Stay safe, healthy and happy. We’ll see you out there.

Edgar