NYC Marathon 2017 2:47:39

The NYC Marathon rolled up almost exactly one year after I had a blood clot in my lung. I chose NYC because of an opportunity that presented itself to run with the National Blood Clot Alliance (https://www.stoptheclot.org/). This organization does a ton of great work and has helped me out a great deal over the past year. The National Blood Clot Alliance had a charity team already setup for NYC. I had an auto qualifier for the race so did not need to do any fundraising but still set a goal of trying to chip in $1,000, which I barely met. The other team members were rockstars, raising a lot more than that. I thought that it would be fitting to tackle NYC a year after having a blood clot with a team full of runners that I have this shared experience with of either having a clot or knowing someone who did. I know that NYC is a tough marathon but I really wanted to go here to run my fall marathon. Training went really well and I was confident that I was due for a breakthrough. A breakthrough to me would mean a marathon run in the low-2:40s or seeing 2:39 on the finish clock. I ran 2:47 four years ago in Chicago and ran 2:46 at the Newport (OR) Marathon this past spring. Since Chicago, I have run massive personal bests all the way from the mile to the half marathon distances. I have not attempted a ton of marathons since 2013 due to some health issues and ran a couple of sub par marathons later to find out that I had a blood clot. I came back from the clot to run 2:46 but I know that there is more in the tank. I was stronger than ever coming into NYC and wanted to give myself a chance to run a fast time. I logged 100 mile weeks, doubled a few times a week, and put in a number of marathon specific workouts. I was ready.

Getting to the Race (possibly tougher than the marathon itself):

I could not sleep at all the night before the marathon, rolling over at 2am, 3 am, and by 4am, I just got myself out of bed. Once up, I took a cab at 5:30am from my hotel to the midtown public library to catch a bus to the start line out in Staten Island. Unbeknownst to me, NYC is a logistical nightmare. The line to get on the bus wrapped around several blocks and took about 45 minutes to navigate. All before 6:00 in the morning. I finally got on a bus and it then took 2 hours to get from midtown to the start area. The buses had to stall several times because they only let runners off the buses in small batches because there was another security line runners had to walk through after getting off the bus before we could enter the start villages. The security lines were similar to something like an airport and took another half hour. It was now 8:30am and I had a 9:50am start. I got to my corral (blue, wave 1, corral a) at 8:45am or so and then they shut the corrals promptly at 9:00am. Nobody in or out of the corrals 50 minutes before the race. We had maybe a half dozen restrooms in the corral to share among ourselves. At 9:15am I was in one of these said restrooms when our corral was released to the next staging area. When I got out of the restroom, they had already let corral b runners through so I was essentially bumped to the next corral down. From this staging area we were released twice more to get closer to the start line. A few minutes before the race, some NYPD and NYFD charity runners were placed in between us and the elite men. I did not understand this move at all. These are amazing groups and I am sure amazing people but why not have them lead out wave 3 or wave 4 so wave 1 corral a runners do not have to weave around them so early on? I was not able to get in any warmup for the race, was back from wave 1 corral a into corral b, and had a wall of charity runners directly in front of me at the start. Logistically, NYC was a nightmare.

The race:

(pack running in Brooklyn- I'm in the middle)

As one can imagine, I could not move when I crossed the start line. Mile 1 is on the Verranzano Bridge and is uphill but it was very difficult to get going. I was only running 8:00 pace (maybe a little under) through the first half mile. I hit mile 1 in 6:50, moving around charity runners and corral b folks, and things finally were spread out enough for me to run. My goal was to run 6:06/mile. I know the marathon is a difficult distance and starting slow is generally a good strategy but I wanted to be around 6:30 on the first, uphill, mile. It would have been good to run evenly instead of panicking and feeling like I needed to move past a ton of people seconds into the race. Mile 2 is completely downhill and I made up for some time on the bridge clocking a 5:40 that felt about right effort wise. Mile 3 flattened out and now I would be in Brooklyn until mile 15. I clicked off miles from 3 to 14 all in the 6:00-6:10 (or faster) range depending on the way the course rolled. There is a decent climb at mile 8 and then a bridge to climb right at the 13 mile mark. My legs were not feeling great from the start (lack of warmup? humidity?) but I didn't fly across the country to run a conservative race. I was passing a lot of folks in the first half and was probably sitting in the top-150 or 200 by the halfway point. I split 1:20:17 through 13.1 miles, on pace for a 2:40 finish time. I wanted to be feeling better at this point but was still hopeful that I could clock a 2:42 or 2:43 result even if I faded just a bit. 1:20:17 with a 6:50 mile 1 means I was averaging 6:00-flat aside from that mile which is 2:37 marathon pace. 2:37 marathon pace would be a reach time if I were time trialing on a faster course on a better weather day (NYC was 60 degrees with 90% humidity at the start, and is a course not known for fast times). That 1:20 through halfway would be like going through halfway in 1:19 or even 1:18 on another course. And I'm guessing I would have been feeling better on another course too! From 14-16 I went up and over the Queensboro Bridge. I made a conscious choice to slow down on the uphill and to recharge for the rest of the race. I let some people pass me on the uphill but then caught them on the downhill. The bridge was eerily silent. There were no aid stations and no people other than those running. I was left alone with my thoughts and the sound of my footsteps. I was excited for what was to come on the other side.

(flying in the polka dots)

Coming off a nice downhill, runners hit mile 16 and plunge into Manhattan. Coming off of the downhill on the Queensboro Bridge, there are hay bales so that runners don't go crashing off the road. There is a four mile stretch along first avenue at mile 16 where you get a little downhill love and some flatter miles. The crowds are YUGE at this point in the race. The volume is comparable to the Wellesley Scream Tunnel at Boston. I was hurting but could not hear myself think so I just carried forward. I clipped off a couple of decent miles on this stretch. I passed a couple runners and a couple passed me who had done a better job conserving energy in the opening half. All in all, I was still holding my own. At mile 19 or 20 you climb yet another bridge into the Bronx. You do a little out and back section, climb another bridge back into Manhattan, and then are on your way to the finish line in Central Park. I reached 20 miles in 2:04-flat which is 2:42:30 marathon pace. For NYC, this would be a great result for me. With 10k to go, I was hurting but still moving forward. I figured if I could tough out some miles in the 6:30 range that I could still run an okay time given the day and the course. This would still get me to the finish in the 2:43-2:44 range, which would have been a good effort. At 35k (21.7 miles) I was still on 2:43:37 pace. I then lost 4 minutes over the last 4.5 miles. Mile 23 to 24 is all uphill. The crowds were getting big again but it was miserable. I clicked off a 7:00 mile, my first of the day. My legs cramped awful over the last 3 miles. At 24.5 or so I actually pulled up because I basically got a Charlie horse in my right leg that I simply couldn't run through. I was in so much pain that I was forced to stop. It was a stabbing pain and by leg locked up entirely. I tried to fight it and keep going but this would happen two or three times more on my way to the finish. I watched 2:44 (23- 2:44:25), 2:45 (24- 2:45:28), and my 2:46:43 (still on 2:46:30 pace at 25) PR frustratingly slip by as I couldn't run in the last stretch. I walked. I shuffled. I ran. My heart was full but my legs had nothing. I wanted more than anything to get to the finish line in at least 2:45 when I was at mile 24. I wanted to pick up the pace but the pain would not relent every time that I tried. I saw my family with about a half mile to go. I threw my arms up, smiled, and waved back at them. I knew that I wasn't going to get my PR at this point and I also knew that they didn't care. They were proud of me and stood out there for hours just to see me for a few seconds. I couldn't do any of this without their support. The last quarter mile is a cruel uphill grind to the finish. I was running 7:00 pace with no semblance of a kick. I waved to the crowds which were deafening in that last stretch. I crossed the finish line in 2:47:39 (6:24 pace)- less than a minute off my PR. It is my third fastest marathon. I ran 2:47:18 (6:23 pace) in Chicago in 2013 and ran 2:46:43 (6:21 pace) in this past June. After crossing (falling over) the finish line I had to walk about 20 blocks to get out of the park. I struggled with my thoughts and my emotions, trying to figure out what had happened.

(What's up fam?)

What had caused the cramping? No proper warmup? The humidity? Time change? I knew I was fit and had not come to New York to run slow but then I ran slower than what I think is a soft marathon PR. If I can go through halfway here in 1:20-low, that's 1:19 or better on a flat/faster course. If the second half were flat, sure I could've faded but still probably would have been looking at something in the low-2:40s. I should've opened in 1:21-mid or even 1:22-mid on this particular course, and knowing that the weather was less than ideal. I spent six weeks over 100 miles and put in a ton of big workouts, practicing running at 6:00 pace. I chose a difficult course but still went after it like I was time trialing Chicago on a perfect weather day. I could have run a few minutes faster but I gave myself a chance at 2:40. You live and you learn.

In running, we are often defined by our times. It is frustrating that I am still "just" a 2:46 marathoner. When you plug in my NYC time it comes out to a 2:45 or 2:46-flat on other courses. And this is with terrible pacing. I could have paced better and run 2:43. Then the calculators would have told me I can go 2:41 somewhere else. NYC is probably my best effort in a marathon but it still leaves me a little disappointed. I wanted a PR on the difficult course and think that my PR is a bit soft considering my 1:16 half marathon and all the work I put into this cycle. I got passed by a ton of folks in the last few miles to finish in 327th out of 50k+. Yes, this is good but I should have been in the 150-200 range. I want so much more out of running and you don't get a lot of good chances to race the marathon. It could be 90 degrees when I run Boston in April. It could be 75 degrees at whatever marathon I pick next fall. I'm going to recover from this race but am going to see if I can bounce back on December 3rd at the California International Marathon. I was signed up last fall but couldn't run after having the blood clot. I'm going to run it, knowing that New York took a toll on my body, but also knowing that the fitness is there to run well. If CIM was my only marathon this fall, I might consider opening up in 1:18 or 1:19 and really giving sub-2:40 a go. I'm thinking of targeting a 1:21 opening half which should feel a lot easier than the 1:20:17 I ran in NY. I think I could run low-2:40s or better given CIM's favorable course. It's a net downhill course but loses just 300 feet over the course of the race so it is not as downhill as some of the other Boston Qualifiers out there where you might lose thousands of feet- plus you can still qualify for the Olympic Trials at CIM. USATF sets tight standards for what courses runners can get an Olympic Trials standard on so if I run well I wouldn't have any problem considering this to be a legitimate run. I still think that 2:39 is possible at CIM but I want to make sure I run a PR and something that will give me some confidence heading towards Boston. It will be easier mentally to chase 2:39 at Boston if my PR is 2:42 versus the 2:46 that it is now. So there it is. As I try to make sense out of what happened in NYC, I am just going to circle CIM a month out from now and shoot for a PR. My training went great for NYC and I ran a solid time on an okay day for running. I should be a little happier about this performance but I also do not have to let one race define me or tell me what I am capable of. I'm looking forward to the next one and am still optimistic that I can breakthrough at the marathon.