The weather was great marathon weather: 47ºF and sunny.
My original goal was to beat 3 hours but various training injuries and maladies led me to ratchet down my expectations. I was still clinging to the hope of besting my previous PR of 3:06 but events would determine otherwise.
The NYC Marathon has marathoners from every country and language, an amazing number and variety of fans, and a plethora of sites and sounds as you cross through every borough.
I was fortunate to be in the first wave, within a hundred feet of the starting line. When the gun went off, it was a shuffle to the starting line, and then some awkward evasions and near tripping moments as I climbed up the bridge.
Mile 1 is all uphill at the steepest gradient of the course, which combines well with the de-tangling of runners. You might as well incur all your delays in Mile 1. I recall thinking that it felt like a hard run until I reached the apex of the bridge and the first mile marker. The downhill was liberating and I made up for the lost time.
I recall the subsequent miles were run at a better than the pace needed for sub 3 hours (6:53) and thought maybe I could pull it off. It didn't feel like it was such a difficult pace to maintain. Most of the early miles I was running faster than that and I told myself to Slow Down.
When I got to the halfway point (13.1 miles) I saw that I had a minute plus cushion for beating 3 hours. However, at Mile 18 I noticed a twinge in my right calf muscle. This is a telltale sign of full blown leg cramps within a couple of miles. I tried to adjust my pace downward to see if that would ward them off but to no avail. At Mile 20 the cramps hit my right calf hard, as well as my left hamstring. I had to walk. I was running very slowly (10+ minute pace) for the next four miles.
I saw my wife, son and daughter at Mile 24, and stopped to give them a hug. From there I was able to pick up my pace a bit and finish stronger.
Though the last 6 miles were grueling it was still a good time. It was my best NYC Marathon by 8 minutes and I continue my streak of continuous Boston qualifying times since 2006: 7 consecutive marathons now.
The NYC Marathon is always a rich, vibrant event.
NYC Marathon Personal Statistics
========================================
age: 46
chip time: 3:24:23
overall: 3184/37,899
sex place: 2821/25,072
45-49 div place: 420/3773
pace: 7:48
half: 1:28:48
mile elev pace net pace
---- ---------- ----- --------
(each * counts as 50 feet in elevation)
m0 .** -
m1 .***** 7:13
m2 .* 6:04 6:39
m3 .** 6:29 6:35
m4 .** 6:40 6:37
m5 .* 6:38 6:37
m6 .* 6:37 6:37
m7 .* 6:49 6:39
m8 .* 6:55 6:41
m9 .** 6:52 6:42
m10 . 6:43 6:42
m11 .* 7:12 6:45
m12 . 6:50 6:45
m13 . 6:54 6:46
m14 . 6:57 6:47
m15 .* 7:17 6:49
m16 .** 7:32 6:52
m17 .* 6:53 6:52
m18 . 7:14 6:53
m19 . 8:01 6:57
m20 .* 10:08 7:06
m21 . 10:30 7:16
m22 . 10:22 7:24
m23 .* 11:01 7:34
m24 .** 11:50 7:44
m25 .** 9:06 7:48
m26 .** 7:35~ 7:48
end .** 1:31~ 7:48 3:24:23
