#20 - Run a Marathon

After spending two days in the city, the race finally arrived. I woke up around 6:15am, got myself changed into my race gear, grabbed a bagel and got in the car to head to the start area. By the time we got through the traffic, it was close to 8am, and i spent the next 90 minutes trying to keep warm in the enormous starting area and eating up as much as i could.

Finally it was time to get into the starting corrals and slowly moving to the start line. After about 20 minutes of meandering around the perimeter, I could hear Bruce Springsteen's "born to run" blasting from the speakers as i approached the starting gate around the corner.

Going over the bridge was fueled with adrenaline and some amazing sites with Manhattan and the statue of liberty quite a bit in the distance. Throughout Brooklyn, the streets were wide and straight, but crowds and bands lined the whole way bringing lots of excitement to all the runners.

At the halfway mark came the next bridge which took the route into Queens. I crossed the bridge feeling remarkably strong for being halfway in! The crowds here were a little spotty, but were really loud when they were there to push to the hardest bridge, the Queensboro bridge.

Now in Manhattan, the route went up first avenue all the way to the Bronx. About this point, near miles 17 and 18 is when i had to take some short breaks to walk. The bridge into the Bronx came just after the 20 mile mark. I got a little bit of a boost here, possibly due to all the bends and turns in the roads.

Turning back into Manhattan on 5th avenue now was close to the home stretch. Again a little bit of walking, but still moving fairly steady. After what seemed like an eternity, the route turned into Central Park at 90th street. Rolling hills up and down made for an interesting stretch here, but great crowd support helped keep ma and many others going.

At the bottom of the park, the route turned to the east to go along the front and to Columbus circle to turn into the finish. With about half mile to go, I spotted my sister jumping up and down with my dad and I knew the race was almost over. Adrenaline fueled my finish, and the last 400 meters back into the park felt completely amazing.

I finally reached the finish line after a journey of 5 hours, 6 minutes and 3 seconds. Crossing that line was one of the best feelings I have ever experienced. The months of preparation proved to be well worth the struggle to get through it all, and while I may never do it again, i will never forget that moment!