It’s been a week. Time to recap:
Short version: Last Sunday was a terrible race, but a wonderful day. I am annoyed enough with the way the marathon went (3:27:04) that I’ve already registered for the next one in late February in Gainesville HOME OF THE GATORS Florida.
Long version: Thanks to the generous hospitality of friends of Reuben, who was also running, we woke up bright and early on the mat of a dojo a little ways outside Jersey City. We got to the runners’ village around six and separated into our respective camps. Reuben and I had different colored starting numbers and were starting in different groups, which was odd because we both had indicated the same goal pace (3:20:00). I ended up in a corral with runners aiming for 3:40 and 3:50 and wouldn’t even be going over the top of the Verrazano bridge, which is where the race started. So instead of hearing the Howitzer, Tony Bennett’s New York, New York, and hanging out with Paula Radcliffe, I ran in the lower level in a single lane with a great view of the construction equipment.
Because it was such an enormous race, over 39,000 runners, it was nearly impossible to pass the slower runners for the first 18 miles. Whenever I spotted an opening I would sprint through as fast as I could. The cost of that sort of inefficient pacing became very apparent in the last four miles, which were surprisingly steep.
I was mostly focused on the runners in front of me and didn’t get to much time surveying the scenery. The atmosphere and the crowds were, except in Brooklyn, terrific.
You may notice that I’m dressed a little warmer than the rest of the runners. Everyone started off with several layers on and shed them during the first few miles. I was too cheap to discard my new gloves and hat and because I didn’t get too hot, drenched as I was in Gatorade, I just kept the ridiculous outfit.
Reuben beat me by 6 minutes, which cannot stand. We’re having a re-match in Gainesville in late February under more equal conditions and in the company of this blog’s loyal contributor perdixperdix. Bring it on.
