08.17.09
I ran all night and day, I couldn’t get away
NYC Half Marathon 2009 Start
I competed in my first big competitive race yesterday morning, running and finishing the NYC 1/2 Marathon. The fact that I can say and not be lying that I finished the race while still actually running is something. I’d planned on finishing it that way and felt I’d finish it that way up until about mile 9 when my thoughts started to betray me and the idea of just stopping and walking it piped up. By mile 11, I’d had it and it was only the voice of a good friend who coached and mentored me in the ways of running that put me through. But I finished in 2:10 or just over 10 minutes a mile with each successive mile actually improving in time or what I now know as a negative split. The heat and humidity wasn’t anything I was used to running in and it beat me down brutally until there wasn’t much left to drag across the finish line.
The course itself was something pretty spectacular. It was 13.1 miles that looped around Central Park and then spit us out on 7th Avenue where we ran down to Times Square, the entire avenue blocked and lined with spectators, bands, the gay cheerleaders, cops and firemen. That was a shining moment where you can’t help but get a huge kick of adrenaline and I did…but then we turned the corner and ran down 42nd Street through Disneyland and out onto the West Side Highway. To look down that sun-spotted stretch and know that there were four looming miles knocked the wind out of me but I pressed on as did the 14,000 people running along with me.
My email to people who’ve asked today how the race went included two milestone events that were paramount to me in this race: “I finished” and “I didn’t poop myself”. The second one seems to take people by surprise and I’ve thrown off more then a few people from ever running by explaining that shitting oneself during a race isn’t unheard of. Jubilee Chris, Voice of the Lord, Hand of Light, and Power Tool of the Good Carpenter, also ran with me and regaled me with tales of how the front-runners in the race, those of whom each second in the run matters, often wait until just before the start and then pee, having deferred to their mental conditioning being the priority rather than a potty break. I would like to have said I scoped out said puddles of urine when I finally got up to the starting line but by that time I was already at the 5:00 minute mark and I wanted to make sure my fancy-schmancy shoe timer RFID thingy made as close as contact to the starting mat so my times would register so I missed the pools of urine.
Overall, I’m happy to say I ran it, clapped for and whistled at the cute gay cheerleaders, got to run through Times Square like a returning champion, and finished the race. I can’t imagine feeling the way I did and knowing that I was only half-way through if this had been the full marathon so it got me re-thinking that whole idea. I imagine I’ll do it again next year and know for sure I’m going to keep up training and working out and that’s the win for me: not letting how absolutely brutalized and beat down I felt at the end ruin the feel I get from running.
August 17, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Beau – CONGRATULATIONS! What a great race report. I know *exactly* how you felt at mile 9, and how hard it is to push through that. 2 hours 10 is a fantastic first time. (You kicked my butt!) I’m five weeks out from running my third Half, and this post was exactly the kind of inspiration I needed. Well done!
(With regards to pooping oneself – a friend threatened to make this sign for my first race: http://www.elitefeet.com/take-a-dump-in-your-pants-if-you-need-to. I laughed and laughed and laughed.)
August 18, 2009 at 7:33 am
“Not shitting yourself.” Wasn’t that a GOOD THING segment on Martha Stewart once?
Great job, BSG. Inspiring. Seems like barely a year ago that running 5 miles in the hills was more than you’d ever normally do. Oh yeah, it was! Now 13.1 done. You’ve come a long way, baby.
RE: Jubilee Chris. Don’t you mean “Power *Bottom* of the Good Carpenter?” ::ducks from lightning bolt::
August 21, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Well done buddy. VERY proud of you and what you have achieved. xxx
August 22, 2009 at 7:25 am
Great recap. As I told you already, it was so good to run with you (and get our celebratory feed on afterward!). Hope we can do it again at some point.
And Keith: I can track you down. Be very, very careful. >:-D
August 26, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Wow. Impressed. Especially the not-pooping-yourself part.
September 28, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Congrats on the completion of a Half Marathon! Love the photos. I’m certain it was a great feeling while running through Time Square. I’m training for my second half marathon…so thanks for the inspiration.
Cheers!
September 29, 2009 at 11:11 am
The not pooping part is news to me! I had no idea that that is part of runners’ culture! That’s the way I act~~making sure I go poop before I leave home to run errands!
De toute façon, congratulations on the race, as well as tx for this interesting post!