I Love NY

New York City - there really is no place like it anywhere else in the world. I missed being in/around/near "The City", and I'm so very happy that I once again toured it on foot. What can I say? The NY Marathon is like no other. Don't get me wrong as a born and bred Bostonian, I will never love the Yankees or the Knicks or the Jets, Giants, or Rangers, and I'll never love any race more than the Boston Marathon, but NY is definitely special.

I went into the race well trained despite some minor setbacks with a creaky left Achilles and a right glute/hammie issue that flared up just 3 wks before in Grand Rapids filling my mind with lots of doubt. But I knew I had put in the work. I also knew (having run back in 2005) that NY is not an easy course (no marathon is easy, but some courses are definitely easier than others) with its crowds, turns, and bridges. I prepared myself for the turns and the bridges, but I didn't prepare (or remember) the adrenaline rush that you can get from the crowd. The energy was almost overwhelming and I know it served me well and carried me through the 26.2 miles to the finish in Central Park.

I didn't run the race the way I like to run a marathon. Despite a slow first mile, the energy of the crowds seem to just carry you along. As Randy stated earlier, each time I tried to dial it back to where I knew I should be (or thought I should be), a beautiful downhill would present itself and back to the fast(er) pace I would be. I also knew that the fast(er) pace wasn't ridiculous as 8:20s should not be out of my range of ability, but my last 3 weeks of training were not stellar so I was a bit worried.

But on I ran, up the Queensboro Bridge, sailed down 1st Avenue, hugged a friend at mile 20 and back into Manhattan feeling pretty good. (I did consciously slow down finally on 1st Ave to the pace that I really wanted to run, but I had already gone a bit too fast early on). That last hill on 5th Avenue really got me though (it was mile 23 after all!), and I summed up every ounce of strength that I could once I turned into the park. (I didn't see them, but my husband and daughter were on a rock by the zoo as you turned into Central Park. I just know that there cheers got me through there). I called on lots of places to get me through those last 3.2 miles as I was not about to walk, stop, or break down (any worse). I thought about the V-team or 365 community or whatever we call ourselves, I thought about my running friends back home here in Atlanta and the others "tracking" me from Ohio and Philadelphia, and I thought about my friend Paula who lost her battle with cancer in early October, and how I wasn't going to let any of them down. Those last 3.2 mile - most especially that last 0.2 miles were all that I had to give, and then I was across the finish line. Most importantly at least to me, was that I ran every step and I didn't regret any of them.

I missed my main goal at NY by 1:12 sec, but I exceeded the others and being 6 yrs older than the last time I ran and beating that time by over 10 min is major in my book. Here are some interesting statistics:

2005 2011

Overall Finishers 36,872 46,536

My Overall Place 7398 9779

Sex (F) Place 1318 1869

Division Place 246 (F40-44) 206 (F45-49)

Official Time 3:56:38 3:46:13

Heck in 2005, I didn't even run a BQ! Sunday, I blew it away. The NY marathon and NY City will always be special to me. I'll be back, maybe not in 6 yrs, but I will be back.



PS It was great to finally meet Kevin (again), Sara Jane, Randy, and Kenny (and his lovely wife) as well as have a great Thai dinner on Saturday night with my friend David (an original V-teamer) and his wife, Kathy, and son. My daughter and husband had a great time shopping and we all thoroughly enjoyed Avenue Q and the Rangers-Jets game (even if the Rangers, Jets, and Giants won on Sunday). I know Kevin beat Apollo Ohno, but I beat Jack Weitz, Mark Messier and Jenny Finch;)

Today, I played an hour of tennis and ran albeit slowly 3 miles. I feel really good, but I'm going to take it slow.

Your race sounds like the one I had in 2007 Michelle! Big Congrats to you!

Great job!

Hey Michele, that was an inspirational report, one that makes me want to run NY again very soon!
I'm so glad you had such a great time running NY and visiting the city again. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to stop by for a beer and meet you, but hopefully we'll get another opportunity before too long.
I'm wondering where you went for Thai...our favorite is Pam's Real Thai on W. 49th.
Congratulations on another great marathon.

That is awesome, Michele. Congrats!

Seth Harrison wrote:Hey Michele, that was an inspirational report, one that makes me want to run NY again very soon!
I'm so glad you had such a great time running NY and visiting the city again. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to stop by for a beer and meet you, but hopefully we'll get another opportunity before too long.
I'm wondering where you went for Thai...our favorite is Pam's Real Thai on W. 49th.
Congratulations on another great marathon.

Thanks, Seth. We went to Yum Yum Bangkok 3 which is on 8th between 49th and 50th. My friend David and I have a thing about Thai food before a marathon rather than traditional pasta - and it works. (My daughter and I also had sushi on Friday night - so no pasta for this Italian girl).

Nice, positive report!

It was SO AWESOME to finally meet you! So much fun...let's do the same race again soon.

Hi Michele, congrats on a great race. It was terrific to finally meet you and I look forward to seeing you in Boston next year. Keep up the good work.

Great race Michele, one of those that just feel good. You nailed it and pushed through when it got tough (something I need to learn to do myself). You certainly make NY sound like a must-do in the marathon world! Great job and thanks for the report.

Congratulations on a great race, Michele. And the improvements you've made over the past six years are fantastic. It sounds like one of those "gotta do someday" sort of races.

I can't believe we were so close to each other at the start and throughout the marathon. I am really bummed that the bus driver messed up and that I couldn't meet you. I was really looking forward to it. You had a great race and a great result. Sorry I couldn't meet up afterwards either. I have been running around like a chicken without a head.

Great job Michele!

That's a race to be proud of...makes me realize that maybe I can improve with age...and makes me consider trying one of the "big" marathons. I've always stuck to the smaller races but maybe I'm missing out?

Great job and thanks for sharing.

Great race. It sounds like you had a wonderful experience with the race and I'm glad to see that you ran it just about the way you wanted to. Recover well.

Michele, it sounds like you had a great time and a perfect race. Congrats!!! Great races never get boring!!

Great race, great report, congrats!

That's the woman I want to beat for a while, but couldn't.

A great race, Michele! I shall find that inspiration in 3 weeks.

Oh well on the main goal. Sounds like you had a wonderful experience...which is all I seem to be running marathons for these days!

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:New York City - there really is no place like it anywhere else in the world. I missed being in/around/near "The City", and I'm so very happy that I once again toured it on foot. What can I say? The NY Marathon is like no other.

Couldn't have said it better myself M i c h e l e.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:I didn't run the race the way I like ... each time I tried to dial it back to where I knew I should be (or thought I should be), a beautiful downhill would present itself and back to the fast(er) pace I would be. ... (I did consciously slow down finally on 1st Ave to the pace that I really wanted to run, but I had already gone a bit too fast early on).

Couldn't have said it better myself M i c h e l e.

Okay, so you didn't run a 3:45. But you did beat your 2005 time by more than 10 minutes, scored a BQ, hugged a friend, left it all out on the course, enjoyed it tremendously and looked no worse for wear a few hours later. That's an outrageously successful outing in my book.

My only regret is that I didn't chat much with your MIT geek husband and failed to swipe a fried pickle from your daughter. By the time you guys arrived, I had already lost count of the number of pints I had under my belt (and I'm no longer in practice ). Here's the deal: you ran NYC hard and did well; I ran it easy and did well. In Houston, let's turn the tables: I'll run it hard and you run it easy. That way you'll bag TX. Whadda yasay?