To pick up where we last left off.... MARATHON DAY 2005

Running NYC 2005 was a great experience. Though I didn't have the perfect running day... accomplishing my goal of finishing the marathon in under 4 hours and running with my friends that I trained so hard with over the span of three months was truly satisfying. This picture is taken somewhere along the first 16 miles before we reached Manhattan. We're the ones in flourescent green. Meet my pace group: Russ (in white cap & blue shorts next to me), Cool Craig (in the sunglasses behind me), Highly Questionable Bob (in backwards cap behind me), and Amy (you can get a glimpse of her arm in the shot). We ran the first 18 miles of the marathon together... and countless miles prior to that day. This was my core group. And without them, I would not have been able to finish the marathon in the manner that I did.
The day started early. O-dark hundred... wake-up marathon day was 0400. Way early, even for an ex-Army gal. I made my way into the city and to our bus pick-up point in mid-town Manhattan. Once happily installed on the bus, I tried to nap, but wasn't too successful. The anticipation of the race day ahead was too much to block out. The ride to Staten Island, the time killing at Fort Wadsworth getting ready for the race (body glide, writing names on shirts, etc.), the nervous energy, the massive lines for the port-a-potties (a runner's nightmare) all sped by at lightning speed. Before I knew it, we were lining up in our corrals for the race start.

1010 Race start time... and we're off. Over the Verazano Bridge and into Brooklyn. The next 16 miles pretty much breezed by. We were like Rockstars. Shouts of encouragement through Brooklyn and Queens...Go Team Kids! Go Amy! Go Russ! Go Bob! And then we were at the Queensboro bridge -- no enraged spitting runner this time as I crossed. I was sooo excited to reach Manhattan! Anxiously looking forward to seeing some friendly faces... which came no sooner than I turned off the bridge to start my long trek up 1st Avenue. There were my friends Anthony, Jeanne, and Suzanne right under the bridge. THANKS guys! And then up 1st Ave... looking for other familiar faces and looking forward to the TFK Cheer Zone, around mile 18, where my father would be.
Mile 18/19... still feeling good leaving Manhattan for our short foray into the Bronx before returning to Manhattan for our finish in Central Park, but here's where I knew things would start to get hard... and they did. Our pace group started to spread out and soon... it was only me and Amy running together. As we left the Bronx behind... uphill along 5th Avenue, all I kept thinking about was making it to the top where my friends would be. What street were they on again?? Oh... 10 more blocks. 10 blocks... 9 blocks.... 8 blocks..... 7 blocks... each block seeming like an eternity. And then finally... there they are. So happy to see them... but then my thoughts return to -- I still have a half loop in the park and I'm running out of gas. The Boston Marathon is famous for having Heartbreak Hill but I would venture to say that 5th Avenue is just as big of a heartbreaker as any... and to borrow a quote from my friend, here is where my heart broke. Entering the park, I did not have the euphoria that most people say they experience and the crowds, though loud and numerous, did not make me forget how badly I was feeling. Amy was ahead of me and I watched, sadly, as she pulled away... I was alone to struggle through the last mile on my own.
It was a very long lonely mile with one surprise that nearly brought me to tears. Unexpectly, near the SE corner of the park, my friend Michelle pops out of the crowd with a large green sign encouraging me on. And with that little bit... I focused on picking up my cadence and pushed on to the finish.