nyc marathon

so i finally ran the nyc marathon on sunday, november 5. it was a day i have looked forward to for months--and this was truly a day of celebration.

for months i have trained hard--i never missed a day of training (unless i was injured). i slept good, ate good, and didn't drink the month before the marathon. i stretched, saw my podiatrist when i was injured, read about marathoning, lived the marathon. and finally...it came.

saturday i continued my cycle of carbo-loading with crista, and went to bed at 9pm. we woke up at 4:30 am. i fixed my hair, toasted our bagels that we slathered with peanut butter, stressed, got ready...into a car at 5:15, on a bus at 5:30, at fort wadsworth park before 6am...and to wait. we waited in the cold, stressing, jogging, stretching, waiting in line to pee. "boston, here we come..." we hoped.

shortly after 10:10, the race started. discarded clothes littered the sides of the verazzano as we ran! oh yes, we ran! excited, "we're doing this!"

and down the verazzano into brooklyn, my home boro! i adore 4th avenue--the crowds, the people! "i love you brooklyn!" i ran, i ran. crista's shins hurt so i ran without her for several miles--and i won't dare say "i ran alone" b/c i ran with nearly 39,000 others! after seeing my mom around mile 8, crista popped up next to me! we ran the next 9 miles together, through williamsburg (hi crista's mom and sister! hi trevor and damon!), into greenpoint (rachelle! natasha! i missed cara!) and long island city (hi kathleen!) and then, i started getting appalling dizzy...and i kept up, and finally, on the 59th street bridge, i let crista run ahead, but kept still on our good pace (we were on pace for a 3:36).

when i got off the bridge, the roar of the spectators kept me going, despite the fact that i felt dizzy and nauseas. i saw my parents, the spectators roared--and i ran on. sponge bob sponge, ahhhh, so cooling. power gel, YUM! i was running strong...

and hit the willis ave bridge and started feeling worse. a man handing out cups of coca-cola on the bridge--ugh. i ran on--and saw candice and her awesome sister sheryl--happy to see them, i smiled big...

and ran on. dizzy, it got worse. i ran back into manhattan, down 5th ave. i smiled weakly at the bands, reached for a bottle of water, drank, felt dizzy. i ran, feeling delirious, in a fog. i ran. i ran.

at one point, i grabbed one of the 2.5 million spectators. "please. i'm so dizzy. i'm going to hold onto you. i'm so so dizzy." and i held onto this complete stranger and then said, "i'm okay." i walked about 5 or 10 feet, then began running again.

and running. slower, yes, but still, strong.

and i finished.

i finished.

i finished.

with a personal best (though neither crista nor i qualified for boston), i headed to the medics who poured salt down my throat and powerade (which i prefer to gatorade!) and stumbled to my friends, family, and brownies. (the brownies my mom made.)

a hard race, which i trained for months.

now, what next? la? perhaps. we'll see.

i tried to run yesterday but couldn't make it around the blog. i am to run tomorrow.

and run, and run, and run.

and run.