Detailed Marathon recap, before I forget! (Part 2 - Miles 0 - 8)

Alright, finally, I'm taking the time to recap the marathon for you in full. Enjoy!

The New York City Marathon is unusual in that it starts at 10am. Most races start much earlier (I ran a half marathon in February that started at 6!), but I guess they realize that New Yorkers won't get themselves out of bed that early to cheer. And the New York City Marathon is known for it's enthusiastic crowds (over 2 million people are said to line the streets for the race, and after running it, I believe them, but we'll get to that!).

Even though the race starts at 10, we still had to be to the Team In Training bus by 6am in order to beat the traffic to the start (if everyone left later everyone could leave later, but what do I know?). So we arrived at the start "village" - and it really does feel like one, more like a town with 38,000 spandex-clad residents! - at 7am with three hours to shiver in the cold until the marathon. And let me tell you, it was FREEZING and windy! Everyone had warned me about spending so much time in the cold so I was prepared. I had on my race gear plus a "heat tech" shirt, fleece pants, and one of those throwaway paperish jackets that they sell at the expo. It was like $10 and windproof so well worth it! At the start line we all basically huddled together in a sunny spot and fretted about whether or not we were correctly adhering to our pre-race rituals which include anything from eating to hydrating to peeing at regular intervals or taping joints (what, is that too much information?).

At about 9:15am I had to take my bag of things I wanted to have at the finish over to the UPS trucks that would transport them while I was running. One thing I'm SO glad I took with me was my UGG boots! I wore them at the start and they kept my feet and calves nice and toasty :)

Some of my mentees and I at the start line (that's my warm shirt that I pulled up so you could see the TNT gear!)

Now, I still had 45 minutes before we start running (and longer until I felt even the least be "warm), so I didn't put my warm clothing in my bag. I kept it all on and shed it at the start of the race. Which I'm ok with because they actually collect all that clothing and give it to shelters. See, doing a good deed AND running :)

Ok, so I think we're finally at the start. Woo hoo! So 10am rolls around and I am in a corral waiting for the start of the New York City Marathon. I decided to run by myself for this race because I knew my knees could act up at any moment and I didn't want to feel like I was slowing someone down or, conversely, I didn't want to be slowed down by them if I happened to be having a better day. So being at the start line alone was REALLY scary! Everyone around me seemed to be talking to someone, thereby having something to distract them from being scared s*&^less about the 26.2 miles they were about to run. Instead that's just what I was, scared to death! When the cannon went off and we finally started moving, though, I felt better. As we turned a corner and the Verrazano a girl behind me grabbed her husband (boyfriend, whomever) and was like "Oh my Gosh honey, we're about to do the marathon!!" Her excitement was contagious and paired with "Born to Run" by Bruce playing out the loudspeaker I burst into tears. Seriously. I spent the first tenth of a mile running up the Verrazano Narrows Bridge crying like a baby. But that quickly wore off and the first mile of the marathon went by in a blink.

So my stretch goal for the marathon was to complete it in 4 hours. This meant that my goal for the first 10 miles was to run 9:00 - 9:20 miles, never keeping too close to 9:00 or 9:20 for more than 2 miles in a row. Well, there wasn't a marker for the first mile, so I had to wait until the second mile. My time at mile 2 (the base of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge) was 18:19, right on pace, nice.

Miles 2-8 went by in a blur, but I managed to keep right on pace (maybe a little fast). I got confused at one point because we were divided into different groups who had run a slightly different route after the bridge, so my group was about 200 yards "behind" the other groups. At one point, I pressed my split (to see how fast I had run the previous mile) and it said 8:36! Which is NOT good, it's never a bad thing to run way faster than you want to because you always end up paying for it later. Luckily, I realized that I actually had about 30 more seconds to run until my mile marker, which meant I was actually right on (about 9:06).

At mile 8 was the first time I saw my parents. They were so cute out there cheering. My mom devised a scheme whereby she just held up the TNT sign she had gotten the night before and I watched for it on the left side of the course. I was so excited to see them at mile 8 that I gave them each a hug before moving on :) Here's a picture of me running up to them:

Next.