Category Archives: New York City Marathon

New York City Marathon, My Seventh Marathon – Tips on Running and Enjoying The Largest Marathon in the World

 

“The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge,” Nick says, “is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world”.  F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

 

Running two marathons in one month is not something we should do,  but since I qualified and got accepted to run Chicago and New York City marathons, which are both world marathons, I went for it, excited to run the largest marathon in the world.

 

I took this  picture the evening before the marathon, as it amused me. Indeed, New Yorkers are busy and seem in a constant rush, but they sure were the warmest and most amazing spectators on marathon day. They melted my heart with gratitude for the sport and sure carried me through tough moments.

 

Before leaving for New York, I have read as many articles about how to run well New York City marathon . Since I loved running hills, I thought I would be ready for New York and I was, but not as strong as I had imagined.

Two Days Before the Marathon – How to Enjoy New York Before the Race

 

Like most of my other friends from Sacramento, I opted for the red-eye flight, even though I can’t sleep on the plane. After a lot of fidgeting around and trying to keep my eyes shut, I had finally landed in New York, which brought back sweet and exciting memories from 23 years ago when my husband and I first came to America from Romania and landed in New York. I remember how we were both craning our necks, trying to capture New York City rise out of the clouds with its grandiose Statue of Liberty greeting and welcoming us to the greatest country in the world. This time just like 23 year ago, I could not resist the views and kept stretching my neck to capture New York City’s grandeur from the airplane. A canopy of clouds drifted and sifted over New York, but I could still see rows and rows of homes with small patches of grass and trees in the front.

As soon as I landed, I took a Lyft to my hotel to leave the luggage and head to the Expo, where I was meeting with my Sacramento friends and doing the narrated bus tour of the entire course. I was soon going to find out that the bus tour would take longer than actually running the whole course, especially for those runners making it under 4 hours, but it was great to sit back, relax, spend time with my friends, and taking pics of the five boroughs to add to my blog.

 

Meeting with my awesome Sacramento runner friends at the Expo.

 

After the tour, I got to spend time at the Expo, enjoying the energy, the international runners chirping in French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and so on, and all the vendors. No matter of the languages spoken all around us, we all had one thing in common: crossing the finish line of the largest marathon in the world.

 

Finding one’s name among thousands of others is always exciting and humbling.

 

Running teaches us to spread our wings wide and high and reach for the sky. Shalane Flanagan as the winner of last year’s New York city marathon.

 

It was getting late, so I went outside to get a Lyft to my hotel, which was close to Central Park and the finish line.  The first day in New York went by quickly and I can say that the New York bagels are the best.

 

The Day Before the Marathon – Carb Loading and Exploring New York City

 

Saturday before the marathon, I slept in, since I was tired from the flight and all the excitement. Around 9 a.m., I took off on an easy 3-mile run with strides through Central Park. As I ran through Central Park, not knowing which direction to go, I ended up by the finish line, which was exhilarating and brought tears of joys and gratitude to my face. I even found the Romanian flag, which made it special.

 

Born and raised in Romania, I will never forget my roots and I am proud to be a Romanian American.

 

Seeing the finish line the day before the marathon helped me visualize my own finish of New York City marathon.

 

On my way back to the hotel, I took New York’s fall colors all in, being mesmerized by the bright colors set against the backdrop of New York City’s skyscrapers. Runners ran in circles around Central Park and I was once again reminded how fortunate I was to run another world marathon.

 

Fall splendor in Central Park.

 

Fall foliage, which made many friends back home remark on the true colors of autumn on the East coast.

 

After my morning explorations of Central Park, I went back to the hotel, showered, and had lunch. The plan was to explore the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the afternoon for just a couple of hours, since I needed to keep my legs fresh for the next day.

 

The Metropolitan Museum is a must. I loved the Delacroix exhibit and the Egyptian one, but all the art is exquisite and giving so much joy to the onlookers.

 

I spent the evening in Madison Square Garden and Rockefeller Plaza, enjoying my pasta dinner, but mainly taking in the sounds of New York, the constant buzzing, the excitement, and the flashing lights all around me.  I took another Lyft back to my hotel (I only took the bus once and the rest of the time, I relied on the shared Lyft riding with others, as Lyft services are more expensive).

From what other runners had told me, I didn’t need to go so early to catch the bus or the ferry to the  start line. Although in the beginning, I signed up for the ferry, I learned that the bus was the faster option and that I didn’t have to take both the ferry and the bus. I changed the ferry option at the Convention center and opted to take the bus from the New York Public Library, which was only one mile away and easy to get by Lyft. As you can see, my travel to New York should be called Carmen’s uplifting Lyft experience of getting around places – ha!ha!

 

Marathon Day Race and Logistics

 

Even though I went to bed by 10:30 p.m. on Saturday after talking to my hubby on the phone, I still decided to sleep an extra half an hour and only get to the bus at 6 a.m. instead of 5:30 a.m., as I did not want to wait so long before my coral’s start time of 9:55 a.m. Once I arrived at the library, I was greeted by a long line of runners and had to wait at least 30 minutes to get on the nice warm bus that had no bathroom, so be prepared for an hour to 1.5 hours ride and of not going to the bathroom. Also for those anxious of not making it on time, don’t be too creative and just follow the time written on your wrist band, which nobody checked, as they only wanted to see our bibs.

 

The line for the bus at 6 a.m. on November 4th, 2018, the big marathon day.

 

On the bus, I became friends with Jaszver, a smart and super athletic guy in his 30s.  We kept talking for the entire ride to Staten Island, which took an hour an a half. My glutes were getting a little tight from sitting so long, which is why it felt good to get off the bus to another long line that funneled runners to their corresponding coral.

 

As soon as we got off the bus, soldiers with guns greeted us. They were serious and they even had to step in when some runners tried to cut the line and run to their corals.

 

After waiting in line to get to my coral and passing by runners who were wrapped up in heavy bathrobes to keep warm, which others were sitting on the ground on blankets, I made it to my coral exactly an hour before the start. The bathrooms were plenty and I had time to go multiple times to make sure I don’t have to stop on the course, which I have been fortunate to never need to go. Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York song was playing through the speakers and they soon started to announce the elite women runners first. I felt elated to be surrounded by runners from all over the world and experience the joy of running on a beautiful, sunny, chilly November day. The weather was perfect to run a marathon.

 

Right before the start of the New York City marathon before we started to walk on the Verrazzano Bridge where the start line was.

 

Before I knew it, we started to walk towards the Verrazzano Bridge, a double-decked suspension bridge connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn and then we were running on the lower part of the bridge with expansive water views all around us. The first mile is hilly, so I didn’t have to put effort into holding back my pace. The bridges and overpasses are long and pretty steep. As soon as we got off the bridge, the spectators started cheering on us. I was surrounded by runners, but I did not feel crowded. After my first mile was in the mid 9s, I started to ease into my 8 minute and high 7 minute pace. I felt great and enjoyed the sights of Brooklyn and all the old brick buildings.

 

I loved seeing different style buildings and running through New York City’s five boroughs. A unique and indelible experience.

 

Brooklyn

 

The spectators continued to treat us like rock stars and I felt good all the way till about mile 10 when I started to fall off pace by about 20 seconds, but I decided to go with it and enjoy this amazing marathon that kept me entertained and on my toes at all times.  My left calf muscle that gave me trouble at Chicago felt great this time and gave me no issues- it was my glute muscles that tightened up on me, making it hard for me to keep my faster stride. I kept digging deep, smiling, and looking forward to go over another super long and steep bridge, the Queensboro Bridge , which is the first entry point to Manhattan during the New York City Marathon. This bridge comes at mile 15 when the legs are a little tired, but at the end of the bridge, the spectators were thunderous, cheering us on and making the next miles pass by quicker. My pace was already in the low 9s, but I realized that my body gave me all it had, especially since I was running two marathons in one month.

 

An online picture of Queensboro bridge.

 

Around mile 19, I heard my name called loudly, but I thought I was delirious, or the spectators saw my name that I scribbled on my bib. Only after the marathon, did I learn that my friend Elizabeth was tracking me and cheered me on. We met at Mountains to Beach Marathon earlier this year and kept in touch through Facebook. She even took my video and thought that I was running strong, when I felt that I was barely moving trying to get to Central Park and six  miles closer to the finish line.

Mile19th_NYCmarathon

The next miles getting to Central Park felt hard, as if invisible hills kept popping out of nowhere.

 

I smiled a lot to trick my body and that helped a lot besides the most amazing spectators on the planet.

 

As you can see here, I am ahead of the woman from Sweden, who is probably thinking just like me WTH about all the rolling hills. Pic taken by the race photographers.

 

I was so excited when I finally got to Central Park running the same paths that I had run the previous day on my 3-mile shakeout run. My legs were tired, so around mile 25, I had a breakthrough and an idea to make myself run faster the way I finish most races.  As the spectators were right behind the barricades cheering us on, I started talking to them and shouted: “I love you, New York,” and the crowds went wild for me. My pace starting to pick up, not minding the rolling hills that kept coming our way like ocean waves that we had to climb on. I kept shouting “I love you, New York” all the way to the finish line, when I finished happy and not in too much pain in 3 hours and 54 minutes. I also found out later that I was 11,000 out of 53,000 runners who finished, so not too bad for such a large marathon.

 

Crossing the finish line with enormous joy. Pic taken by the race photographers.

 

Celebrating with my medal and text messages coming through from my friend Andrea and other friends. I called me husband and told him that I finished and was alive and well.

 

We had to walk another mile to get to our fancy marathon ponchos and to the food bag that they handed out to participants. All the walking around after marathon helped the recovery of my muscles.

 

New York City marathon was an indelible experience that solicited my physical, mental, and spiritual strength and gave me faith in humanity, as the spectators are like no others. My seventh marathon and my second world marathon were complete, leaving me transformed and with an eternal love and gratitude for the Big Apple City.

 

How about you? Have you run New York City marathon? Is there something you wish to share, or comment on other than “I love you, New York?”

 

For more info on running and real estate, whether buying or selling, please e-mail me at carmenmicsa@yahoo.com, or call me at 916-342-2446. Running for real estate with joy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York City Marathon and Popcorners, a Marathoner’s Sweet & Salty Conundrum

Pressed by time and not wanting to be away too long from my family, the same day I ran New York City, my seventh marathon,  I flew back to Sacramento, which did not give me enough time to have a proper meal afterwards. Luckily, a kind, blonde-haired flight attendant , realized how hungry I was and gave me double the snacks and some food I ordered. Yet, nothing seemed to satisfy my insatiable appetite that stretched as long and steep as the bridges I had run over during the marathon, so the flight attendant’s final offer was two bags of popcorners, which inspired me to write this flash fiction. Let’s not delay things. Pick up your own popcorners, sit back, and enjoy reading.

 

Popcorners made me so happy after the marathon on my flight back home to Sacramento.

 

“Sweet and salty kettle corn never fried,” pops out at me in capital letters on the red and black package that the flight attendant kindly handed to me. I opened the bag quickly and popped them into my mouth. The sweet and salty flavor of the chips transported me back to New York’s five boroughs when my sweat mixed with the sweetness of the spectators cheering on all the runners. As I turned over the package, I came across this message: “We believe your best self begins when you decide to do one better – whether that’s running a little farther, laughing a little louder, or snacking a little healthier.”

“Hmm! How did these cunning marketing people know that I wished to run a little farther?” I asked myself, feeling a little stronger and well-nourished.

My answer: the same way the flight attendant knew to give me two bags of popcorners with the first three words on top of the bag reading: “Do one better.”