No pain, no gain: NYC Marathon 06-11-2011

It’s been two weeks since I made my debut on a Marathon and, indeed, I couldn’t have dreamt with a better scenario. New York’s 42kms race combines all the attributes you’d expect from any event of this magnitude: great atmosphere, wonderful images, amazing colours and sounds on streets, music all along the race, a wonderful supportive crowd and, above all, lots of will to overcome many personal challenges and a huge wave of runners enjoying every stride. Over 47.000 athletes of every part of the world keep enhancing the legend of this race.

I landed at Newark’s airport at 14:15pm local time on Friday November 4^th. One starts to understand what the marathon is all about from the precise moment you get in the plane and begin to share comments and cross looks with different colleagues. You know who a runner is and who's gonna make its debut. Someone who crosses a marathon’s finish line is not an extraordinary sportsman, mainly because anyone with discipline and a personal challenge can manage to do it, but I do have absolute respect and my devoted admiration towards those who carry out a training programme like the one required to properly finish a race like this. In my case, I have completed a 20-week running programme accumulating over 1.200 kilometres of running, many moments of loneliness, not many serious injuries, and enough time with myself to analyse the reasons that made me face a challenge like this. It has been tough, but extraordinary rewarding (I won’t reiterate what running has meant to me during this period, as you may read in one of my previous posts).

There is a time “before & after” NYC Marathon 2011 in my life. I have full faith that things can be done. It is just a matter of believing in one’s strength. If you decide to start something, go for it until the end. Do not leave it on the half way, or you’ll feel like a complete loser.

Back to my story, once the luggage was left at the hotel, my room-mate and I went to get our bibs and the official marathon bags at the Jacob Centre. The organisation was extraordinary, just what you expect from Americans. These guys know how to handle events like this. In less than 10 minutes, we both had our packs and were ready to enjoy the ING NYC Marathon Exposition Centre. There were all kinds of running stands: sports clothes, nutritional supplements, stands with official ASICS gear, etc. A complete paradise for sports addicts like me.

The day before the race, Saturday November 5^th, was a calm day, although I walked more than I had desired. After having lunch with my family at PJ Clarke’s (great burgers!!), I returned to the Hotel, had a little siesta and stayed reading for the rest of the evening. On every marathon’s eve it is necessary to be fully relaxed. You ought not to forget how much you will suffer the day after.

Sunday November 6^th. 04:45am. Time to wake up. The bus to Staten Island will pick us up at 05:15am. We couldn’t have wished better weather. Although it is still dark, outside is not excessively cold, and the sky is completely cloudless. The trip to the starting line is rewarding; the views of New York’s dawn crossing Brooklyn Bridge with Manhattan’s skyline at the back are amazing; most people in the bus are quiet, thinking about their in-race strategy, or who knows, perhaps wondering if they’ll manage to finish it. After all, everyone’s goal is to cross the finish line, and not doing so can be seen as a kind of failure, a personal deception. That’s why I always said to myself: “Luis, you haven’t come to NY to walk, so don’t you ever stop running…run, run, run, at any pace, but run”. And that is what I did. Just like Forrest Gump J

Once in Staten Island, at about 07:00am, the atmosphere was great. Thousands and thousands of runners of every nationality gathered towered at the banks of the Hudson River, just by the Verrazano Bridge. From then to my starting time, 10:10am local time, I had the opportunity to meet many different friends of friends and enjoy a breakfast full of proteins, carbohydrate bars, gums, dried fruits, etc. Everyone insisted about the need to eat and feel hydrated. So, constant eating and drinking water and/or isotonic drinks is a must. Again, the weather was great, and the sun was shining bright. Something that got me very impressed was the presence of several music bands that were there to entertain the runners (“after all, music sews even the savage beasts”). If you stop and figure the overall picture: a group of 50.000 guys waiting outdoors over three and a half hours to run 42kms, you may believe we are a complete band of nerds. But, who doesn’t think there is a slight touch of happiness in everyone’s madness? For sure, I wish I keep this certain shade of lunacy for the rest of my life.

Twenty minutes before my starting time I decided to enter the blue corral where I had been allocated by the organisation. I had the chance to chat with many people and to check that everything was right before the start. By the way, I have to say that I ran with my football team’s t-shirt on, Real Betis Balompie; many Spaniards whom I came across with immediately recognised my colours and cheered me up. All of a sudden, at 10:10am, the chords of “New York, New York” began to play under the voice of our good fella, Sinatra. The show had started.

The wave starts to run at a slow pace. Everyone tries to set its position once entering Verrazano Bridge. I ran on the upper level, having the luck of both seeing the different helicopters flying over our heads, and listening to the ships’ powerful engine echoes on the river. But more impressive is the sound coming from the thousands of running shoes when crossing over the bridge. I might not be able to transmit everything that I felt over there, but believe me, it was absolutely amazing!

Once you cross the bridge you enter Brooklyn and there starts the real life of the NYC Marathon. Thousands of people on the streets cheering, waving, supporting the runners, giving fives, crying your name, etc…just wonderful! There were music bands everywhere, and in one occasion I speeded up when I heard the melody of “Eye of the Tiger”. Oooh, yes!! Not a better scenario, for such an amazing song.

But it is at this point when I committed my main mistake. Pushed by the crowd, the great atmosphere and the music, I didn’t take full control of my Garmin Forerunner 305, and my pace went faster than the 05’00”/km programmed on my race strategy. My timing was going fairly well it if was the case of a shorter distance race, but I did not handle the situation properly. I left myself to live the atmosphere, ran from one side to the other of the streets giving fives to everyone I came across with, cheering up the rest of the runners, enjoying the music, etc. In few words, I was there to feel NY city to the max!

We crossed Brooklyn from South to North, running through the Jewish neighbourhood and Queens. I drank water or Gatorade at every fluid station along the race. My pace was excellent, better than expected, and on 25k I started to wonder if that really was good news. On Queensboro Bridge, an absolute leg cracker, my legs began to fail and the 1,1k length of the bridge became a complete nightmare. My Garmin went completely mad running on the lower level of the bridge, making it impossible to receive an adequate GPS signal. Things started to turn a little. Once in Manhattan, entering the 1^st Avenue, I felt my legs weren’t responding properly. Never before had I felt that way, not even on my Sundays’ long distance trainings. I started to avoid the cheerful crowd and began thinking about the reasons that had led me to NY, my personal will and challenge, my 20w training programme, the hours of loneliness, the high temperatures suffered during the summer training sessions and, above all, my great friend Mercedes, suffering from breast cancer and to whom I wanted to pay a tribute with my race. Thinking about her provided me with more energy and strength than any other power bar or nutritional gel.

Back in race, I need to say again that New York, as a whole, lives its marathon as their main annual event. And every New Yorker knows it and fully acts to demonstrate so. People carry flags of every colour; on race they offer you drinks, food, etc. And cheers and cries of support echo along every street. Amazing, just amazing.

However, and back to my sensations during the last 10k of the race, I must say I suffered much more than expected. 1^st Avenue was a nightmare. I could never imagine it was so long. On Wills Avenue Bridge, crossing to the Bronx, I slightly recovered from my leg pains when a band of bag pipes came across and the chords of “La Madeleine” (French National Anthem) flew in the air. I love that song when is played prior the start of every rugby match where the French national team takes part. But, unfortunately, one’s body gives some touches of attention and in Harlem my calves and quadriceps were over their max.

The remaining part of the race, approximately the last 5k, was extremely tough. My bad strategy had given me down and, unfortunately, I couldn’t enjoy the greatness and beauty of entering Central Park in solid shape. It was a real shame because there are not many occasions where one can enjoy the Park so beautiful, crowdie, and with such shinny sun above you. On 40k I seriously thought about walking instead of running because of a calf injury, but I remained on my position and dragged my feet until the race’s end. On my way to the finish line, on 59^th Street, two things happened that gave me an instant of strength to run at a faster pace: first, I saw my parents crying my name and waving madly; I really appreciated their presence in such a special occasion for me; and second, an unknown Spanish guy from my hometown started singing my football team’s anthem, Real Betis Balompié…absolutely awesome!!!

I stopped my watch at the finish line in 03h50m46s at a pace of 05’29”/km. I do believe is a good timing for a new-born on marathons, but as I am a very competitive sportsman, I do think I can perform a lot better. It is a fact I didn’t follow the instructions received from many colleagues that had run NY on previous years, but above all, this experience has taught me some lessons that I will put in practice at Maratona Di Roma (March 18^th, 2012), my next challenge.    

It took me long to reach my parent’s hotel. I felt quite sick during that evening and slept a great siesta during all evening. At night I went out to eat some pasta and fell asleep early. Once in bed, remembering the different sensations and images experienced during the race, I smiled recovering a thought I had that morning while running the 5^th Avenue: “The same you say to yourself the day after a long night out: I will not drink ever again in my life; now I think this is my first and last marathon ever…I never thought this was so hard!”. On Thursday November 10^th, one of the first things I did once landed in Madrid, was registering for Rome’s Marathon (March 2012) and Berlin’s Marathon (September 2012). Human being is the only animal that keeps tripping over the same stone, again, and again, and again…

Take care, fellas…

L.-