Let's Hear It For New York

After a few post-marathon days of gentle recovery doing the touristy thing around New York City and a few gentler days with my lovely aunt, uncle and cousins in Virginia, I'm now at the airport in Dubai, waiting (and waiting AND waiting ....) for my connecting flight to get me home to my husband and babies in Perth. Goodness me, Australia. It's just as well you're such a nice place to live because you really are an AWFULLY long way from everywhere else.

Before I lose it completely (the memory, that is, not my mind. Although the latter can never be ruled out), I thought I would use the waiting time to record some of my favourite things about The Wonderful Marathon Day That Was.

First and foremost, finishing. Obviously. I really wasn't sure I was going to be able to. But I did! Hoorah!

And I have to say that starting was pretty cool too. You spend a fair amount of time hanging around at Staten Island and everyone had told me to bring lots of warm stuff because it can get chilly. And considering it had been snowing the previous week, we were expecting an unpleasant wait. Luckily it wasn't actually all that cold so we only needed was beanies and some black-market Qantas airline blankets (it was the least they could do, really).

Fortunately, my WVBFF Jane and I were in the same starting corral so we could take turns saying 'What the #*&! are we doing?' and daring each other to make rude hand gestures at the sniper stationed on the roof of a nearby building. But the BEST bit of all? As you are lining up waiting for the starting gun to go off, they actually play Frank Sinatra's 'New York, New York'. HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT??? 

I've mentioned the groovy spectators in my last post and what a helpful bunch they were with all their verbal encouragement. A hugely fun aspect was all the signs people were holding up. There were lots of 'You can do it!' and "Hello complete stranger, I'm so proud of you!' encouraging ones but some brilliantly funny ones as well. I loved 'This is the worst parade ever', 'You think it was easy getting up early to make this sign?' and 'Because 26.3 miles would be just crazy, right?'  But my ABSOLUTE favourite?

Courtesy of WVBFF Jane

 I made the classic first-time marathoners mistake, though, due to those aforementioned groovy spectators. You can't possibly slow down when people are calling your name and cheering you on so I ended up running for a lot longer in the early miles than I had originally planned. It was a relief to get to the the wonderful hasidic Jewish area of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. There were very few spectators there so I took the opportunity to have a bit of a walk and catch my breath. (And wouldn't you know it, there was a fabulous Judaica shop open along the marathon route, just like in my dream. I'm embarrassed to admit for a split second I actually considered popping in for a quick shop.)

After crossing over the psychologically important Queensboro Bridge,  I caught up with Jane at the 18 mile mark. It was good to have a chum alongside to help get through those potentially wall/bonk-hitting next 4 miles. At about the 20 mile mark, a super cool funk band was playing and we found enough energy to have a bit of a boogie. I'm really not much of a dancer, I have to say and sadly, I believe the photo below captures me doing what Billy Crystal in 'When Harry Met Sally' referred to as the 'white man's overbite'.

It pains me to admit I actually did not know Jane's sister was taking my photograph at this point. So I can't even pretend I was mugging it for the camera.


After a couple of miles in the Bronx, then another through legendary Harlem, it was on to Fifth Ave for the final stretch before getting into the finishing zone of Central Park. Team WorldVision were stationed just before the park at Mile 23 to provide some much-needed encouragement. And it worked! Their cheers and hugs and the fact that it was almost over gave me a huge boost and I even managed to pick up my pace a bit.

And then, there it was. The FINISH LINE. I'm not sure I have the words to describe how it felt to cross it. It was relief/elation/exhaustion all at once - let's call it 'ex-re-lation'. (Because it's my blog and I'll make up words if I want to). And then, since my Assistant Coach wasn't there, I hugged the nice lady who gave me my medal. And she didn't seem to mind at all.

Thank you Nice Medal Lady, thank you Team WorldVision, thank you Jane, thank you New York Road Runners and thank you Groovy Spectators. That was a day I'll NEVER forget.

The Morning After The Day Before

Days to Go: -1!!!
Money Raised: $18 463.70 ($2311.00 off line)

There is SO much to process post-marathon but a quick update for those who have not heard - I completed the marathon in 6:44:53. Slooooooooow but completed nonetheless!! Hoorah! (And yes, you probably could have walked it faster than that :) )

I feel better than I thought I might today. I'd anticipated needing to be wheeled around in a bathchair but I actually feel quite ok. I woke up a bit sore and headache-y but after breakfast with colleague and sub 3:30 marathoner(!!!) Tony at world-famous Carnegie Deli, followed by a quick spot of shopping along Fifth Avenue, I am feeling pretty good. I suspect the fact that I spent birthday money from my parents on a post-marathon reward at Tiffany's helped my perception of pain quite significantly.

*Sigh*. Isn't this pretty? Thanks Mum and Dad!!

The marathon itself was physically hard. No surprises there. On Saturday, I was genuinely wondering whether I would make it but that night (where I slept quite fitfully) I had a dream in which I was running a marathon at my usual ponderous pace. In my dream, I knew I just had to get to the 25km mark and that if I could do that, I would finish. That, of course, makes ABSOLUTELY NO sense whatsoever. The first 25km are the easy ones - it's the last 5km, according to Rob de Castella, that can undo you. And yet, when I woke up, that dream was stuck in my head.  So when I got to the Queensboro Bridge that takes you into Manhattan (the 25km point) I felt sure that I would get to the end. Strange. But whatever works, n'est pas?

The marathon was also an unexpectedly joyous experience. The crowds that line the streets (and there were heaps of people still there, even for me and the rest of the plodders at the back of the pack) were wonderful, calling out my name and yelling 'Go girl!', 'You can do it, Kate!!' and 'It's yours, girlfriend!'. I, the show-poniest of show-ponies, lapped it up and high-fived everyone who wanted to high-five me the entire route. It was awesome and has totally spoiled me for any other marathon.

Any other marathon? I've been telling people all year that I am strictly a one-marathon girl and lots of people told me to wait until afterwards, as apparently lots of people say that and then find themselves wanting to do another. Guess what? I am strictly a one-marathon girl. This whole year has been life-changing but I don't feel any need to do it again. What I do feel the need to do, though, is maintain my fitness but I am looking forward to incorporating variety into my regime; swimming (and not just as a recovery tool), pilates and bike-riding. And yes, running. But I think I'll stick to the 5km and 10km distances. And maybe work on my speed a bit.

There are more posts to come, more thoughts about what this marathon has meant but that's for later when my brain has made sense of what has happened. For now, there are some thanks that must be given to a few very important people.

As always, my Assistant Coach and children get a nod. Tom stayed up all night tracking me on the TV that had been turned into a computer for the event. Being able to talk to him a few times as I was on the course was wonderful. And the pride I heard in the voices of him and my babies when I rang them post-finish was very special indeed.

I've also got to thank my fellow journey men; Holly Ord (3:51:37!! The 'Bus of Shame' hadn't even got out of the garage by then!), Jane McCormack (6:47:10) and Mike Edyejones (5:57:36). I'm lucky I've made such cool new friends and shared this adventure with them. Thanks guys!!

There is so much more to say but for now, I'll let some photos do the talking ...

I look like I still need to be in bed in this photo. Which frankly, I did.

The view of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at the start

That all important 25km mark on the Queensboro Bridge

Happy days for a Judeophile like me in Queens!

The good bit at the end

By the way, if you're still reading... check out the comments on Dash to the Finish. They are lovely. Oh Internet, what did we ever do without you?