Best Day Ever! A (Different Kind Of) NYC Marathon Recap

I'm not even sure where to go with this post, I mean how does one really sum up just about the best day ever? I'm not sure, but here goes.

First off I finished!

My official time was a respectable 4:50:30.

Secondly, I felt amazingly good, but did have some foot pain towards the end.

I'm not a big recapper, and I'm sure this will pale in comparison to all the other bloggers out there, but my 5 readers know the drill...

Saturday I was pretty laid back, I played around with not packing a bag, only bringing the necessities but quickly changed strategy once I realized how easy the bag check process was. This is where having runner friends seriously comes in handy... I wasn't stressed, just super excited. I'm not sure how this works out for me, but excitement = sleep, in bed by 8:30, snoozing by 9 (which was really 8 due to day light savings) slept all the way through, got up, got ready and walked to the train. Easy peasy. I didn't poop though, which made me nervous...

I'm just about to walk up to the train platform when I hear Coach Bob yelling my name, that mother got up just to see me before I left, what a guy. He's also a little controlling, but it works. He had written me a beautiful note/letter basically giving me the extra race day boost I needed. And he took a pic... All kidding aside, it was one of the nicest gestures ever, one of about a million I would experience...

If you have read one report, you have read them all - it pretty much goes like this...Staten Island Ferry, view of the Statue of Liberty, start village, wearing clothes you donate, New York New York over the loud speakers then the gun then the bridge then Brooklyn, Queens and the 59th st bridge where my garmin lost signal (!!!) then the 1st ave frat party....ok, you get the picture.

The real race report for me is more about the love I received throughout this whole process. My friends all supported me, were totally not annoyed when I said no to things or left early so I could get a run in and were there for me in full force on race day.

I had so many texts messages wishing me luck and my Facebook literally blew up from the outpouring of support. People who I haven't spoken to in ages were posting on my wall, mentioning me in their status updates, liking other peoples posts and pics, it was absolutely crazy. And to think that on Fri I was feeling sorry for myself thinking no one would be there for me (hello single girl drama!).

I never thought that that this race would be more than just a run, it never occurred to me that it would be the best day of my life, that I would feel so accomplished, that I would see people in their best light and that I would feel so much love. Shit, I thought it was about not dying before the finish!

I guess I should talk about the actual miles ran - overall, the race flew by, the first 13 went by so fast, then next 10 were ok, the last 3 were killer. This is where my foot started to cramp up, it was bad, but I walked when I needed and ran when I could, even though I was tracking for a 4:40 finish, I'm so happy with my time. I knew as soon as I ran over the Verazzano that I had this, that all my training would pay off, that I was about to have the best marathon of my life. I had absolutely no doubts. Oh, and that single girl drama, all in my head. My great friends took me to dinner (along with the boy, yep that one) where I showed off my medal, talked about the race and just felt amazingly lucky and grateful to be able to call myself a marathoner.