2009 ING New York City Marathon

After the race

New York was awesome.  It was definitely an experience I will never forget.  I can’t imagine another marathon topping NY but I think I am going to keep running and see if there is something close.  I might try White Rock in Dallas coming up on Dec 13th but I don’t know yet.

The actual route did in fact kick my ass with an upper-cut, the Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th St Bridge on mile 16.   I was feeling good and on a decent pace but after that bridge…..I really had a struggle on my hands.  Ten miles to go and hurting big time.  I remember seeing a sign that read “pain is temporary” and that did seem encourage me as did the two million spectators. I lost Tommy before the start and Bruce was in a different wave start than me as well so each of us ran this thing on our own.   After it was all said and done, Bruce and I were separated by four seconds on our finishing time.  4 hrs and 22 mins.  I wish I would have had more time to spend in NY with Bruce and Michelle but they were without children on the trip so I didn’t bother them too much and let them enjoy their time together.  Bruce and I didn’t do any of our training together before the event but we talked all the time after our long runs and kept up with how the other was progressing.  I think we experienced many of the same thoughts and emotions regarding Robert throughout this whole ordeal.  I think he would be happy knowing we pulled it off.

I really don’t think I can describe the feelings of running NY with a keyboard because I just don’t have the literary skills which I’m sure you are already aware of.  I wish I could but there are so many cool parts to this event you must really experience it for yourself.  There are many who would have absolutely no desire for this type of entertainment and I don’t blame them.   I have expressed early on this site the reasons I chose to take on this challenge and looking back on it I would have to say that I am thankful I did.   I did have to put in the hours but after the first month I really can’t call it work because I truly enjoyed it.  I wish I could tell you only a few have the makeup to run a marathon and I was one of them but that simply is not the case.  This is a sport where CAPABLE finishers are probably greater than eighty percent of the population.  I get more joy out of seeing others start to run than I do when I reach certain milestones within my own running.  I don’t know why that is but if you are a runner then you know what I’m talking about.  If you are not a runner, what are you waiting for?  There will come a time when we can’t run anymore.  For Robert, with great sadness this holds true now.  For us, today is not that day………

video (I don’t think you can play this on an Iphone)