The Big One '09

DONE!!!!! And @ quite a price.

Woke up this am, light rain, so far so good. "They" predicted it would stop by racetime-we'll see. Got to Runner's Edge, rain allllllmost over-spritzing. Wipers on on the bus on the way. Tom and I hooked up, on the bus, chattering.

Get to the start, Tom had bogarted some hazmat suits from his gig, perfect, they were like Union Suits/Farmer Johns-with booties and one zipper. Perfect. Identical to what I refer to as the "raisin suit," but one piece rather than 2. So, we get to the Fort, grab some grub, grab a spot. Who do we run into, Elik and Len. Cool!!!

We camp out, making fast friends with the peeps leaning on the ground/against the same tree. Part of what makes this soooo cool. 5 bagels and 2 power bars later, time to get into corrals. I forgot ONE crucial thing, but we'll get to THAT later.

The start was the usual NYRR logistics miracle-VERY well done. Though the "Blue corral wave 3, orange corral wave 2" shit mystified me. For the first time I was on the upper level of the Verrazano. Cool! I had the AP singlet and short, under a 4x windbreaker, under the hazmat suit. Perfect as the upper level was windy. But we were warm. Thanks Tom!!!

Tore off the hazmat suit as I was 100m from the starting line, over the bridge, through SI, through Brooklyn, through Queens and...and...The Peeps!!!!! COOL!!! Thank GOD they were there. They'll NEVER know how important they were. Here I am, single parent, feeling utterly alone, and there they were. Made my day!!! (that, and, for SOME reason, the Bronx ALWAYS has great tunes, last year was "let's go crazy-Prince," this year "Hero, Foo Fighters." (the year before "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn."). Way to go Bronx!!!

Mile 20/21, the wheels came off in the form of a blown right knee. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought I fractured it, but it's merely arthritis manifesting itself in one of those "why the HELL do I do marathons" injuries. I'd pulled off to use a port-a-tree, when I turned around, BOOM! Couldn't put ANY weight on my right knee. And only 5/6 miles to go. SHIT!!! Here's where things got interesting, also, what I alluded to earlier. What's the ONE thing I do prerace I didn't today...right: IbuFUCKINGprofen. And I paid a price. I was running strong 'til 20/21, could'a done my last year's pace easily, but FUCK!!!

So, how'd I finish??? The crowd. Pure and simple. @ one point tears were streaming down my face, the crowd saw it, all I heard was "Alley Pond" and "you can do this." Bless them. Total strangers filling in for what I lack @ home. Bless them.

THEN, the WORST, TRYING to get outta Central Park. Truly, if this shit continues I'm not doing this next year. They INSIST on one exit, dunno why. There I am, dragging-literally-my right leg, the Army guys and medics offering to carry me, and we can't get outta the fucking park, except to be funnelled through like cattle. Ridiculous.

But, finish I did, with alot of support. ALOT of support!!!

Highlights: hooking up with Tina, Katey, and Tom, entering Ft.Wadsworth together. VERY neat. Seeing the Wearers of the Green (looked for College Point and the Teambrickquantumwell peeps-didn't see any of them), talking with fellow runners. Lowlights: blowing out my right knee, limping outta Central Park.

Thank you my peeps, thank you New York. You made me.