WHO SAID GETTING THERE WAS HALF THE FUN
A week’s worth of sleepless nights, phantom muscle aches and stomach somersaults was finally yesterday’s news.
It was Sunday, race day, I was running in the 2019 United Airlines NYC Half, 13.1 miles through some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, from Prospect Park to Central Park. I may have rolled out of bed feeling drained, exhausted and outta gas but I was still revving to go. And I wasn’t the only runner excited about getting there. The trains were standing room only.
Every square inch of my subway car was occupied, we were packed solid, I couldn’t move an inch. I found it difficult to breath, which was strange, usually crowded trains don’t bother me. Suddenly I started to notice the tug-and-pull of the subway car, the motion of the train was preoccupying my every thought. Something was wrong. Seconds later I became nauseous and started to sweat. Quickly I counted stops. One. Two. Three. Four. Five stops left. I told myself I could hang on for five short stops, and I almost convinced myself, almost, that was before my vision began to fade. I was in big trouble.
Trying my best to remain calm, I quietly announced my need to get off the train. Swiftly a narrow path was made available, I squeezed through the dense crowd, stepped off the train and immediately dropped to the floor. I couldn’t walk to a bench because I couldn’t see the bench. I was blind. The train pulled out of the station.
I laid flat on the subway platform until my eyesight returned. I was now sweating feverishly, I pulled everything off, hat, gloves, jacket, all of it came off. When the next train pulled into the station I quickly gathered my composure and got on the train, four stops later I was definitely not ready to run but I was ready to walk to the starting line.
THE RACE
It was a cold morning in Prospect Park but the sun was strong which helped take the edge off. 25,000 runners were ready to run. My legs were still a little wobbly, but I was ready too. I promised myself I would be a more disciplined runner this race. Even splits was my goal.
Almost immediately we had to tackle two hills inside the park, one right after the other, I stayed focused and resisted attacking the hills. When we exited the park onto Flatbush Avenue my legs were still fresh, and my earlier subway drama was now a distant memory. The next two miles were downhill. I was able to make-up some of the time I lost battling the hills. The handmade signs and heartfelt shouts from the Flatbush crowds were exhilarating, I gave out dozens of high-fives along the way.
At Mile 5, we started climbing the Manhattan Bridge. The bridge was a mile long. The panoramic views of the city were so mesmerizing I almost forgot I was running uphill. The sounds of the cheering crowds returned when we exited the bridge, immediately we wrapped around Chinatown and got on the FDR drive running uptown. At Mile 8 the wind gusts coming off the East River made running a little more difficult, any plans I had to speed up were not going to happen, but that was okay, I was still running my race pace.
At Mile 10, we exited the FDR, passed by the United Nations and headed across 42nd Street. I was breathing hard now but my legs were still strong, and my speed was steady. The skyscrapers made my GPS watch useless, I had to run the rest of the race based on feel. The cheering crowds grew larger and larger as we ran.
At Mile 11 we raced through Times Square. It was sensory overload beyond my wildest dreams, hundreds of people everywhere, all cheering little old me and, as if my ego couldn’t get any larger, I began to notice runners around me beginning to fade, I started passing them by one-by-one.
At Mile 12, we entered Central Park. I showed no sign of exhaustion. Only one mile left to go, I zoomed through the park at my race pace. A few yards from the finish line I spotted my friend cheering, I ran up to her and gave the entire crowd a slew of double high-fives, then I spun around and dashed toward the finish line with my hands raised high above my head. After I collected my metal, I glanced at my watch to check my time, I ran perfect even splits, even all my 5K splits were the same time. A promise kept!
Statistics
Overall: 15,960 / 24,645
Age Division: 416 / 713
Gender: 9,322 / 12,306
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