Getting Set for NYC:The Marathon in 2 Days!!

My, oh, my! I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be this way. For the past 24-48 hours, I’ve been stuck in an emotional roller coaster of excitement, anxiousness, exhilaration and dread without a beginning or at an end. I get snappy at the slightest perceived insult and can’t stay on a non-running related conversation for more than 5 seconds. What has gotten into me? I’m not sure. I’ve done 7 marathons (including 3 New York) before and yet today feel as if I’m a newbie about to run his first on Sunday. All I know is that I’m turning into the taper monster a day short of Halloween.

Just a few thoughts from me as I make final preparations for the big day…

I had dinner with Brian Sell yesterday. Well…not exactly me singularly, but he did come to speak to my running group, the NY Flyers, and share in our traditional pre-marathon pasta dinner with us last night. He has been training hard for the NYC marathon and is a contender for the podium on Sunday. For me, It was so thrilling to hear from someone who considers a 2:16 marathon “a bad race”. What I took away most from his speech, besides his ringing endorsement of Red Bull (mixed with some Gatorade) as a good energy drink in the middle of a race, was how he didn’t rest on the laurels of his Olympic experience, but continued training for and chasing his goals. In his own words, “I continued running because I had some unfinished business with the marathon distance (having run a 2:16 in the Beijing Games)." In my mind, I’m replaying those words and wondering if he’s speaking to me directly…

The joke around the office the last couple of days was how I was going to get graded for my race on Sunday. Eventually, they came up with some race goals for me. If I run sub-3, there would be no obese kids for me to see next week (because everyone knows they take the most time and are the most frustrating patients to manage). 3:00-3:05 means I get my usual share. 3:05-3:10 means I get more than my share, including some who are already diabetic. And if I should come in over 3:10, well, their suggestion is for me to not even bother coming in….I had to laugh at these because these race goals are so perfect for me!

I went with my friend M to the expo and the Flyer pasta dinner. She is an old friend but a new runner who I “coached” this year from a self-described recreational runner to a soon-to-be marathoner. She will be running her first in NYC on Sunday and I am so thrilled for her. Ordinarily, bib pickup for NYC is so mundane for me because the expo is small and a bit out of the way but it became such a fun adventure this year with M. As we strolled through the booths, I reminded her to live it up because you never get a second chance to run a first marathon. In between, we also reminisced about how she once thought there was no need ever to drink water on a training run and how she attempted her first 20 miler without GUs or gels and felt so sick mid-run that she had to cab it home! (Okay, it was more me reminiscing and her telling me to shut up!) Somehow she recovered and now is so psyched to run her first marathon. Woohoo! Because she’s starting in the second Wave and is expecting to come in about an hour and fifteen to an hour and twenty minutes behind me, I’m thinking of finishing my race, grabbing my stuff, and hopefully catch her as she comes into the park at mile 23-24. It will all depend on how my legs feel after the 26.2 and how chaotic the finishing area is. If I somehow pull it off, it would be so exhilarating to see her as she comes in towards the finish.

Speaking of the race expo, is it just me or does the Asic store get bigger every year while all the other booths get fewer and smaller? For the first time, I also left an expo without any freebies. Boo, and double Boo! Actually, all I wanted was an ID badge holder, the kind that you can wear around your neck, with the insignia of the ING New York City Marathon on it. I want this so I can wear my ID around the hospital and be identified as a marathoner without being too obnoxious about it. But for the fourth year in a row, those Asics people told me they didn’t have any for sale. You are dead to me Asics. I refuse to buy any of your overpriced running merchandise until you either lose your sponsorship with the NYC marathon or you make one of those ID badge holders available for sale to me!

Finally, a lot of peeps say they want to track my progress in the marathon on Sunday. Really? I am flattered people, I really am, but haven’t we learned our lesson the last time we tried to track me for sub-3? As I recall, it didn’t work out so well for me that time. I am embarrassed that you all would not rather be doing something else than track little old me for close to three hours on a beautiful Sunday. But if you insist, the stalking, er…I mean…tracking website is here. (Register quick though because it is almost closed!) Bib number is 7444 and I’m starting out in Blue, Wave 1. I ask only if you do track me that you refrain from commenting in foul language if I should breakdown in Mile 22 or yelling too loudly in jubilation if I should somehow come in under 3. The spouse, kids, neighbors and pets might not like that...Hahaha…

In all seriousness, thanks to everyone for all their kind words and encouragements throughout my training. They all have meant a lot and I will take them with me out on the race course. In the meantime, Happy Halloween, and eat an extra piece of candy for me, won’t ya!