The Road to NYC
Ten years ago (October 2009) I visited NYC for the first time and fell in love with this magical city. Alicia Keys and Jay-Z had just come out with their famous song "Empire State of Mind" which I happened to hear for the very first time somewhere in a shop in the heart of Harlem and it encapsulated everything I was feeling as I stood surrounded by the noises, buildings, bridges, and smells of the city. The energy, the diversity, the vibrancy drew me in and completely fascinated me like so many other millions of visitors before me. I have since visited NYC at least 4-5 more times and its magic never gets old. It's no surprise then that since I've been on this adventure of long distance running running the NYC Marathon has been at the top of my bucket list.
As the world's largest and most iconic marathon, however, gaining entry into the race is no simple feat. There are several ways to gain entry including a lottery (less than 17% chance of getting in), charity fundraising (minimum of $3000 for most charities) or time-qualifying (even harder time standards than Boston). There are a few other ways to get in if you live in NYC and can participate with NYRR races but that wasn't realistic living in Texas. So in July 2018 when I just happened to see a post about the NYRR and Strava Virtual 26.2 Marathon that could earn you a guaranteed entry into NYC 2019, I didn't hesitate. I immediately went to Strava and paid the $120 registration fee to run a virtual marathon the same weekend as the actual NYC Marathon (incidentally three weeks after I'd be running Chicago Marathon) to snag this golden opportunity. Fortunately, I was in time. Just a few hours later the virtual race was sold out. It had been limited to only 500 spots. I was ecstatic that I had a feasible way to reach my dream of running NYC, even if it meant I would have to run a marathon solo in Dallas less than a month after running my second marathon ever in Chicago. Fortunately, two of my running aces, Kelli and Shadetria, also got in. They too were running Chicago but we weren't overly concerned because the Virtual Race had a 6.5 hour time limit and we felt pretty confident we could take the race relatively easy and still meet the cut-off.
Sunday, November 4, 2018 as 51,000 runners in NYC made their way to Staten Island during the chilly pre-dawn hours, Kelli, Shadetria and I as well as a couple of other runners from Dallas Running Club met up at the DRC clubhouse about 4:30am to start our Road to NYC. We planned to run 13 miles on our own and then time it to merge with with DRC Half race that was beginning at 7:30am. Because I run a little different pace than the others, I took off solo. I actually ended up making a wrong turn in the last mile of the 13 mile route trying to get back to Norbuck Park where the DRC Half start line was. I arrived about 10-15 minutes after the race had begun with an additional unplanned 1.5 miles to my total. It still was helpful to be able to run the second half as part of a race because of the aid stations and little bit of crowd support along the course as I eventually caught up to the rest of the runners. I took the pace much easier than I had in Chicago and focused my mind on running the real thing in 365 days! I ended up finishing with almost 28 miles because of my wrong turn earlier but with no snags with my Garmin or Strava app and a comfortable finishing time of 4:38ish, I had the NYC entry in the bag!
Of course, we still had to pay our application fees and such in January when the NYC applications opened so it has still been quite an expensive endeavor, from paying for the virtual race and DRC Half entry as well as the actual NYC application fee but it was still much easier than counting on the lottery or fundraising thousands of dollars. I still consider myself quite fortunate to have gained access through this route.
During the spring of 2019, I mainly focused on racing half-marathons and then took a break of sorts in June (as I wrote about it in my last post). My plan was to start focusing on marathon training in July. However, at the end of June my mom began having some serious health issues that became my family's top priority and focus. The first week in August I had to go back to school which is always an adjustment and then mid-August my mom had a major surgery. Due to many answered prayers, the surgery was a success. We feel very hopeful about her recovery although she still has a few treatments to go and many of her initial complications have been resolved.
However, because the road was a bit bumpy and uncertain during July and August and because I was out of town a good bit, I really didn't get into a rhythm of marathon training until late August/early September. After a pretty solid spring, I only ran 89 miles in June and even less in July with only 55 miles. August was better but I wasn't really getting in any significant long runs until September. I was feeling pretty nervous going into September that I was too far behind on training. Not to mention the fact that due to having CG on Tuesdays/Thursdays I couldn't make any of the DRC speed and hlll workouts that I felt I desperately needed. But I ran consistently 5 days a week throughout September and started feeling better about things once our weekend long runs got up to 16-18 miles. October has been consistent as well and I started getting up early on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to get some runs in before work, making Tuesday more speed work based. Fortunately, the weather cooperated most of September and October. There have been very few rainy days and it stayed warm until just recently. I had a strong 10K race in September that was a confidence boost as well as far as pace. Looking back over my training journal from Chicago, I think I may actually be in a better place than I was leading up to that race. My feet are better with the custom orthotics I've been wearing and I really don't have any other major aches or pains. I seem to recover much faster after long runs than I did last year too. Even though my training got off to a slow and late start, I've had a strong 10 weeks where I've followed the plan and really missed no days at all, although some were adjusted or shortened. Overall, I am feeling fit and healthy and less worried than I did initially about being ready.
Now, almost 16 months after I first registered for the Virtual 26.2 and started dreaming about NYC 2019, it's only a week away! The lack of motivation I was feeling over the summer has definitely been replaced with the old excitement and passion about running. In some ways, I think it may be for the best that I didn't start training four or five months out because maybe I would have been overtrained or burned out by now. As it stands, I actually feel like I might be peaking at just the right time for the race. The past few weeks I have been obsessed with all things marathon....listening to podcasts, reading "A Race Like No Other" and visualizing the course. I've thought so much about what to wear, what to pack, and my itinerary for the weekend. I've gone back and forth on a race plan though. I'm still not quite sure what time goal to shoot for. Although I feel better about my training than I did af first, I don't know that I got in enough weekly volume, speed work or hill work to be able to PR on what is often described as a tough course. Yet at the same time, all of my long runs between 14-22 have felt strong and my pace lately has felt overall faster even when I'm running easy. So with that said....I think it might be unrealistic to shoot for my BQ time in New York BUT I do think it's within me to run faster than I did in Chicago. I ordered three different pace bands: two with a 3:45 race strategy and one with 3:50 that I'm still weighing out. I do think somewhere between 3:45 and 3:50 should be within my wheelhouse unless the course is just much harder than I am anticipating. Fortunately the weather is looking perfect right now so that should help! I also plan to lay low on the Saturday before the race. In both LA and Chicago, I think I did wayyyyyy too much the day before. In both previous marathons I ran a 5K the day before and was on my feet a lot This time, I don't plan to do much, maybe not even a shakeout run. Since I've been to NYC several times, I'm not as compelled to do a lot of sight-seeing and we are going to the Expo on Friday. I want to see what happens if I actually rest and stay off my feet the day before! I'll save the sight-seeing for when I'm traveling through the five boroughs on foot!
In the meantime over the next six days, I plan to get in a few easy runs, finish up packing and keep my favorite New York song on repeat! The Road to NYC is in the final stretch. There is a quote that says "The marathon is hundreds of miles. The finish is the last 26.2" I absolutely cannot wait to do hard things, conquer the pain, cross that iconic finish line in Central Park, and be able to say yet again "I am a marathoner." See you at the finish line!
"In New York, Concrete jungle where dreams are made of There's nothin' you can't do Now you're in New York These streets will make you feel brand new Big lights will inspire you Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York!"