I've been wanting to run the NYC marathon for years. Probably even before I was thinking about or knew about the WMM. I had been trying to get in through the lottery because their qualifying time was just way too fast for what I could do. I had applied for like seven or eight years to no avail, while I knew others that got in on their first try! I digress... All that changed when I turned 45 last year and the qualifying time dropped to something in my wheelhouse. I ran the Chicago Marathon last year and squeaked in by 10 seconds. Finally! This goal was coming into focus. With my sights now set on completing my Six Star, I would finally have the three US marathons knocked out and can start working on the overseas ones.

Wifey and I caught the redeye and landed early on Friday morning. We had a packed itinerary for this whole trip - meeting with one of my athletes I coach that lives in the city, catching up with friends and family that live there, so there wasn't a lot of free time the first few days. Anyhow, we drop the bags off at the telly and did the redeye zombie shuffle around lower Manhattan til our brunch date with my athlete. After a bit of gathering our surroundings, we decided to grab breakfast not too far from the telly and World Trade Center. With that knocked out and plenty of time to kill we did some shopping because why not!

I'll fast forward from the brunch and dinner and get to the meat and potatoes of the recap: The expo and race!

After a super busy Friday, we woke up Saturday to get to the expo and to drop off my post race bag at Central Park. We got to the expo around noon and of course it was jammed packed at Javits Center. It was then I realized that we should've gone on Friday morning to avoid the crush. And not be overwhelmed with so much to do. Nonetheless, they had the crowds under control, letting in groups at a time, picking up my bib was a breeze. Unfortunately, I received an email the day before letting me know that they ran out of the t-shirts. ???? How?! Somehow they ran out of mediums - the most requested size. Obvious that’s a bit annoying to have one. They will be mailing everyone a shirt in December, but that kinda sucked. But it is what it is. Also, with us going the last hours of the last day, a lot of swag was sold out like stickers, pins, water bottles, all the goodies that aren't shirts and joggers. Lesson learned! I don't buy a lot of swag for races, but with a big race like NYC, we broke bread on shirts, joggers and jackets. Pockets like rabbit ears!

There’s another me running the race! Two John Bs!

After exploring the expo, we grabbed a cab to head uptown to the park to drop off my gear to change into after the race. After that chore was done, we stopped off at the finish line to get a glimpse of it all and to check out that last bit of the course. I knew the course had a hill at the finish, but looking at it in person, it seemed gargantuan! Who’s bright idea was that when they designed the course! “You’ve trained on hills. You’ll be fine.” I tell myself for a confidence boost. As we’re walking toward the edge of the park, I see a sign that says, “400m” and that’s about where the hill starts and it’s close to the final corner as you head into the finish line chute. I make note of it because I know I’ll need that reference come race day. We head off on a train to Broadway to catch a show and grab dinner with my support crew that flew in.

After the show (we saw Here Lies Love – pretty solid show worth checking), we all head to Hell’s Kitchen to grab some Thai food. It’s been one of my best options for plenty of races in the past – plenty of carbs, good proteins, not greasy. After lots of laughter and eating just enough, it’s time to split up so I can go get ready to go to work the next morning.

Feeling a little flustered and tired from a long day, we’re finally back at the hotel. I shower, set the alarm and start setting out all my gear and food for the morning. My go to playlist is playing in the background and eventually I’m rolling out and stretching a bit. Usually I hit the gym for an easy workout and mental prep, but it’s late and there’s just no time. It’s okay, don’t stress. Adapt and go with the flow. With everything laid out, checked and double checked, it’s time for mimis!

4am and the alarm goes off. A decent six hours of sleep. Thank God for that extra hour from daylight savings. I’m up and out the door in an hour. As I head down to the lobby to walk to the ferry terminal, I meet a guy that’s helping his buddy out that’s running. He offers a ride to the terminal. Hey why not, save me a twenty minute walk. There’s eventually four of us in a Lyft and we’re all chatting about run nerd stuff. Of course! I’m a bit late for my scheduled ferry, but it turns out to not be an issue. There’s plenty of space on the 5:45 boat.

It’s a smooth ride to Staten Island and everything is well organized. The volunteers are just continually nice, uplifting, friendly and helpful. As we walk to the Starting Line Village, I get a little choked up at the welcome sign. It’s been a long journey to get here, and I’m grateful to be able to do this for the eighteenth time.

Starting line village got me reminiscing about my first time in Boston. Mad grateful I get to do this!

I got a little over two hours until my race so it’s a mix of using the bathroom, grabbing coffee, eating, and chilling with everyone else. The weather’s feels great; not too cold! An hour in, they start calling out my wave, as cannons boom for the start of earlier waves. I hit the head one last time and start walking to the corrals. Wave 1, Corral C is my group. We stay penned up in our corral with a half hour to go. We’re all a mix of stretching out, warming up, game faced on, smiles, you name it. I go through my usual routine and say my usual prayer before we start shuffling our way to the starting area.

“Damn, I got to pee!” Is what I’m thinking as the cannon booms and the we start walking en masse to the starting line. Oh well! The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge looms right in front of us. “That’s why you train on hills! You got this!” I finally step on the timing pad, start my Garmin and away we go!

One thing about the New York Marathon – it’s mad crowded! Not just in the beginning as we’re all filtering out from the start. It’s crowded throughout. I’m jockeying for my own lane and it’s tough to find space and pace where I’m not running up on somebody or splitting between folks. It’s kind of a good thing as it takes my mind off the incline of the bridge. But then again, it’s not that steep to me. A lot of my training has me running up a two mile hill from the start. The bridge isn’t nearly as long or as steep so I feel confident moving up it. First mile ticks off at a comfortable 8:05. Far off my goal pace, but with the crowds and a lot of race ahead of me, I don’t sweat it.

We start the descent down the north end of the bridge and into Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge neighborhood. I’m having a blast with all the energy from the runners and finally the crowds in Bk! Smartly, I decided to bring my phone with me for this race (I usually don’t) so I’m taking videos and posting to IG as we go. I thought about posting videos as I run through each borough, but at some point I ditch the idea and really start focusing on the race. Brooklyn isn’t really hilly, but there are some long inclines along the way. With so many people, it’s really hard to see how steep these inclines are; you can’t see the horizon at the top because of all the bodies. Between training and being used to hills on other courses like Boston, I adjust the pace and work the hills without too much thought.

First 5k comes in at 7:35 pace. The 10K, I’m coming through at a 7:32 pace. 15K is at 7:26 pace. I’m paying attention to each mile, but to be honest, I’m not keeping real close eyes on it. My watch is pinging before I reach each mile marker. I’m assuming GPS is wonky with all the people, much like Chicago. I’m hitting the lap button as cross the marker and add the times up, but I’m running a lot off of feel. I hit the half way point right before we get into Queens in 1:36:15 which is a 7:21 pace average. It’s definitely slower than I’d like, but I figure welp, we’ll just have to try to negative split it!

Running through Queens is a quick two miles before we begin the long ascent up the bottom deck of the Queensborough Bridge around mile fifteen. I’m still feeling real good! Of course the bridge is quieter with no crowds on it, but I’m busy picking off people, enjoying the space between us and just taking the scenery in. As we start running down the bridge, I take advantage of it and zoom past more folks. I notice the bales of hay as we take the hard left off the ramp and it has me thinking of Formula 1 racing. Do folks actually crash and burn on this?

At some point in a marathon, you have to “pay the piper” as I tell my athletes. The goal with training is to be well enough in shape to pay him the least amount. The crowd supports picks up as we loop off the ramp and head north up 1st Ave. Running up 1st Ave from mile sixteen to just past nineteen is a bit of a blur. It’s a lot of crowds like the rest of the race has been, but by now, I’m really focused on myself. I had been feeling little twinges of pain here and there and largely ignored them. But this late in the race as I hit mile eighteen, I’m wondering if I’ll have to pay the piper for 8.2miles or can I stave it off longer. Nothing major is wrong, but I notice, things. With this pace I’m on, I know I just got an hour left. “I can do this!” “It’s just a tempo run.” “You’ve been here before.” Let’s compare it to say, the check engine light going on. You can still drive your car, but hey you should take a look sometime soon.

We’re in and out of the Bronx in no time. I see a guy holding a sign that says, “Last damn bridge as we start to cross it into Manhattan for the final stretch. It’s a good feeling!

In Manhattan, we have the last five miles left. My buddy Tony, who we had dinner with a few nights earlier lives in Harlem right near the course. He said he’d have the fam out with him to cheer me on. So as we get close to mile twenty two, I’m scanning the streets for him. I know, seeing him and his fam will give me the power boost I need at this point in the race. We loop around the west side of Marcus Garvey Park (near mile 22) and finally as I round the corner and hit 123rd, see him in the distance. I make a beeline towards him feeling all brand new with no mileage on the body and give him a huge high five as run past. I’m feeling on top of the world! Nothing can stop me, huh!

As we hit the northwest corner of Central Park (22.5mi), my gas light comes on. That top corner of the park at 110th St until you finally turn into the park at 90th St is the longest mile ever! I’ve ran that strip before on a few vacations to NYC, but on tired legs, the road just goes on for what seems like forever; one long road to nowhere.

As we turn into the park, the path narrows and you’re running through a gauntlet of crowds that are just a loud as everyone else, but they’re right next to you so it sounds even louder. One of the race pacers passes me, and with just about a 5k left, I decide to give chase and follow him. I need something to glom onto to ignore the pain. My check engine light is no longer just on, it’s blinking. If you know anything about cars, when that happens, it means there’s something seriously wrong with your engine and you should take it to a shop immediately! Yup, that’s me! 8:06 is where that mile clocks in at – my slowest of the whole race and it definitely felt like it.

Right before we turn onto 59th St. Check engine light is blinking!

We hit mile twenty four and I’m still keeping the pacer in sight as we weave along the path inside the park left and right. Crowds keep cheering on. My pacer is slowly pulling away from me. Or is it me slowing down? I can’t tell. All I know is that I want to stop and walk. “You can slow down, but don’t stop.” I keep telling myself this. Legs are hurting, on the verge of cramping. I adjust the stride and trudge on. That mantra seems to work well along with the slight descent of the road as I pass the mile twenty five marker in 7:15. The check engine light is still blinking.

I know I have just 1.2 miles left. I pass a sign that says 2KM and eventually another that says 1mi. With each sign, I’m doing running math and know I have just under ten minutes left at 2km and just over seven minutes left at one mile. I’m right there! Yet it seems like an eternity away. I’m out of the park and running west on Central Park South hugging the right side of the road. Crowds egg me on to keep going. “It’s just a tempo run. You got this” I try to tell myself. But that engine light is blinking bright in my head! Everything hurts. Race face is probably the ugliest right here. “Slow down, but don’t stop.” Running across avenue to avenue is so much longer than running across street to street. I finally see Columbus Circle the distance and that gives me a bit of a boost. “I’m almost there! Keep going!” I know I still have that hill to climb at the end. I pass a sign that say 800m and I know I have less than four minutes left. I try to pick up the pace because I think I can hold it for that much longer. We turn into the park and hit mile twenty six at 7:44.

400m is the last sign I see along with the big ass hill in front of me. I’ve been keeping this in my mind since Saturday. I knew what to expect. I knew it would suck. I knew I would have to dig deep. Now that I was there, those thoughts were all confirmed! But I also know that my wife and friends are in the bleachers somewhere. And I can’t look like no punk bitch running passed them! They didn’t fly all this way to see me jog across the finish line! They didn’t fly all this way to see me walk across the finish line! I dig even deeper and ignore every pain in my body and do my best to monster up the hill. Head up, chest out, knees high, arms swinging. I’m scanning the bleachers for them and finally see them and wave to them as I pass by. The hill flattens out finally before I finally cross the finish line, arm up to the sky in victory!

Lost a glove early on in the race. Thoughts of John Carlos & Tommie Smith run through my head as I finish.

Marathon number 18 in the books. My first New York City Marathon!

Pro tip: The trains are dumb crowded after the race! I've heard about this from others and it's true! If you're staying anywhere not walking distance from the finish I definitely recommend having something warm and dry to throw on and some fresh shoes to swap into. Expect to walk forever (about 1.2mi) to the family meet up and then to your subway station (even further away). Expect to stand waiting for your train and on the train. Our train was packed like the stereotype you see in films. I was in Wave 1, Corral C. and the crowds in the subway were crazy. I could see it only being worse for later corrals. There is a short but steep enough hill to walk out of Central Park and onto the street as you make your way out. Normally not a thing, but after cranking for the race, it’s a mountain.

This was hands down, the best organized race. Expo crowds handled expertly. Ferry ride was quick and easy. Buses to starting line village perfect. Communication and set up at Starting Line Village, on point. Ample bathrooms at SLV and in corrals. Finish line chute well organized with recovery bags and volunteers/med team keeping eyes on potential hurt runners. Volunteers were knowledgeable, extremely helpful and nice. If they didn’t know the answer, they were on radios with someone who did.

Where we stayed: Conrad Hotel downtown. Yes, it’s a bit pricey, but it’s 1 mile to the ferry station. I’d rather catch more sleep than have to wake up extra early to trek from midtown on the train with everyone else. Book early wherever you stay to get the best prices. You can always cancel if you change your mind.

Where we ate:
Hole In The Wall – The Pavlova Waffles smacked! Get the bacon! They serve lots of it!

Clinton St Bakery - Great fresh squeezed OJ. Spanish chorizo scramble was solid. It was a bit loud and crowded. But still a good place to eat.

Melbas Restaurant – Come and get your soul food! Well worth the trip to Harlem. The Jamaican Oxtail was fire! Catfish strips, fried shrimp, eggrolls, and eggnog waffle were OMG!!!! Can’t ever go wrong with greens. Great service, chill vibe. Felt like eating at my friend’s parents.

Hotdog carts – Can’t be in New York City and not grab a dog and pretzel or two!

Viv Thai Restaurant – Thai food works great for me for pre-race dinner. Chicken Pad See-eiw was excellent, pineapple fried rice had huge shrimp in there, calamari smacked.

Harry's Italian Murray St. – Post race, I crave sodium! Pizza will do the trick! This place is located outside at the bottom of the Conrad. Great pan pizza! Not too thin crust, good amount of nickel sized pepperoni similar to Prince St. Pizza.

Laser Wolf – Post-post race, we ate here to celebrate! Definitely make reservations as it’s a poppin place on lots of people’s lists. With four of us eating, we were able to order a mix of different meats, per the restaurants prix fixe menu. Lamb Kofta and the brisket kebab were my faves. Get the French fries and the date-harissa seasoned chicken wings. Skip the soft serve dessert.

Starbucks Reserve – There are only six of these experiential roasteries in the world. Luckily, half of them are also in cities with the Marathon Majors. Coincidence? Given that runners love a caffeine boost, maybe not! This is our third we’ve hit up (Seattle & Chicago are the other two). Tokyo also has one if you lining up your six star schedule with your coffee fix. Imagine way better pastries, food, coffee and merch than your typical Starbucks. Then put it in a swanky, multi-level building with a full blown roastery inside (which you can also take a tour of). Finally toss in a bar with coffee themed drinks. That’s what a Starbucks Reserve is. Service is always A1 grade 1 regardless of location. The old fashioned & espresso martini were perfect to start of a Monday post-marathon. The prosciutto & parmesan croissant made breakfast feel like breakfast and not just day drinking! A good way to start the day.

Tonchin – Our second to last night in the city was spent here. The spicy ramen was great with a nice fatty broth. Mushroom appertizers were good. The edamame and wings were mid. Can’t go wrong with shishito peppers.

Adel’s Famous Halal – Apparently, this cart in mid-town is supposed to be better than the other famous halal cart – Halal Guys. So off we went to try it. Wifey dug it. I still prefer Halal Guys. Portions are smaller than Halal Guys for the same price.

Peter Luger – On virtually every list of top steak houses in the country, our last night was here. It definitely lived up to the hype. The steaks are simply crafted, but high in flavor because the meat is such good quality. Steak for two can be steak for one if you’re a fat kid like me. Mushrooms were great, but took a back burner to the baked potato and bacon (get a double order). Caesar salad was delicious. Definitely get the sundae with their homemade whip cream schlag. Service is not pretentious at all. Feels like your blue collared uncles that know how to cook, but don't brag about it, are treating you to dinner cooked at home. But with the place having such a reputation and long reservation list, they're definitely looking to turn a table, unless you're really looking to take it all in, which we did.

Gear Used
Shoes: Saucony Endorphin Pro V1,
Shorts: New Balance Q Speed 2-in-1 Shorts
Socks: Balega Ultralight No Show
Top: Rabbit ambassador singlet

Nutrition

Maurten hydrogel til mile 18, on course hydration from mile 18 on
Huma Apples & Cinnamon, Spring Icy Mango, Maurten Gel 100

New York City Marathon

Oakland Marathon Recap

Mission Bay Tri Race Recap

Find Your Inspiration. Be Your Motivation.