| January 2003 Newsletter |
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Best Seen By A Cab?
New York City Marathon
It was interesting to see the different parts of NYC by foot. We started from Staten Island at 11:10 AM, immediately going over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which is the longest single span suspension bridge in N. America. It took a mile to get to the top, during which time it was very congested making it the slowest mile of the course for me (8:40). We then descended into Brooklyn, where we spent much of the first half of the race. The Italian, Spanish and Puerto Rican communities were out in force making lots of noise and handing out orange slices and other treats, and many little kids were smiling holding their hands out to let you hit their hands as you went by. At the half, I was running about 1:31 for a 6:59 pace and feeling pretty good. We then hit a significant bridge - the Queensborough (59th St.) Bridge that connects Queens to Manhattan and takes us onto First Avenue going north. The bridges on this course were significant hills, but not bad by Ithaca standards. As we came onto First Avenue, the crowds were the loudest with people about five deep for a few miles, and I even saw some people holding a sign saying "go Terry - High Noon," which must have been Rick's family, though I didn't see the for long as I was near them and went by quickly (thanks!). After a few miles going north, I completed mile 18, and started to feel myself slowing, and had to work to keep the pace around 7:30 per mile. I had a quick boost of encouragement when I looked at my watch at mile 20 and thought I was on pace for a 3 hour marathon, but then a mile later realized I must have stopped my watch for about a mile, meaning a 3:00 was far out of reach and I should work hard to make 3:10. I did work hard through Central Park, which we ran through for the final three miles. I was happy to finish in 3:10 and found the effort I expended to be more than when I ran 3:02 at Boston. That works out to a 7:15.9 mile pace overall, and put me in at 1118 place out of 31,824 finishers, or 1028 place of 21632 male finishers.
I think the difference between Boston and NYC was in my training and also the course, with the uphills in Boston in the middle, which is a good time in a race for me, and the downhills before and after that, which I like. Also the weather Sunday was breezy and in the 40s, and we had a mild head-wind for all but four miles of the course. After we finished, the cold air set into me and I was pretty chilled by the time I got to my dry clothes about 20 minutes later. John, his wife Yasko, Tom Meyer and I came back together at about 6, and we were in Ithaca by 10. I am reminded that marathons are pretty long races, and that NYC may best be seen by cab :-)
I later learned that the sign-holders on First Avenue were not Rick's family… so were mystery supporters... thanks!
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