Justin and I had a wonderful vacation in New York! We were there for the marathon, but got to see and do many other touristy things as well. Here are some of the highlights, as well as my thoughts on the marathon.
First, the "vacation report" followed by a race report:
The Statue of Liberty
9/11 memorial
On the way to the Memorial we stumbled upon the Occupy Wall Street protesters, so I had to take a picture of them too!
Times Square, and the Toys R Us in it!
Spiderman on Broadway. The critics didn't love this show, but I thought the stunts, music and set design made it very entertaining!
Central Park
Macy's. It has 11 floors and had already started decorating for Christmas!
Grand Central Terminal. This was the first place we attempted to ride the Subway. For NYC subway novices... This is not the place to go! We eventually found the subway lines and ended up where we needed to be, but it was overwhelming for a minute or two. :)
"Top of the Rock" - the lookout point at the top of the Rockefeller Center. We got there right before sunset, which was perfect to see the views in daylight, at sunset and at night.
Central Park in the background!
Of course, we ate well while we were there! Yes, we finished this entire piece of cheesecake... But we did have to take it back to the hotel. We also ate pretzels, roasted chestnuts and giros from street vendors, and plenty of other great food!
Two of the best things about that trip was that we got to meet up my friend Ashley for dinner one night, and my cousin Margaret for dinner and to watch the UT/MTSU football game, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that!
Carlo's Bake Shop, from The Cake Boss, in Hoboken, NJ
New York City Marathon Race Report:
Everything about the race was over-the-top, but in a good way! It was HUGE. This was by far the biggest marathon I have run, which has pros and cons but makes for a pretty cool experience.
Packet pickup was really well organized and went smoothly, for such a big race. I love these welcome signs in all different languages.
It was really appropriate, as 22,000 of the finishers weren't from the United States. Everywhere you turned someone was speaking another language as a reminder that it truly is an international marathon. It made me even more excited about running the Paris marathon in April, where we will be the international runners. It's cool how running brings people together.
We went to the expo with our friends Chris and Jessica, which was fun. After doing plenty of shopping and buying a Motoactv GPS music player and some compression calf sleeves, we watched a video about the marathon that gave me chills and made me even more excited about the race.
Race morning, we had to catch a bus in Midtown Manhattan at 6:00 am, even though the race didn't start until 9:40. Luckily I had friends to hang out with, or I would have been bored out of my mind! We took the bus to Staten Island and camped out in the grass on Mylar blankets for a couple hours, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds!
After the Staten Island bridge, the next 13 miles were in Brooklyn, where I think every resident came out to watch. There was never a section without spectators. I had a blast trying to slap hands with every little kid on my side of the course for about a mile, but it was impossible there we so many! We ran up Manhattan Island, then did quick little sections of the Bronx and Queens before heading back to Manhattan. The quietest part of the course was the Queensboro Bridge, around mile18 or so. We were on the bottom of the bridge, and it was a brutal uphill followed by a downhill that actually hurt a little too. It went on and on. There were no spectators, since it was a bridge, so all I heard was the sound of feet on the pavement. As we neared the bottom of the bridge we could hear the crowds in Manhattan. We turned the corner and went from near silence to the loudest cheering I've ever heard in a race. It was the coolest experience! The rest of the race went down 5th Avenue to Central Park, then the last two miles were in the park. I'm sure it was pretty... I didn't notice at that point. I just wanted to be finished! I gave it all I had the last couple miles, but it wasn't enough to finish under 4 hours. My time was around 4:01, but I don't know for sure because my timing chip didn't work.
Overall, the race was a wonderful experience that I'd recommend any marathoner do once, but I probably won't do it again because of the cost and complexities of a race that huge. It was a fun time and I'm extremely thankful for Justin coming with me and cheering me on and supporting me in all my marathons!
