Marathon Madness

Sunday morning, after my friends had all headed back home after my birthday festivities, I left Dave snoozing on the couch to walk to the marathon course. The New York Marathon kicked off early that morning, and I got to the part of the course that goes along the east side of Central Park a little after 11:00. I heard a LOT of cheering as I approached, which sort of surprised me. Distance running is not known to attract overly zealous fans. I love it, but let's be honest, there's not a lot of edge-of-your-seat action. I understood the reason for the enthusiasm as the road came into view, though: I had gotten there earlier than I intended, and the first few runners were striding by. A woman on the sidewalk next to me told her cell phone that the first runner had passed them just ten minutes before.

I was a little bit bummed out, actually. I like watching all the "normal" people run, and I like seeing a steady flow. For the first ten minutes or so, a runner would go by only about every minute. I have to say though, it was pretty amazing to watch them. Sprinters take enormous steps to cover as much ground as possible, but distance runners typically can't do that - it burns too much energy when you have to do it for a sustained period. These guys were positively blazing by, though, taking huge steps and going at about the pace I struggle to maintain when I do a fast mile.

Obviously not one of my pictures, but this one of runners crossing the Verazzano Bridge was way cooler than any of the ones I shot.

Soon, more and more runners started to appear, and things got more interesting. Last year I saw a short, skinny Asian man running along dressed as Minnie Mouse (I'm talking polka-dot dress, ears, bow, and all) and to my delight I saw him again this year. Based on his position in the pack, he's a pretty elite runner, even in a dress. Although people's pace tended to be strong, none of them looked terribly happy and they were drenched with sweat despite the fact that I was shivering in my down vest and gloves. But we were standing somewhere along the 22nd mile after all, so I guess it's to be expected.

I enjoyed watching them, as usual, and later Dave and I walked past several people in running clothes with medals around their necks, hobbling home from the race course. I congratulated all of them - they certainly deserved it in my book.

Having said all that, this seems an appropriate time for me to make a related announcement: I have decided to run the National Marathon in Washington D.C. on March 26th. I'm alternately thrilled and really scared every time I think of it. At the end of each half I ran this year (6 for those of you who aren't counting) I'd think to myself that if I were running a full, I'd have to keep going and do the whole course again. Shudder. But I wasn't trained for it then, and, fingers crossed, I will be come March. I've got a great training plan that I'm really excited about and will begin in earnest at the end of this month. In the meantime, I'm doing a few long-ish runs a week and beginning to prepare myself mentally for this huge undertaking.

Good audiobook recommendations, anyone? I'm going to be spending a LOT of time with headphones in over the next few months...