2018 TCS New York Marathon - Race Morning

NEW YORK MARATHON SERIES (Part 2/5)

Race Morning

I got about 3-4 hours’ sleep on the Saturday night – it was also the end of "Summer Time" in USA which meant we got an extra hour in which we were either meant to be sleeping or we were anxiously waiting for the clock to tick over to 4:30am (I somehow chose the latter).

At 4:30am the phone rang for our wake up call. I had a shower and put on all the gear that I had carefully planned out the night before. I bought a bagel at Starbucks the night before but wasn’t ready to eat that yet - the nerves were kicking in and I wasn't keen on chucking something straight back up this early! I packed the bagel into my race bag for later. I glanced at my stash of uneaten bananas and decided to pack one as well just in case. I was well hydrated with 1 litre of Gatorade down the hatch at 5:10am before heading into the lobby to meet the rest of the team.

I had written 5km splits onto my arm for a planned finishing time of 3 hours 50 minutes for the race but my goal for the event was to try to take it easy for the first half of the race (around 5:30min/km) and then if I was feeling good, increase my pace in the second half. My goal time was between 3 hours 30 minutes and 4 hours, knowing that 3 hours 30 was going to be very difficult, especially with the plan that I was aiming to stick to. This didn't bother me too much as my ultimate goal was obviously just to cross that finish line full stop.

So many people had given me advice about how to plan for the race, with many of them saying whatever you plan won't eventuate anyway. I knew that 3 hours 50 minutes was a good and reasonably conservative goal, and with that plan in place I had to confidence to take on New York.

Once the team had gathered we all walked down to the New York Public Library on 42^nd street where apparently 800 buses were organised to take 50,000 runners to the start line.

The queue for the buses went ¾ of the way around the block and took about half an hour to get through. In hindsight I should have used one of the toilets at the start of the queue – this error would prove uncomfortable later!

The bus ride was a bit of fun for the first hour, then the choice not to use the toilet earlier became a rather large issue for the second hour. None of the buses had a toilet on them (which is the only poorly planned thing about the bus convoy!).

We arrived close to Staten Island pretty quickly however because there were so many buses dropping so many people off it took forever to get across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. I had been told that this was the case and made the choice to bring a gallon bottle of water (now almost empty obviously) which I may or may not have discretely made use of while on the bus. I ate the bagel and a couple of other bits and pieces that I had packed on the bus which I didn't exactly feel like but knew I needed to get some sort of energy into my body.

As soon as we got off the bus there was a mad dash to the nearest bush for about half of the people that had gone much quieter towards the end of the rise. It was certainly an interesting sight! The starting area consisted of 4 different waves, with each of those waves having 3 different "corrals" (essentially 3 different starting points/routes so that there is slightly less congestion at the start line). Each corral then had letters A-F (I think) which was the gate that you go through to your starting position. It was all organised based on the time that you expected or hoped to run the race. I was in Wave 1, Green Corral, Starting gate D. Most of our group had to split up at this point as everyone was in a slightly different starting area and position. I was lucky enough to have 1 other person (Scott) from our group with me which kept the time passing relatively quickly.

The line to get through security on Staten Island

Upon arrival at the starting area I had about 1 hour and 20 minutes until my start. Scott and I both needed the toilet (again) and walked past a massive line in the general area. We saw a whole heap of toilets behind the starting area gate so decided it would be much better to wait 10 minutes until that opens and use those toilets. Great idea, as these toilets were also unused and very clean.

We did miss out on the drinks and food that were handed out around the general area, however I was never relying on this as it is best to eat and drink what you were used to and what you had already planned. One of the major sponsors at the starting area was Dunkin' Donuts... it amazes me that people would actually opt to eat their products at the start of the race and I do not regret missing out on that.

Scott and I were in the starting area for about 45 minutes until the 5000 people in our zone were given the all clear to move up to the starting line. During this time 2 other race starts (wheelchair racing and the elite Women's race) had already started with a very loud cannon fire. It is interesting to note that for about 30 seconds prior to those cannon fires an announcement is repeated "a race is about to start, please do not be alarmed by the cannon fire".

As we finally started moving forwards to the start line, ACDC's Safe in New York City blasted out of the speakers as we made our way up onto the bridge, legs eager to get moving, mind ready to be tested for the next 42kms!

The American National Anthem was played and then the race opening speech was made by the director of the New York Road Runners. All of the elite male runners were introduced (not that we could see anything as we were on the lower bridge level while all of this was happening on the upper level!) and finally the director asked the traffic manager for the all clear and then started the race (BANG!, another cannon gets fired).

It is always a strange feeling when the race starts, but no one in your vicinity can move yet! We could see the people at the front moving and finally after about 20 seconds we were able to take a couple of steps forward.Scott and I took 3 minutes to get to the starting line and then the race was on!

(to be continued)
Nick

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