NEW YORK MARATHON SERIES (Part 4/5)
I knew Scott wasn't far behind so I took the next few steps forward rather slowly, looking back to see him at the finish. In my training run 3 weeks earlier, I completed 32kms and felt absolutely deplorable at the end of the run. Those that were with me will confirm that the colour in my face was gone, I couldn't stand up and I felt like I needed to vomit for at least half an hour after. I was so worried that I was going to feel like this after the full marathon. To my delight however, I felt absolutely fantastic - I had just finished the New York Marathon, the event that I had been training for through ups and downs for 6 months, enjoying every step of the way. This day in particular had been one of the best days of my life!
Scott on the other hand didn't look too well. I won't go into too much detail but after walking together through the exit area (which is about another kilometre or more - most probably for the medical staff to keep an eye on everyone which is a great initiative) he did end up in the very last medical tent for some treatment. He is alive and well after that though!
The exit area involves first of all getting the medal for finishing (it is a huge, heavy medal, but I was very happy to get that thing over my neck!), you then pass through a whole group of photographers where I tried to get as many photos taken as possible while still moving (I had pre-purchased the $60US photo pack - I was going to make the most of it!). Following the photos they wrap a foil blanked around you (which at this point is very welcome as you do start to feel a little cold in the 10 degree weather!) and also hand out a "recovery pack" which was full of all sorts of snacks, drinks and other goodies that you would generally want to take in after running such a distance. I scoffed down almost the whole pack of salted pretzels and half a bottle of water and half a bottle of Gatorade. This was as much as I felt like taking in as I did start to feel a little unwell at that point.
We kept on walking all the way back up to 77th Street (which is where Scott decided to head into the medical tent). I walked back down Columbus Avenue, to the family reunion area. On the way they handed out a nice warm poncho (it was amazing how very well timed they handed out that poncho as I was just starting to get a bit chilly!).
I met up with Mum and Dad finally at 62nd Street (they had just made it around from their last viewing position by the time I had finally got there!) and gave Mum a big hug. Their smiles told me they were extremely proud and I was very proud myself to have completed such an amazing event.
We walked back (slowly) through the crowds to the hotel. Getting through Columbus Circle was quite tricky as half of New York was trying to do the same. I was still feeling good, but my legs were starting to slow down. Luckily there weren't any stairs to climb.
Back at the hotel I had the choice to either run a hot bath or a cold bath. The best thing for recovery would have been to stretch (which I didn't do) and to have a cold bath - but I had a hot bath which I decided was much more comfortable. At this point I had reached my goal and it wasn't going to matter how long it took me to recover so I decided to just be as comfortable as possible and enjoy it.
I took my shoes off and found that I now had a disgusting, large blood blister on my toe where the nail had fallen off 2 days earlier. It wasn't sore so was quite surprising. Mum thought it looked gangrenous... (I can now tell you that it has taken 4 weeks from the marathon to actually look somewhat like a normal toe again... let me know if you want to see a picture but I won't subject the majority of readers to that!).
After the bath I actually had a nap for about 45 minutes! Lying in bed felt amazing and bear in mind I was up at 4:30am! I woke up at about 4:45pm and got organised to go to the Roger Rasheed Team post race drinks which was located on a rooftop bar next door to our hotel.
Some of the team were still running/walking at the time the team drinks kicked off but eventually almost everyone made it up there to celebrate. Everyone from our team did finish the marathon which is fantastic, and everyone had their own stories to tell.
Although I was extremely tired, I lasted longer at drinks than Mum and Dad did. It was really good to share the experience with a great group of people who all enjoyed it as much as I did.
I headed back to my room at about 10:30pm and struggled into bed. From memory I slept very well, despite parts of my body starting to scream and tighten up.
Nick
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