what does it take? just jog up the hill right there...

The theme of the NYC Marathon this year was "What does it take?". Like what does it take to win, or finish.

I'm here to tell you that it takes, at least on your first marathon, a LOT to finish.

I could regale you with stories about the crowds and the excitement or all the wind and the cold weather or even the list of excuses I have for not running it exactly as fast as I would have liked (bathroom breaks, sinus infection, chest (breath-wise) hurting from sinus infection-turned bronchial thingy, REALLY old shoes).

That would be peripheral noise and self-pity to some extent though.

What it took, for me at least, to finish was to find a way to start back up running again after I broke down at mile 20.5 - this was the pivotal moment in the race where i was looking for the nearest exit and/or chair to sit in.

I had to find a way to get my ass in gear and keep moving - which seemed impossible. I thought it was all over. I was commending myself for actually listening to the do-gooders who told me i should carry a pre-paid subway card just in case you couldn't run anymore. I was thinking, "These people are CRAZY". How was I to be expected to keep running uphill (not on an extreme grade but still uphill) for something like 8 miles?!?? And THAT was AFTER the first 14 were run!

Then I remembered all the training miles I had logged on the roads nearby and all the preparation. I remembered all the tougher things I have done. And then, I remembered the primary reason I'm running the race - the medal. Now before you think me extremely materialistic and shallow, please remember that the race medal (for completing the race) is more symbolic than anything. Also please also remember that the medal isn't really even for me (i like the race t-shirts more than the medals truth-be-told) but, more for the kids to see something that they can aspire to and achieve. They LOVE the medals from these events. They even earned one at a recent 1 mile kids race. We hang them all on a door nob together, the fancy ones and the plastic ones (from their 1 mile race- which they loved). Eesh, I don't even like the design of the medal this year quite honestly. Melt it down and make an ingot out of it for all i care...

Needless to say, the image of them seeing that medal and perhaps my race number as well and then their happy faces motivated me to pick up the pieces and keep moving to the finish line as quickly as I could.

The verdict? OK, let's get down to brass tacks. In the end, my time was approximately 4 hours 15 minutes (having used the stop watch feature for bathroom breaks, my time was actually less than that but I'm not perfect) while my "official" time was 4:21. If you take into account what people say about normal marathons and the difference in expectations for NYC (add 10 seconds per mile to your normal marathon time and 10-20 minutes overall on top of that), then I didn't do so bad i suppose. I might have even run a 4 hour marathon in other locales. Well, we'll see on some other day I'm betting.

Am I disappointed? No way. I got to run through all 5 boroughs of NYC while not having to worry about traffic and while also having people provide gatorade and such... that was cool. I also enjoyed the pageantry of the crowd quite a bit.

Most of all I liked the challenge. It was a crazy-hard thing to do. As one of my friends pointed out - "You are crazy for wanting to do a marathon but I understand... but you are INSANE for wanting to do your first in NYC - on the hardest one available nearly!". I agree but, I've never shrunk from any challenge large or small and I wasn't about to start with an easy marathon as my first one :)

In the end most first-time marathoners say "I'm NEVER doing that again". I'm already thinking about where the next one will be... I'm also thinking about what I promised everyone before - that I'll get back into triathlons after the marathon. And that's true! I'm taking donations (cash only of course) to pay for the bike i need to do that with ;) Until then I'm riding the stationary bike to do my base-building for cycling... I'll also be back running in a few weeks and swimming before even that.

I'm sure as I meet each one of you over the next weeks and months, I'll regale you with the other parts of the experience that were fun but, for now I've captured the heart of what it was all about. And that's about the best I can do with the awesome amount of lactic acid coursing through my legs still :)

I'll leave you with what a race official beyond the finish line said... "congratulations! Now, all you have to do is run right up that small hill behind me and get your things...". He received many choice words from me and others that day - but I believe he was stationed there not only because he was resilient but, also because he had keen insight into both our need to yell at someone and the need for a little levity after such a herculean effort. I'm glad he was there.