Ten Thousand Miles

New York City Marathon 2008!

2008-11-03T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here is the epic tale of my marathon weekend! Can you handle it??? Ok make sure you carbo load first cause this is sort of really long.

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

The bus ride from Boston to New York took a billion hours and it was so uncomfortable and not fun. I thought I was gonna die. There was some large old guy sitting next to me eating McDonalds food and I was squished in the window seat. Across from us, this girl was all stretched out over her boyfriend. She looked really comfortable and happy so I gave her dirty looks. When I wasn’t giving her dirty looks, I occupied my time on the bus of doom by studying Bio (for 7 minutes), drawing random pictures, and texting people (so I wouldn’t have to suffer alone).

Finally though, we made it to the city (I still can’t believe it), and my dad met me for sushi! YUM! Then when I got home, I spent time playing with my brothers and my lil dog, and eating more delicious food. It was good times.

I received a lot of advice to stay off my feet the day before the marathon but that accidentally did not really happen. Whoops. Around noon on Saturday I had to hop on the train to meet Clay for when his bus arrived in the city. He and I met up with ShiMing (a cool dude who graduated from Babson last year. He was on the Olin track team too!) and we headed to the Expo to get as much free stuff as we could. Oh yeah and also to get my bib number and chip cause I kind of needed that for the race.

I had high hopes (for obtaining awesome freebies) since I biked to the Boston Marathon expo last spring. I had a lot of fun there and came home with 3 giant bags of cool stuff, including free t-shirts and rice and jars of jam. But sadly there was almost nothing for free at the NYC expo except cold medicine tablets, some squishy rhinoceros toy thing, and a couple posters. It was very sad.

I heard that there were free souvenir pins for marathon runners at the Empire State building so we walked all the way over there, only to find out that you had to buy the $18 elevator tour ticket in order to get the free pin. Fail. But it was a beautiful day to be in the city :). We walked around some more and then finally Clay and I took the train back to my house. For dinner my mum made me my favorite meal, Monica’s Chicken, and we also had extra whole wheat pasta on the side, along with mashed sweet potatoes. It was soooo good and carbolicious! Then we all played and ran around with my dog and did other non-relaxing things (I know, for shame) but it was still fun.

I wasn’t stressed at all- it was so weird. Everyone had been saying not to worry about my time, and just finish/have fun, so I guess I was just thinking of the marathon as a normal run. So I went to bed pretty easily! Funkadelic

PRE RACE

I had to wake up before 4am (which was secretly 5am because of the time change) and after I had several pounds of fruit and more bagels, my dad drove me to the Manhattan library to catch the official marathon shuttle. The bus was completely filled with runners, but really dark and grim. It was creepy.

We got to the starter villages in Staten Island around 5:30. There were three sections of villages- orange, green and blue. New York Roadrunners tried this new system of wave starts and corrals for the marathon this year. I accidentally spent the first hour in the wrong color village. Whoops. Finally I found my village and sat for a bit next to this group of hot Italian guys. Then I got bored of sitting so I walked around to all the villages to see if there was any special food. But no, there were just really gross plain bagels, and tea and coffee.

I guess for a race that has 39,000 runners, NYRR did a really good job organizing but I wish maybe they could’ve had some whole wheat bagels.. and yogurt. And sushi. I mean, the race registration fee was super expensive! Gosh.

It was really glum and scary and cold in the beginning when it was dark, but after sunrise the atmosphere became much nicer. But unfortunately not any warmer.

I walked around a lot more, but then I started worrying that I was wasting all my energy by walking, and so I sat down on the grass with the other runners and tried to sleep. Then I started to freeze (despite my 25tons of winter clothes) so I got up to walk again. The cycle of walking, worrying about wasting energy, sitting down and trying to sleep, freezing, and then walking again repeated itself a few times.

Later, a live band started to play so I was partying it up! Good times. I did try to talk to some runners but it was a little hard because I only brought one hearing aid with me, and there were so many non-English speaking people.

RACE!!! omg!

Despite being there over four hours early, I managed to miss my wave start (That’s how I roll). I was scheduled for the first wave- 9:40, but it apparently closed up or something when I tried to find it so I just went on the 10AM one. I didn’t have my hearing aids on by then so that’s probably it.

The Marathon runners traditionally wear their sweats for the first couple miles or so (since it is freezing) and then throw them on the side of the road to be collected and donated to homeless shelters. On Friday my dad went to some discount stores and bought really cheap hoodies and sweatpants for me for like $2. Unfortunately they were so comfy and awesome.. so it was hard to let them go. But at least it’s for a good cause!

The first two miles were on the Verrazano bridge. Since I was assigned the Green color, I was supposed to run under the bridge, not on top. It was still so freezing and so windy! I had my hood on for the sweatshirt, covering everything except my eyes. It was crazy cold man. But besides feeling a bit sleepy, and the painful coldness, my running was comfortable. I checked my time at the 2^nd mile- 17:30 ish (8:45 pace) and decided that my top secret goal to qualify for Boston can be saved for another time because I didn’t feel like going faster. I know, I am a lazy bum.

Running in Brooklyn was SOOO COOL! Oh man, I thought Brooklyn was going to be a boring part of the race (no offense ShiMing :P) but it was really exciting and the streets were lined with so many people!! I gave high fives to lots of spectators in the crowd, including little babies sitting on their parents shoulders. Kind of dangerous actually, cause the babies almost fell off!

Ok so that gave me so much adrenaline (running through Brooklyn I mean- not putting babies in danger) and I had a great time looking through the crowds for people I knew. I saw a lot of PSAL athletes from NYC schools in fluid stations. The next few miles felt really easy and awesome, and I think I was keeping an 8:40-9:00 pace for a while. At the end of mile 7, I saw Clay and my mum and dad!!! It was great! The next couple of miles were just breezing and enjoying the crowds. I could not believe how many people there were on the sidelines. I saw some pretty cool signs. One said "Your feet hurt because you're kicking so much a$$!" And there were a billion Obama signs. I only saw one McCain poster haha

Around mile 13, we crossed a bridge and I was getting excited to hopefully see friends from my high school track team. I love my track team!! I could have sworn I saw Mrs. Fee by the way. As I passed the THHS fluid station, I saw Adam the pole vaulter dude! But it was really congested so I didn’t see anyone else :( So sad.

Then there were a couple more miles that I can’t remember, and then we crossed the 59^th st. bridge into Manhattan around mile 16. I remember the bridge was about a mile long, and for that mile, there were markers for each tenth of a mile. It was the LONGEST mile in the whole race. In the whole world actually. wow I thought it would never end. I think I did 10 minute pace on that one... It was the beginning of the end.

Once in Manhattan, the crowds were crazier! It was so surreal that I could see everyone screaming and cheering and bands playing and everything, yet I heard no sound at all. I was kind of jealous because I always wanted to write my name on my tshirt and have people shout "GO K-DAWG!"

Oh well, I got to listen to myself think. There was a nice progression around that time from “This is fun! I feel great!” to “I’m gonna die fo sho.” So actually, I probably could've used some distraction haha.

At 1^st avenue and 71^st street, I saw mum and Clay again totally by chance because they were on the left side and I glanced behind. Running uptown amongst the crowd in Manhattan was not as fun as in Brooklyn, because the Manhattan crowds were fenced off so we couldn’t give high fives or anything. Also First Avenue is so cruel and hilly.

We crossed over some random bridge into the Bronx and ran in there for only a mile. I felt kind of bad for the Bronx. But at the same time I was glad it was only a mile because by then I was seriously dying. It was death march time. My mile pace went from 10 to 10:30 to 11 minute/mile. I think there were a couple of 12s in there. It was kind of funny actually because not too many people were passing me during my death march. We all suffered together! What camaraderie.

It wasn't really that bad actually, I was just feeling tired. I don’t know if I hit the wall or what. I remember that my legs were getting sore and stiff and I was afraid if I built up my pace again I would tear a muscle, so I could only go slower. But I never walked!! Holla

Back in Manhattan, I somehow made it to Central Park alive. My mum said she’d be at mile 22, so starting then I was searching through the crowds for her and dad. But they weren’t there until after mile 24! So if you can imagine trying to find somebody in the midst of thousands of spectators for twenty minutes in a row… I declare that as the official reason why I ran out of energy. So it was totally not my fault! :P

After finally seeing mum and telling her “Hi mom! I may die!” and my dad taking a picture of me suffering, I knew I had less than two miles to go. I saw more people that I knew, and that was awesome.

With 400 meters to go, I saw ShiMing on the sidelines! He was running through the crowds alongside me to cheer, and I was giving him evil looks because he was sprinting while I was chugging along trying to stay alive haha. But he did motivate me.. to go .0001 seconds/mile faster.

So in all, my finish time was… 4:12! Yay! This means I failed my top-secret goal of Boston-qualifying and my secret goal of sub-4 hours, but I passed my other more important goals which were:

1) Finish
2) Not die
3) Run the whole way (no walking), and
4) go out for sushi after.

so... VICTORY!!

Yay

After crossing the finish line, I got my SHINY MEDAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!! And then there was 10 hours of walking in a very slow-moving line to get my baggage. My legs were mad cramped. It was so incredibly painful. I thought the feeling was to be expected, but then when I stopped to stretch, a lot of runners kept asking me if I was ok. And one guy said “do you have cramps? oh no, you should go to the medical station!”

This was shocking to me, because I always thought the medical stations were for people with cancer or something. You know what I mean. I would have never gone there of my own free will because even though my legs were in excruciating pain that I never felt before, I still would feel like I should be a tough guy and save the resources for people who really need it. But the dude led me to the station and let me lie on the cot for 3 minutes. Oh man it was heaven. I was shivering so much so they gave me three fleece blankets, and I got a leg massage. It made me feel so much better!! And they were so nice.

After I got all my bags and stuff, I saw mom and dad and Clay and ShiMing and Sandra and Jenn and her dad outside Central Park! I was sooo happy to see all of them. We walked a half mile or so (I got a piggy back ride part way) to get sushi and It was so yummy and it made the whole thing worth it, just being with everybody and having a delicious dragon maki roll. I wished I did not have to go back to Olin so soon. Especially since I have an evil bio test this week. I really miss my family and NY friends already.

But sadly I had to catch the 7pm bus back with Clay. That’s right I did not even get to take a shower. I feel pretty bad for everyone on that bus. Well not really, cause I smell delightful since I never sweat. I just glisten.

JK I actually got a few salt crystals on my forehead. It was kinda nasty. I drank gallons of Gatorade and water during the race though so hopefully I did alright with the electrolyte replacement stuff.

So that is my marathon story. My right knee hurts a little, but other than that I am just minorly sore. I can’t wait to start running again. Though I am not doing anything longer than a half marathon for a LONG time. It was pretty tough and I have even more respect and admiration (if that is possible) for all the real marathoners I know like Alison and Uncle Brad. I think I thought it wouldn’t be too much of a big deal after my twenty mile runs, but it’s hard man.

As for training, I think the only thing I DID do right was three twenty-milers. But they were probably spaced wrong haha. Well I am kind of a little glad I did not invest too much in a hardcore defined training plan, because then I would be way too stressed out about every little detail. So for a first marathon, this was pretty fun. Minus the whole dying in the last 9 miles part.

I want to thank everybody who has supported to me in this in any way, whether it was doing a long or short run with me, giving me a ride to a race, listening to me talk about the marathon a lot, giving me advice, giving me hugs, or just being amazing people/friends in general.

I have to thank mom and dad so much because I could not have done any of this without them. They are the best parents in the whole world. From supporting my running ever since I joined track in high school, to helping me get my 9 qualifying NYRR races done last year, to meeting me after my 19 mile run to White Plains, to stocking the refrigerator with delicious fruit, to buying me a fuel belt!, to making me feel better about everything and being there for me always. I love you mom and dad!

So, I am glad my first marathon was in New York because New York is the bomb diggity. I hope Adam Kenvarg sees this.

Ok if you made it this far, then that's kind of like finishing a marathon too I guess. You should go refuel with sushi too. But let me know cause I want to come! Thanks everybody! Shout out to Mr. Connor for letting a slow person join the track team in high school so she could get crazy about running :)

Holy Water

2008-04-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

Today I volunteered at the Boston Marathon, setting up hydration stations in Ashland (mile 4) so the 25,000 amazing athletes could have a refreshing sip Gatorade or water. It was a great experience and I had so much fun! I've worked fluid stations twice before (at the New York City Marathon) but that was just handing out cups. Today I was there from the beginning. We walked up and down the street carrying wicked heavy boxes of water jugs, set up tables and covered them with plastic, mixed the Gatorade and prepared the water cans, and laid out the layers of cups. After the race we all stuck around and worked together to rake up the sea of paper cups and Gu packets and a lone bag of Doritos (I do not approve). It was very well organized and everything went super smoothly.

We all got sweet jackets and the volunteer coordinator even brought us doughnuts and pastries and FRUIT and BAGELS! I was super happy (my name is fruitbagel for a reason).
Since we were at mile 4 today, as opposed to mile 14 for New York, the swarms of runners seemed to go by very quickly. It definitely did not seem like there were 25,000 runners. Volunteering in New York was thus a little more fun because the runners were more spread out, and a little bit slower over all since it was later in the race. Also, there's no qualifying time for the NY Marathon, which actually leads to smooth sailing in the cup-transfer front. You see, in Boston today there were many water cup explosions and splashing due to the speeds at which the crazy people were running.
I definitely remember way more people in crazy costumes and outfits in New York. Today I only saw Spidey and some lady with flame colored hair.

So as you know, I handed out lots of cups of water today. Because of my astonishing good looks and muscular biceps, I was the drink distributor of choice for many a runner. INCLUDING none other than Robert Cheruiyot! That's right, I gave a cup of water to the winner of the 2008 Boston Marathon!!! We had a connection- I felt it. I was so excited to see the lead pack of hot African dudes approaching, and even though the volunteer director said the Elites were technically not allowed to take water, I held out my cup and Rob just took it! (Yep we're on first name basis now cuz we're mad tight after today). It was so cool!!
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Congratulations to Alison Black who ran today for charity for the Liver Foundation!! She's the bomb diggity!
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Anyway, thinking of both marathons (NY and Boston) as well as the Olympic Trials yesterday made me super excited for NYC 2008! Yep...I'm registered! :)

Today I went for an easy 6 mile run to see if I got any special energy power transferred from Robert Cheruiyot. But alas... it was just an average run. And by average run I mean amazing run because I love running!

My Running Story: The Early Years

2008-02-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

Freshman Gym at Townsend Harris High School

I admit I was really excited the first time we went outside to run in gym. I suppose I must've recalled the days of my childhood where I could beat everybody in tag, climb the tallest trees, and do pull-ups every day. I felt super confident that I would be the fastest out of all the freshmen. So of course I sprinted like a madman at the start. and I totally died.

As I dragged my legs around that asphalt track on the first day, I decided that I officially hated running. But every time we went out, I would somehow forget the pain and agony of the previous week, and excitement and adrenaline would build up inside me as I stood waiting for my gym teacher to signal the start. Every week I'd take off with the front of the pack (consisting of students on the track team who, unlike me, were physically able to run more than half a lap at a decent pace) and I would promptly experience unimaginable pain and despair.

I was particularly jealous of these two girls on the track team who could sprint like crazy during gym and actually not die. I began to think that joining the track team would magically make people be able to run super fast. At the time, I was on the Varsity bowling team (average game 72, what what!), but I wasn't really feelin' the team spirit. Maybe because of previously-mentioned average game score. The coach was really a very nice lady, but she had no problem sending me off to lanes located way in the back of the building so I could "practice" while matches were going on. I figured I might have the same experience if I joined the track team. I'd probably be sent out to jog in deserted alleys by myself while everybody else partied together and competed in the Olympics. So joining track was out of the question.

The summer after freshman year, I tagged along a few times to the neighborhood track with my dad. He jogged for exercise and always talked about how much fun it was. The first time I went with him, I started off relaxed and comfortably, and what do you know! I lasted a mile! It was pretty awesome.
We went back the next week and I did 2 miles (very slowly). We didn't go that often, but by the end of the summer I had done a three-mile run. I was thinking about joining cross-country in the fall of sophomore year but alas, I never got around to it. I still ran occasionally with my dad though, and we signed up for our first 5k in November 2004. The Mineola Mustang Run!

We got to Mineola high school early, and there was lots of food everywhere. Ten minutes before the race started, I had two bagels with cream cheese. I also had to go to the bathroom, but I figured it didn't really matter- I could just wait until the end of the race. At the race start, Dad lined up at 10 minute mile pace but, like a dang fool, I went ahead confidently to the 8 minute mile. The race started, and I dashed off.

After about five minutes I had cramps, couldn't breathe, and felt like I was dying. I slowed down drastically and eventually started to walk. Actually it was more like a death march. Dad caught up to me and tried to encourage me to jog slowly. I gave him evil glares and whined a lot. I begged him to stop doing the race so we could just go home, but he pushed me through. We ended up walking the whole rest of the way, and we were almost in last place. I suppose I learned my lesson not to eat right before I run. Our time was, I believe, 41 minutes and change. It was one of the most horrible experiences of my life. But I got a really cool shirt.

The winter went by uneventfully, but on New Years Eve I made a resolution to run 1 mile every week. I don't even know why I made that resolution. I certainly was not preoccupied with anything related to health or fitness. I used to eat junk food like there was no tomorrow...
I had no shame!

Back in school after winter break, I was feeling a little sick-ish but still wanted to run around the track to get some fresh air and fulfill my resolution. I had a friend who was on the track team, so I followed her outside after school.

The coach, a math teacher at my high school, greeted me. I asked him if I could run with the team that day. Making small talk, he asked me what my mile time was. I replied "ten minutes" and I swear, he cringed haha. He told me I should run a nice easy mile around the track, so I gladly took off. I kept mostly to myself, pushing out those 4 laps at a steady pace while the rest of the track team did important-looking stretches and complicated interval workouts. My run was pretty enjoyable, so I came back the next day and did the same thing.

After that workout, the team went inside to the weight room and my friends said I could join them if I wanted. I remember doing a couple of pull ups and feeling great. Without thinking much of it, I asked the coach if I could be on the team. This was in the middle of indoor track season, mind you, and I had no speed whatsoever. His eyes widened and he said, "You mean, you want to come to practice every day, and go to the meets and all?" and I said, "Yeah!!" even though I did not know what a meet was. "Well sure," he said, and I left feeling pretty great!! Though I was completely unaware of the life-changing effects this decision would have on me.

I don't recall much about my early practices as a new member of the track team, but I do remember my first Indoor meet ever. I ran the 200m in a Sprint Medley Relay, and I won a medal and a t-shirt! I'm glad that happened because it really motivated me to keep running. It was actually the only medal I won for the rest of my entire sophomore year. And it wasn't until a long time later that I found out my team had been last (fifth place) for that meet. The top five teams get medals... Oh well, I still have the shirt and I wear it proudly!

Anyway, I was pretty darn slow and in sophomore year I admit I thought many times of quitting, especially during excruciating 400m repeats. I should emphasize again my horrific lack of fast-twitch muscle fibers. I suppose the highlight of Outdoor season was running a 3:12 in an 800m run (probably placing last, but it was a big PR). My dad was with me that day and promised to buy me chocolate truffles if I could break 3:15. Obviously I was still devoted to junk food at that time. I can even remember thinking only about Lindor chocolatey goodness on the final straightaway of the 800m. After that race I was totally dead, cramping everywhere and feeling like the world had ended. But I got my chocolate. It's weird how thats one of my clearest memories of my first year on the track team...

Oh well, stay tuned for the next installations of My Running Story! by fruitbagel

II. "Getting Less Slow, yay!"
-Junior Year on the Track Team
-Steeplechase!
-Summer after Junior Year
-my first Half Marathon

III. "The Year That I Still Can't Comprehend"
-Senior Year on the Track Team
-ACTUALLY BEING FAST, omg yay!

IV. "Beyond"
-Running in College

Thereafter, I will post about running thoughts and cool races that I do. I have always wanted to start a running blog, and while I should really be doing physics problem sets instead, I'm going to try to update this every so often. Thanks for taking the time to read this :) Please leave a comment so I can feel important!