Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 14:48:22 -0500 (EST) From: Shouri Chatterjee Subject: 4:07:08 Hi All, I ran the New York City marathon yesterday!! My time was 4:07:08. :) Splits: 10km -> 0:54:11 13.1mi -> 1:54:42 20 mi -> 3:01:23 Now for the long story... :) Nov 6: I went to the Barilla pasta party on Saturday evening. Met some runners and stood in the line for a good 45 min. The pasta party was uneventful - plenty of pasta, and they were serving gatorade instead of water... :) Came back after that, packed my race bag, set two alarms for 4:30am, and then went to sleep by 8:30pm. Nov 7: Woke up at 4:30am, got ready and headed out by 5:40am. I met a fellow runner right outside - he took a cab while I proceeded towards the subway stop. Just below 125th Street Station, I could see the train coming up above - darted across the stairs and raced to the train before its doors closed. Phew. The day started with a good race! :) I reached 42nd Street at 6:00am, followed the crowd; by 6:05am I was whisked into a bus, headed towards the start line in Staten Island. Made some casual conversation with the guy next to me - he was from Dallas, TX. He was telling me how he liked New York and how his next project would be to run the midnight marathon in Anchorage, Alaska next year. The route from Manhattan to Verazano was one big trail of buses. We inched forward behind the bus in front of us. By 7:10am I was in the start area. I took some rest in one of the tents, looked for my fellow Asha runners Aquin, Zac and Arun (didn't find them), had some breakfast and relaxed. My legs were feeling restless with excitement - and it took considerable effort to stop them from moving... I decided that one way to kill some time would be to join one of the lines for a bathroom. It took a good 1hr wait to get in - and by that time a casual idea had turned through necessity to an emergency... :) A little after 9:00am, I undressed, put my things into the UPS bag and handed it over to the UPS folks in car 36. Little did I know that it would take me a really long while to retrieve my stuff later... I joined the people at the green corral. I was with the 3:50 pace team. Our pace leader, Steve, looked in his mid 30s (today I found out that he is 41), and told us that we all needed to keep his ballon in sight all the time. At 10am or so, we started moving forward. We heard the canon go off (at 10:05) soon after - couldn't see the elite runners shooting off like bullets. At ~10:16 by my watch I crossed the start line. (Actually, there seemed to have been a lot of confusion. I guess we were timed from 10:10 onwards, according to the results. On the other hand, the canon went off at 10:05? Or was it something else? The 5 min here and there did matter in the long run...) We started off through the lower level of the Verazano bridge. So when you see one of those amazing pictures taken by the swooping helicopters of the swathes of humanity crossing the bridge, no you can't spot me there... Despite the huge uphill mile 1 was a breeze. Mile 2, mile 3 were just as easy. We entered Brooklyn after that and were welcomed by huge crowds. There were people everywhere - and they were just amazing! Mile 4-5-6-7 - there was nothing much to think. I took a couple of photos here and there. The Asha cheering squad was waiting at mile 7 - I had almost missed them. Mile 8-9-10-11-12 - we ran on. It had become very hot. A little too hot for running. I noted the temperature on one of the storefronts - 70F, 20C. I was sweating a lot and there were salt streamers all over me. Good that I was wearing a cap. As we climbed up the bridge between Brooklyn and Queens, I could see the half-marathon mats in front. I accelerated a little and improved my 1/2 marathon time by a few seconds - to 1:54:42. Steve, our pace-team leader was close behind. I was always making sure that he was a little behind me. We ran through Queens - mile 14, 15. We then started climbing the Queensboro Bridge. We were on the lower level, so the heat was not catching us. But the crowds were not there and it was remarkably silent, except for the pounding of our feet. There was a nice breeze and I was holding on to my cap so that it doesn't fly away. Steve commented that I was "running like a robot" and never missing my pace - which I took as a complement. :) The Mile 16 marker was while we were on the bridge. As we came out of the bridge, we could here the crowds cheering in Manhattan. Oh - and what a crowd that was! As we got off the bridge and joined 1st Avenue, there were people everywhere. On the pavements, on the street, on the buildings cheering from out of the windows, fire-escapes... It was a jubilant crowd! The six-seven lane wide road going up without any cars - only runners - and the crowds cheering us on as heroes - the sight lives on in memory, and the only way to relive the experience is to run the NYC marathon again! Up 1st avenue... Mile 17. I took my first walking break here. And obviously, I lost Steve almost immediately... I poured some water over myself, had some salt and had some power-gel. I met Vish here. He ran with me from mile 17 to 18. Vish, thanks for all the support! At mile 18 I had one more pack of salt and drained it down with water. Mile 19 - I had slowed down a bit, but was still on track to finish in 3:50. As we climbed the Madison Avenue bridge between Manhattan and the Bronx, I could see the mile 20 mat. I wanted to accelerate a little - to shave of a few more seconds from my 20mi split. Funny - I breathed harder, my brain pumped in more energy into the muscles - but my legs just refused to increase speed! I tried again - the legs again refused to move any faster. I stopped right after the mat and tried to stretch. I couldn't stretch! My hamstrings, thighs, calves, shins - were all cramped and were literally creaking... Then I saw this sign - "Never give up!" and I remembered all the children I was running for. Coachji's golden words came to mind - "Think of the finish line; focus!" So I told myself that I had 6 more miles to go - and there was no point wasting time and energy trying to stretch. I moved on, albeit slowly. I did a 12 min mile. Met another Asha cheering squad at mile 21 - but was too scared to stop at that point. I moved on and did a 13 min mile... At mile 22 I stopped at a medical booth and asked for a Tylenol. After that I told me legs that there was no point whining - I have had a tylenol, and now they should obey commands. :) I picked up pace on mile 23, 24 - did ~10 min miles. We then entered Central Park. With a small salute to Fred Lebow (his statue stands at the 90th Street entrance to Central Park; he was a long time runner and the one to start the tradition of the NYC marathon), I started sprinting. It took me ~17 more min to the finish line. Towards the end, I had stopped thinking of everything else and was even breathing through my mouth! I remembered to open my hat and raise my arms as I crossed the finish line... :) As I crossed the finish, the clock said 4:12:something. A quick (erroneous) calculation told me I had finished in 4:02 (only to find out later that I had actually started 5min earlier...) It was 2:20 pm or so. I wore my medal, and started walking towards the UPS truck. Finishers all around, in all their glory - and some volunteers from behind sometimes shouting out "Don't stop, keep moving!"... I had my photo taken, and then moved forward to the UPS truck. It was a longish walk after the 26.2 mile run. There was rampant confusion at the UPS truck - too many people were jostling and shouting out for their bags. Some people were even commenting that they are used to such things in their own country - not in the US... It took me 1 hr to get my bag back. As I stood there, tired, I ate some food from the goody bags - felt a bit refreshed. At times the wait there seemed more trying than the marathon itself... By the time I had my chip removed and was in the family reunion area, it was 4pm. I met the Asha folks, relieved myself at one of the portable toilets close by, took pictures with everyone else. The feeling was on top of the world!! Thank you, one and all, for all of your support! Every dollar raised will go towards children's education. If you haven't contributed already - you can do so online at: http://www.ashanet.org/nycnj/events/2004/hoh/runners/shouri.html (click on the "Donate" button.) Or, you can ask me about sending a check. -Tuku / Shouri