The 2011 ING NYC Marathon

Passing the Harriers Cheering Zone at mile 18

On NYRR locals gallery

Wonderful marathon weather and great support on the sidelines.  All in all I enjoyed my 2nd marathon experience! I was a little disappointed about my time (3:55:07), since I felt I was in shape to shave off a couple more minutes. Wave 2 was way more crowded than last year and whenever I was in a good rhythm I was forced to slow down and weave through, which cost me precious time.  I still ended up with a little P.R. and I'm pleased with that, especially after a summer with a big muscle strain, P.T. and a shortened and modified training plan. There were times I thought I would have to defer. Overall I felt stronger, recovered quicker and I am looking forward to more marathons in New York and other cities. Congratulations to all NY Harriers who ran. Passing the Harrier Cheering Zone is the best moment of the race, I sincerely love my team. 

Special shout-outs to Gemma, my steady training buddy and friend, who did great and will be missed once she's back in the UK. My NY sista for all her support and training guidance as well as Liz E., Cindy, Brigid and Zeina for long runs and brunches. A big thank you to my P.T. Gabe at Paspa who worked miracles, but common sense about strengthening, stretching, prevention.
After the marathon I had the pleasure of meeting a Dutch group of runners from the Rotterdam Running Ambassadors, who contacted me earlier this year through a business contact in order to get some help with post-race dinner reservations and activities and fieldtrips before the race. They invited me to meet them during dinner post-marathon and they were so nice to welcome my friends as well and spoiled me with delicious chocolate from Rotterdam as well as a neon orange technical club tee, which I was wearing at Equinox gym yesterday and definitely did make some heads turn!
Another great moment post-marathon was listening to my parents' and their good friends' voicemail messages congratulating me and finding out people had been tracking me and tweeting about my progress. So fun. I am thankful I finished sub-4 again and did not let them down by hitting a major wall and adding another half hour or so...

I had been in the Netherlands the week prior to the marathon to spend some good quality time with my family, taper, see friends and most importantly to attend my brother's wedding on Friday November 4th. It was such a beautiful day. The weather was extremely nice for Dutch standards and the ceremony was beautiful as well as the dinner and party afterwards. Many people were surprised I was traveling back to NY the very next morning, so I only caught a couple hours of sleep in a hotel airport room and continued my sleep successfully during my flight. Back in New York my arrival was smooth and I had to go to the Expo to pick up my number for the marathon on Sunday. I also picked up an orange glitter no-slip headband, which lived up to its name. It stayed on throughout all 26.2 miles and matched my Dutchie orange armwarmers! Despite what people were projecting, I wasn't that jet-lagged, but it's true I felt pretty bad-ass for running a marathon the next day. I am a crazy nasty-ass honeybadger after all. (see previous post)
My next race seems to be a fun run; a turkey trot on Thanksgiving Day. I have enough to be thankful for and what better way to remind myself of that when running. Always a great way to think, analyze, reflect and set goals.