post# 18 6 days 12 h 18 m 01 s 18

Part 3
The route continues to wind its way through Brooklyn. With every neighborhood, the cheering crowds change to reflect the ebb and flow of religious, ethnic and cultural makeup of the city. Fort Greene has its diverse populace, Clinton Hill / Bedford-Stuyvesant predominately African American, Williamsburg a strange mix of Hasidic and hipster culture, Greenpoint Polish and more hipster, each block offers a unique window onto the fabric of the city and a distillation of the makeup of our country. I won’t break into “God Bless America” but this has to be the single greatest feature of running New York City. United by the event, everyone comes out to cheer and show their support for a crowd of strangers whose makeup is as diverse as their own, participating in an event they may never think to attempt themselves.
Around mile 13 via the Pulaski Bridge we’ll cross into Queens. This is also the halfway mark and at my pace just about the time that the front-runners will be crossing the finish line. I’ve often remarked that if I were to run just one mile as fast as I can it would not be as fast as these athletes average over the course of 26.2 miles. And they’re marathoners not sprinters.

to be continued...

Post# 17 7 days 15 h 53 m 50 s

Part 2
The race route is designed to touch all five boroughs, hence the start in Staten Island. But Staten Islanders are sorely short changed. Starting at the base of the bridge the route exits that borough and enters Brooklyn midway over the bridge. I doubt if we’re in Staten Island for a mile.
The route goes for a few short blocks as it turns and funnels the crowd onto Fourth Avenue. Fourth Av as we Brooklynites call it is an eight-lane boulevard with a concrete divider. It parallels New York harbor and the East river up to the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. Normally traffic runs in two directions along the western edge of Brooklyn from Bay Ridge to Flatbush Avenue and the borders of downtown Brooklyn and the neighborhood of Fort Greene.
The crowds here do not quite reach the density of other sections of the route where people will be shoulder to shoulder for miles creating a gauntlet of clapping and a wall of cheers. Each neighborhood has its distinctions and the most memorable feature of Fourth Av are the garage bands. I use this term literally as various rock groups are set up in gas stations closed for the marathon. Unable to service their customers they provide a surging sound track to the race. This is still very early on and the mood upbeat and positive.
The runners separated by the divider on Fourth Avenue will cross Flatbush and all meet up on Lafayette Avenue, which heading East will lead them in front of BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and into my hood, Fort Greene. It’s here that runners will see their first hill. It’s not much as hills go but this is the first time that when looking ahead I’ll see the road rising up in the distance. About six blocks up this road, at the eight and a half mile mark I’ll hit my corner, Lafayette Avenue and Adelphi Street. It’s here that I’ll be greeted by my own, personal, cheering squad of family, friends and neighbors. It’s a great feeling to come upon support, but it’s later that it will be needed most. The eight and a half mile mark feels like a jaunt and it will be that many miles again and then some before the wear and tear begins to set in.
to be continued...

post# 16 10 days 19 h 19 m 51 s

Part 1
I received a comment that the blog offered a vicarious view for someone that might never run the marathon. So I thought I would offer up a mile by mile or at least my borough-by-borough experience of the New York City marathon.
Marathon morning is the first Sunday in November. It begins early, 6 a.m. with a cup of coffee and half a toasted bagel with cream cheese. So as to optimize sleep time, clothes, coffee, Metrocard and all will be prepped and laid out the night before. Invariably though the night will be somewhat fitful and anxious. The route to the marathon staging grounds in Fort Wadsworth at the foot of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge has varied each time. This year I’m assigned to travel via the Staten Island Ferry to that island borough where we’ll be met by a bus that will take us to the bridge. I’m already looking forward to the early morning cruise through New York harbor. The first time I ran we arrived at the fort so early that I lay down in the grass and took a nap. The next time round was better planned. I arrived in time to stretch, mill around a bit, visit the port-a-john and find my starting place. In my second run the marathon had pacers who run the route with flags displaying finishing times. Hoping to finish in less than 4 hours I corralled up with the 3 hour and 55 minute flag and started out running in that pack. This year I’m going for the 3 hour and 50 minute pacer.
I don’t recall any start announcements as much as everyone anxiously milling and checking their watches. As if motivated by some innate genetic coding, like lemmings to the sea the runners are slowly drawn to their starting corrals. The early November morning can be chilly. Most runners are wearing extra layers of clothing that will be pealed off and discarded. In short order the grounds will resemble the after affects of a tornado having exploded through a large clothing store. (All of these discards will be collected for charity.)
I believe that a cannon is fired to mark the start of the race but if so us mere mortals are too far back to hear it. I’m not certain when the cannon is actually fired given the staggered, multiple starts, wheel chairs and those running with aides, elite women, elite men and then the remaining throng of thousands. Here too there are now staggered star times. After my last run I vowed never to do New York again. There were so many runners that for the entire race I was constantly jumping into clear spaces to be able to run. After that year they instituted staggered start times for the masses. Something had to be done if they were to continue to increase the field. Within minutes of whenever the official start is the crowd begins shuffling in a forward motion. Somewhere in these first few hundred yards we’ll cross the start line. All of the runners are wearing a chip on their shoes through which official start, mid and end times are recorded. In short order you’ve broken into a run, the adrenaline kicks in and a collective metaphorical cheer surges through the crowd like a wave. No one (with any sense) sprints forward. With 26.2 miles to go there’s plenty of time to attempt to sprint.

to be continued...

post# 15 11 days 13 h 11 m 14 s

In the course of training one has to do what is referred to as “your long run”. Ten, thirteen even fifteen mile runs are necessary as the weekly miles are piled on. But at some point before the marathon you want to go that extra distance so as to be sure you have what it takes, that you can step up when the time comes. You want to get at least close enough to your wall to touch it. This of course is no guarantee, as you’ll still push yourself during the main event. Even with only eleven days to go anything can happen between now and then.
I‘ve always had mixed feeling about this run. How far does one go to feel you’ve done the distance and not go so far that you feel you could have just run a marathon before the marathon. How anti-climatic. Well I did mine on Saturday. Running that distance in New York can be a challenge in itself if you don’t want to go to Central Park and run in circles. I decided to put my usual two courses together. I ran up to Prospect Park, once around the perimeter, once around the interior, back past home and on to the Brooklyn Bridge, over to Manhattan to the west side, down to Battery Park, up to 24th Street, returning over the Brooklyn Bridge. I was taking an educated guess that course would accumulate sufficient mileage. According to an online jogging calculator it was just north of 23 miles. Hence my issue. I could of just run another three miles and been done with marathon.
Don’t worry. I’m still psyched. Running with 38,000 other runners will still be a unique experience.
As far as the wall goes I didn’t seem to find it. I must note that I’ve been having a bit of an issue with a sore calf that at times has caused me to take some days off and ice. I was feeling it on Saturday and after the park half of the run, as I headed to the bridge, I ran past home, jumped in for a bag of ice, strapped it onto my calf and ran on like that. I don’t know if that’s a recommended technique but it seemed to do the trick. The real trick from now till November 7 is to still run, but nurse the calf.

post# 14 16 days 20 h 33 m 50 s

Addendum on diet.

There are all sorts of products on the market to ingest (legal products) that are designed to replenish, boost, and otherwise aid your run and speed you along. I enjoy most of the various brands of bars. They’re quite good at quickly refilling your stomach after a long run when you’ve drained your body of most everything. They’re small and filling and basically taste like a candy bar, just not as sweet. I would never eat these while running for much the same reason. They’re so filling it feels like eating a meal while running.
I was never a fan of the various aides, Gator, Power and such. I just thought they tasted awful. The only time I actually enjoyed Gatoraide was a few years back when we took a bicycle tour of Canyon Lands National Park. Biking eighteen miles or so a day through the dessert, a product such as Gatoraide not only tasted good but also was essential. It has been suggested to me that the reason I enjoyed it then was because it was mixed from a powder, which is apparently a slightly different formula. I haven’t tested that theory as I simply prefer water and see no need for the other.
I recently tried one of the boost in a packet products. I can’t say that it gave me any extra energy, but neither did it bother my stomach. I may give it one more try to see if will replenish my energy near the end of a run. If so I’ll carry one in a pocket for mile 19 or 20, the first time I may stop for a stretch and to refocus my mind.
A few months back I did happen upon what has now become my preferred post long run drink. Robbin had returned from our local farmer’s market with a great tasting yogurt produced by a local dairy Ronnie Brook Farms. The next week I thought I would end a long morning run at the market and pick up more of the yogurt. I find great motivation in the last few miles of a run by focusing on what it is I’m going to eat and or drink upon reaching home. I remembered a stall at the market whose berry juice combinations I’d always enjoyed. Reaching the market I first headed for the yogurt. There I came upon Ronnie Brook Farms chocolate milk sitting in a bed of ice. The more you put your body under stress the more it speaks to you. If you stay open to the signs and listen it will tell you what it needs, when it thirsts or what it hungers for. I would never have thought to drink chocolate milk after a long depleting run. But in that state it only took one look at that bottle and I knew it would be what I needed. It was worth every mile of that run so as to reach that point of depletion and then be able to chug down that chocolate milk. I will be certain that my family has a bottle or two of Ronnie Brook Farms chocolate milk with them when they meet me at the finish line on November 7.

Post #13 22 days 23 h 27 m 39 s

I thought I might say a word on diet. I’ve not had to drastically change mine while preparing for the marathon. As in most aspects of my life moderation rather than excess is more my norm. Okay, sure I am human and can be tempted as my post regarding the Starbuck’s ice cream sale bore out. My diet is normally healthy and well balanced with fruits and fresh vegetables, a moderate amount of meat and a casual intake of beer, sweets and starch. Not having to make a radical change, as training progressed I slowly backed almost totally away from this last grouping.
The one necessity I’ve tried hard to increase is my water intake. There have been times when a run has taken its toll and for hours afterward I can’t stop drinking. But generally I don’t thirst a great degree. The key is to remain hydrated. In my first marathon, while waiting in Fort Wadsworth Park for the starting cannon, I kept guzzling water. It did nothing to hydrate me but instead filled me up and made me have to pee before I even got over the Verrazano Bridge. Dreading the thought of stopping at the very start of the race to stand in line at a Port-a-John, I like many others relieved ourselves off the side of the bridge. I now will only drink a cup of coffee on race day morning. If I’m not hydrated by then it’s too late at that point. I will make quick water stops on the racecourse and pour some of it over my head.
Much the same goes for carb loading. A friend had a suggestion that I would have to say judging from my body’s reaction works well. His claim was that if one is to load up on carbohydrates just prior to the run your body’s cells after a few pasta meals simply thinks “carbs – we’ve been seeing a lot of these. There’s no need to stuff ourselves with them they’ll be more where this came from.” The key is at about three weeks prior to the run to stop eating all carbs for about ten days. No bread, no pasta, no more muffins or croissants for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch or potatoes at dinner. Before the ten days are up I’ll have to cross the street to avoid passing a bakery or I might kill to reach the source of the fresh bread aroma. I can feel my body thirsting for carbohydrates. Then for the final days my diet is toasted bagels, baked potato with sour cream and pasta dinners. Maybe I’ll have all three at one meal. Then those same cells will say ”carbohydrates – haven’t seen these in so long. There’s no telling when we’ll see them again. Let’s pack them away.”

Post #12 25 days 13 h 07 m 00 s

I’m at the countdown. It’s been eleven months of slowly ramping up the miles and determination. I guesstimate that over the course of that time I’ve perhaps spent 180 hours running some 1,200 miles and I’m not there yet. So here I am with one month to go. I can remember being at this milepost before and having the same feeling I have now. Bring it on. Could I be more prepared than I am right now? After months of getting up early to run before work, pushing off diner so as to make time for an evening run, spending half of a weekend on long runs and recoveries, I’m ready to get to it. (And I might add so is my family who though totally supportive would like to have me back for some of that time.) This may be the hardest time to stay the course, not back down on the mileage and see this through to the last day. But of course I will. For myself, for all of you who have show your support of my effort and for Abilis, I will see this through to November 7 with my complete dedication. So it’s back to the road and see you in 25 days, 13 hours, 7 minutes and 0 seconds.

Post #11 34 days 19 h 51 m 37 s

While I’m on a rant, it’s necessary that I make an additional comment regarding the litter on my street in Brooklyn. As on the country roads, the litter on my block consists of particular, recognizable items that speak of the users and litterers of my neighborhood. There is a middle and grade school down the street. After the morning rush to beat the school bell the street is littered with soda bottles and chip bags. As much as the kids need to be taught about conscientious garbage disposal, it is perhaps of greater importance that they be taught proper dietary principles. What are parents thinking to send their kids to school without breakfast and give them the money for fried, salty snacks to be washed down with high fructose corn syrup?
In the afternoon after the boisterous throngs of pent up energy have passed on their way home, the street is littered with cardboard take-out containers with the leftovers of greasy fries smothered in ketchup. What are our educational institutions thinking that it’s all right to teach grade school kids that greasy processed starch covered in tomato salt is an acceptable diet for growing minds and bodies. People wake-up. Is America aware of its health and weight problem? Is it turning to local produce, balanced diets and healthy foods? Are we saying enough junk food, and grounding our youth in healthy food habits? Sadly I think not.