Buffy Weaver :: NYC Marathon Race Report

RACE DAY: November 1, 2009
Race Information
Race Results


Friday: I flew in to New York around noon. I made my way to the hotel and then stressed out about whether I should hide out there or if I should attempt to brave the subway by myself and find the expo. My friend Missy was also running in the race, but wasn’t flying in until later that evening. We’ve braved New York City together before, but I was nervous about getting out there on my own. I’m super proud of myself because I decided that hiding out in my hotel was no fun so I made my way to the expo. I did well riding the subway to where I needed to be, but then I was supposed to take a bus from the subway station to the expo. I waited for nearly 30 minutes and never saw a bus (they were supposed to be running every 10 minutes). Then I felt silly for waiting because I looked at a map and realized I was only a 10 or 15 minute walk away from the expo! So, I booked it on over there and got my goodies.

I did not run this race as a registered runner this year. I ran as a guide for the Achilles Track Club. Achilles helps disabled athletes train for and run in races. I was assigned (along with 3 other girls) to a runner named Richard who is blind. I’ve never been a guide before, but lucky for me Richard had run in 11 marathons up until that point. He was very comfortable being guided and was very good at making sure his guides knew what they needed to be doing. Anyway, back to the expo…

I picked up my guide bib and shirt (all of us ran with Richard’s bib number). I poked around a bit more at the expo and then made my way back to the hotel. I relaxed a bit and then headed back out (another successful subway trip) to the Achilles Welcome Reception and pasta dinner. There I met Richard for the first time – we previously had only spoken on the phone since he is from Michigan. The reception was just awesome. It was such an honor to meet all of the wonderful Achilles athletes and guides. I met so many people who are so upbeat and accomplish such wonderful feats of athleticism – it was just really amazing to hear everyone’s stories.

Saturday: Missy and I got up and walked over to Central Park for a short two mile run. We ran one mile out which took us right to the race finish line which was all set up already. Then we turned around and headed out to run the one mile back to our hotel. Somehow we managed to get turned around and ended up right back at the finish line again! I really have no idea how we got lost like that! We walked back to our hotel, picking up bagels and coffee on the way.

We made our way back down to the expo later that morning. There we got Missy all set up with her chip, tag, goodie bag, etc, did some light shopping at the expo, and met one of Richard’s other guides (Becca). Oh, and Deena Kastor was there signing autographs. We missed getting an autograph, but when we were just finishing up checking things out at the expo she walked right past us on her way out – it was super cool to see her in person!

Later that night we met up with Richard, two of his other guides (Becca and Sonia), and all of our assorted friends at a very nice restaurant in the Meatpacking District. We got slightly lost on the subway on the way back to our hotel, but we ended up getting on a train with some hilarious people on their way out for Halloween festivities, so that was totally worth it. Back at the hotel I began my usual panic that I was going to oversleep for the race the next day. This was compounded by the fact that it was the night to set your clocks back for end of Daylight Savings Time. It was nice to get an extra hour of sleep in there though! I had two or three nightmares about oversleeping for races and then it was time to actually get up.

Sunday: After happily not oversleeping, I tried to get ready as quietly as possible. Missy didn’t have to get up to catch the subway and ferry to the race start until about 2 hours after I had to get up to catch the Achilles buses. I got all dressed, crept out of the hotel and made my way to the Achilles meeting spot. There I met up with my fellow guides (Becca, Sonia, and Leslie) and Richard. Getting to the start of the NYC Marathon is a bit of a trek for most people. Last year I had to take a long subway ride, walk to the ferry terminal, take the ferry to Staten Island, then take a bus to the start area. This year I only had a short subway ride and then a bus to catch. Achilles has buses especially for their athletes and guides, but it was still a pretty long ride over to the start.

We got to the start hours before our actual assigned race wave (that is just how you have to do it for this race – your assigned travel time to the start and your assigned start wave can be hours apart). Achilles was able to set up a couple of tents for their people though and that kept us out of the wind and quite warm while we waited. We happily chatted, snacked on bagels, and drank coffee and then we headed off to the actual start line. That part was not so happy. It was a mad house of people who were confused about where to go and where they needed to be. We also had a volunteer really say some ugly things towards us. Once past that volunteer though we got to a quieter, calmer area. Then we started to run.

The start of this race is spectacular. There are a staggering number of runners and the race starts over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which is pretty impressive itself (it is a very long suspension bridge). If you are the sort that gets emotionally moved during races (and I tend to be that sort) then the start of this race may bring tears to your eyes. It is just amazing. But then I got nervous.

I’ve never been a guide before so I was really worried about messing up. Once past the first mile we all got into our groove though, and everything was pretty great. Through water stops one of us would break away from the group to grab water or Gatorade for the others. We just always made sure that someone was tethered to Richard on his left side (he has a rope with small handles that he uses for races) and that someone was on his right side. The other two would run in the front to try to clear a path through the other runners or to try and kick random discarded clothes or debris out of the way. By the way, it is really hard to kick discarded clothes out of the way – I mostly just ended up with sweatshirts wrapped around my foot and had to disentangle myself from them. I ended up running in one of the front positions for most of the race, which worked out just fine for me.

New York has the best spectators I’ve ever seen in a race. Hoards of people come out to cheer the runners on. My favorite spot is around mile 8 where both last year and this year there was a church choir outside singing. I’m not a religious person really, but it is just fun to have the church out singing for the all the runners! Also, somewhere on the race course there was a whole street of brownstones with people filling the stairs and cheering. That was a fun, rowdy crowd of spectators. One of the building was blaring the YMCA song and all of the people had on Village People-type hats (I have no idea around what mile this was, but I think it was somewhere in Brooklyn).

Now, Richard ran the Detroit Marathon a few weeks ago and was having some muscle troubles in his lower left leg. We ran a pretty consistent 10 minute/mile pace until around mile 18. Around then we started walking. Well, we sort of walked. Richard is the fastest walker ever. The rest of us could walk as fast as him, so we ended up mostly doing a speed walk/slow jog combo. It worked, though. This part of the race was fun for me. I did a lot of clapping and cheering and waving to the crowd. Usually I tend to be all about running as hard as I can, but this time I was just out there really having fun. It was a nice change of pace (unintentional pun there).

Around mile 18 I saw the guy who sat next to me on my flight to Austin (random that I saw him, right?). He works for Livestrong and was at the race to cheer some of his fellow Livestrong people on. Then around mile 21 my friend Missy passed us and we got to cheer her on. There was somewhere around 42,000 runners in this race – I just can’t believe that I happened to see Missy and the guy from the plane. Crazy!

Anyway, we got up to the last mile of the race and I started to get really nervous again. I spent that last mile worried that something was going to happen to Richard. The last mile in a marathon is tough. You are almost done and you start just running to the finish. I looked around me in that last mile and saw many runners who just looked beat and a bit out of it. I knew that if Richard was going to get bumped or pushed or knocked down this was going to be where it was. Not that I think someone would have done it intentionally, but that is where people’s minds sometimes just don’t work quite right since they are so tired. And after that gigantic build up there….nothing bad happened! We happily crossed the finish line (5 hours: 18 minutes: 05 seconds) and we were done.

We got a great group photo in and picked up our post-race snack bag. Since we were with the Achilles group we were able to cut out early of the ridiculously long finishers chute and head over to the Achilles tent and bag pick up. We got some food, water, and a chair for Richard and then just milled around. It was really fun to meet back up with other Achilles athletes and see how their races went and hear their stories. Eventually, I knew I need to get moving back to my hotel. I said my good-byes to my fellow guides and to Richard and headed off, proudly wearing my awesome finisher’s medal (it was a great medal this year). Missy is super smart and had booked our hotel very close to the finish line so I was able to just walk there. Well, actually I was able to just walk to the pub a block from our hotel where I met Missy and we had a delicious celebratory beer!