It has been over a month since I ran the NYC marathon, but that runner’s high, it has yet to wear off!
This post has taken me awhile to put together. The first week after the marathon, I didn’t really know how to put into words my experience, and really all that was on my mind was signing up for another marathon! (The Viking put me on a month long marathon signing up ban as I wanted to sign up for every marathon I found!)
Now, it is a month later and I still don’t really know how to write about my experience running the NYC marathon. So apologies if this post is a bit all over the place! Let’s get to it!
My experience running the NYC marathon, it was absolutely amazing, one of those life experiences that I will remember and talk about for years to come. Since this isn’t a running blog I won’t give you a mile by mile summary (I totally could though I could talk about this race for hours!) but just a warning, this is a long one!
The whole point of the Viking and I’s recent trip to DC and NYC was for the marathon. So basically this meant the trip was all about me:) While in DC though I was in full on tourist mode and didn’t think much about the marathon to come. This all changed as soon as we arrived in NYC.
Real talk, this picture looks like I am enjoying a beautiful sunny day in NYC just hanging out by a pretty little fountain. Which I was. But I was also delaying going into the marathon expo because I was feeling completely overwhelmed. From a crazy 24 hours in DC to several days with little sleep, arriving in NYC for the first time and the mass amount of other runners around me, I felt completely overwhelmed.
So this was me, sitting by the fountain, having a little Kaelene break before I was ready to face the expo.
I got it together finally and H and I headed into the massive building the expo was held in to pick up my race packet. I have to say I was incredibly impressed with how smooth things went here, the event was so well organized and even with hundreds of other people picking up their race packet the process was quick and easy.
After this picture was taken I started tearing up, I guess my feelings weren’t quite together just yet. I am an emotional marathon runner! H has a few pictures of me with that ugly about to cry face happening, thankfully I didn’t totally lose it but I do recall saying I wish my mom was there, because this girl needs her mom to hold her hand in busy big cities and before a marathon, no matter how old I am.
Moving on.
After spending Halloween in the city I crawled into bed at 9pm hoping I could fall asleep and be ready for my 4am wake up call. Yup, that is right, I had to get up at 4am for a race that didn’t start until 10am!
Why a 4am wake up call for a 10am race? To even get to the start line of the marathon, that is an adventure in itself. First I had to take two trains to the ferry terminal. Then I took a ferry to Staten Island. And then I took a bus to the start villages, where I had to wait two hours before the start. Like I said, it was an adventure, and one long morning!
Thankfully I had no issue falling asleep and before I knew it I was waking up to my alarm and it was race day! I did my pre-run routine of coffee and food, got dressed, and then woke the Viking to walk me down to the subway station, because let’s be honest, this small town girl was not about to walk alone at 5am to the subway in NYC.
Once I was safely inside the subway station two other runners arrived (one from Australia the other from Italy!) so I tagged along with them, and was entertained the entire train ride by all the late night Halloween party goers in their costumes on their way home. At one point this poor girl in a tiger costume was the only one inside the subway car with all the runners. She may of stood out a bit in her costume compared to our running gear ha.
Before I knew it we were walking out of the subway and into the ferry terminal were things started to feel real! Hundreds of runners were inside and the energy was crazy for 6am! I shuffled onto the ferry with all the other runners and tried to calm my nerves by taking in the pretty views around me.
Passing by Lady Liberty on the way to State Island
Three hours after I said goodbye to the Viking and I had finally made it! It only two trains, a ferry and a bus to get there!
The start village area, it is massive! It felt like an entire town of just runners hanging out in the start village, which I guess it was with thousands of runners there. After wandering around and getting lost trying to find my start village I finally made it to my area where I met up with my friend who is also from Iceland! It was really nice having someone I know along with me for this experience, and to have someone to talk to for those few hours before the run to distract me from my nerves.
Crazy eyes, whatevs
Finally, after over six hours of being up and ready to go it was time to line up for the marathon. It was such a surreal experience lining up on the bridge. We where at the very front row of our wave and when you would look back all you could see was thousands of runners behind you. All I could think was I better not trip or I will get trampled over!
As we stood at the start line with helicopters flying above filming and announcers counting us down to start time I kept thinking “this is really happening!” I was about to run the NYC marathon! I original had gone into this marathon with goals for the time I wanted to get and how I wanted to tackle the hills, but once at the start line I changed my plan. My only goal for this run was to take it all in and enjoy myself, and what an epic race to enjoy.
I can’t even describe the feeling of running down the streets packed with hundreds of people cheering for you. I felt like a celebrity! Those Brooklyn fans, they know how to cheer and get you pumped up! Not once did I put in my headphones, there was so much to listen to I had all the motivation I needed right there in the crowd. This race, the crowds, the runners, everything was absolutely amazing, an unforgettable experience and one for the bucket list for anyone who enjoys running.
I am going to stop going on and on about running and just get to some pictures. I have my cheerleader, aka the Viking, to thank for these pictures. Maybe next time I will be the one cheering my Viking on.
Our race security, thank you all! One of the first female runners, man they are fast!
People inspire me!
Running a marathon is hard enough, add in running a marathon in costumes, that is impressive!
After three hours of running I finally saw H on the sidelines. By this point I was feeling really good, but starting to lose steam, seeing the Viking cheering me on was the boost of energy I needed.
This is my favorite picture from the run!
H got some amazing shots of the run don’t you think?!
So much love and support in this race :)
Oh hey there I am again!
By this point I was three miles away from the finish line, and everything hurt. I managed this one last smile and after that I am pretty sure my face had quite the pained look on it. The crowds really kept me going though and just when I needed it most I heard someone yell out my name. A big thank you to Steph from Insert Classy Here, that cheer was just the boost I needed and the next thing I knew I was crossing the finish line!
Walking out of the race after I crossed the finish line took me about 20 minutes. It was pretty crazy seeing all the people getting rushed aside by the medics. I kept telling myself over and over, “don’t stop moving” I worried that if I sat down for a second I wouldn’t be able to get back up!
Finally I made it out of the race chaos and met up with the Viking, and then it finally sunk in that I had just accomplished something on my bucket list, I ran the NYC marathon!
The rest of our day was spent celebrating, meeting up with one of my childhood best friends who I haven’t seen in over six years, and visiting Times Square at night. Basically one of the best days ever!
If you made it this far thanks for hanging in there, this was a long one and I don’t even want tell you how much I deleted from this post, I could go on and on about the marathon! All I can say was this was one of the most amazing experiences in my life, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!
With that I will leave you with a few pictures of me trying to walk down the subway stairs right after the marathon, it was painful.
At least I had fellow runners around to share my pain with.
A big thank you to my Viking for all the support during marathon training, and for pushing me out the door all those mornings I really didn’t want to go for a run.
Now the question is, what marathon should I run next?! I have my eye on London, Paris or Berlin, I think all three need to happen at some point :)
Question of the Day?
What is on your bucket list? Have your ran a marathon?
