Before I say anything else - yes, I did it. I ran 20 miles today. 20.37, to be exact. Maybe if I'd bought a Garmin with GPS I wouldn't have over-shot my mark but I didn't, I bought the Timex basic. Anyway, good thing I bought something because my Nike+ gadget had a seizure every 3 or so miles and decided to just turn off. Without a watch, I wouldn't have even known what time it was! Um, sun rising overhead maybe half past noon?
Before I started running, I thought to myself, "I'm privileged to be able to do this today;" and that remained the motivating theme of my run. Any time it got impossibly hard, I remembered the privilege. And I let myself walk. And I looked out at the beautiful day I was given to run in.
Until last night, I'd been planning to run in Central Park. Familiar ground, measured distances, easy access to supplemental drinks, not too far from hospitals. Then last night as I was lying in bed I was thinking about doing something/anything for 5 hours, and how important it is to me to make the most of my life. It's one thing to hate every moment of an hour-long project. I'm not a baby. I hate an hour of many projects, all the time. So you suck it up, smile and carry on. But 5 hours? I wanted to at least learn something new.
I've lived in New York City since 1994. Always in Manhattan - on E. 93rd Street, E. 7th Street, W. 23rd Street, Thompson Street, W. 84th Street, W. 70th Street, E. 27th Street, and W. 60th Street. In that order. I've seen a lot, done a lot, been almost everywhere. Except some major landmarks. I've saved them for special occasions. On purpose. For example, I've never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. That must sound insane considering how often I got to Brooklyn and always have. Well, it's by design; I've been saving it. It means something to me. My first time will be during the Marathon and I'm more excited for that than any other single moment I can imagine during the race, except maybe crossing the finish!
Another thing I've never done is run or walk up the West Side Highway further than Columbia. The irony is, that patch above 110th Street is, bar none, my favorite place and view from the city. I love that drive looking across at New Jersey and the Palisades. It reminds me of looking at a fictitious European island village, and when the leaves are turning, they look so phenomenal up there on the cliffs behind the George Washington Bridge. If there's any season to go running up the West Side Highway, fall! (Or maybe spring, with the cherry blossoms!)
I decided to scrap the Central Park plan and map out a route on the West Side Highway, down to Laight Street, and then back up again all the way to the little Red Lighthouse under the GWB. Including the run to and from my front door, it was exactly 20 miles! I'd need to carry my own hydration (Camelback!) and lots of gels, salt and maybe even a long sleeved shirt because it could get cold down along the water; but it sounded genuinely exciting. I was going to go someplace I'd never been. And it was going to be beautiful.
I started out later than I'd thought I would in the morning because I spent a lot of time getting ready, writing down everything I was doing. I even wore a race number (turned around) today to make sure the placement I'm choosing will be comfortable on Nov 7th. I took a baby aspirin as is recommended before the marathon. I ate exactly as I plan to eat on race day. I did everything precisely, down to how I clipped my hair. For once, I forgot nothing! And... when I left the house I weighed myself. I was carrying 7.5 pounds of gear!!!! Oy vey.
There isn't much to say about the run. (And yet, I will carry on for 7 more paragraphs!) I made three stops. One at Fairway 125th Street to buy some pesto. No, just kidding! I used the bathroom there and bought a 32 oz Gatorade to refill my Camelback. Then I stopped again at some sketchy bathroom attached to a ball field. And I also stopped up by the GWB to shoot some video with my iPod. I'd post it here but Lord help me I have no idea how to download it!
There were tons of runners on the road. Anthony Edwards ran past me with a trainer. The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is in NYC this weekend and there were volunteers directing walkers on in places. They also had cheering sections out below 57th Street and I got some applause, maybe because of my pink headband.
I talked to a few people along the way. I'd mapped my route out by miles, so that I could calculate splits and try to estimate my marathon time; but above 100th Street the West Side Highway is totally nowhere near the numbered streets so in a lot of places there was no way to guess where I was except by the signs for the off-ramps. So I asked bikers who were riding in from the real world, "Where are we?"
I also went off the path at one point accidentally and ended up in the middle of a grassy baseball field! Only I could do that. I'm sure the path was marked well but, I'm like, the worst with directions! I asked two boys where to go and they pointed me in what was eventually the wrong direction. One came running after me maybe 400 feet (he'd been calling me but I didn't hear him with my iPod on) to redirect me to the right way back to the path. Nice kids! "Did the Yankees win last night?" I asked, figuring he'd know; I'd gone to bed before the game finished. Bad news! The only other person I talked to was a cop. I asked her where I was and she said she didn't know. (Ya know, disturbing!)
It took me 5 hours to finish 20 miles. I'd been aiming for 4:30. I took 29 minutes at Fairway (despite best attempts to get out of there - they have lines!) and I'm including that in my overall time so I'm not so terribly far off from my mark. There was a lot of walking and stretching, in addition to the other bathroom and video stops.
Running 18 miles was, in some ways, harder than 20. I hadn't run a long distance in months when I did it. I needed a lot of affirmations and fantasizing about an ice bath to get me through. Today, when I hit mile 12, I felt elated because I knew I could run 8 more. That was just four miles and four miles. I can run four miles. I used some mind games, but it wasn't a constant battle. In fact, I was able to think about a lot of other things, which was kind of nice.
Now I'm officially in the taper down phase. I don't even know what my schedule is for that! I haven't looked - I figured I'd cross that bridge when I came to it - if I came to it. So I need to set that up and work it into my work and travel schedule. And I also need to start thinking about marathon week, and how I can use this great opportunity to bring friends and family together, and do some good in the world. I'm empowered to help myself; but I'm also empowered to help somebody else. I want to bring both to life with equal impact in my days here on Earth. And realizing that is possibly the most exciting thing that has come from doing all of this.
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