Reliving My New York City Marathon – In Pictures

The ING New York City Marathon is one of the world’s great road races, drawing more than 100,000 applicants annually. The 2011 race had 46,795 finishers — and I was one of them with a time of 4:36:44. Check out my race recap – and apply for the NYC marathon lottery. You won’t regret it. (Good luck getting in. It took me three years.)

Even though I have finished 7 previous marathons and ultra marathons I have never done the “red recovery routine” before. As a “powered by red” team member for NYC marathon, I had the perfect opportunity to try it out on myself.

Basically, I added in 10 ounces of tart cherry juice a day the week leading up to the marathon and for a few days after the race.

I’m completely sold. I cannot believe the difference in my post marathon recovery. I had minimal pain and inflammation compared to other marathons. I thought I’d eventually feel it 1-2 days post-race (due to DOMS) but I didn’t. Watch my full video experience here.

I seriously hope you consider trying the red recovery routine yourself. If you are curious about what is “special” about tart cherry juice, it’s the anthocyanins. Tart cherry juice has anthocyanins I and II in large amounts and they have been found to help reduce pain and inflammation in endurance athletes.

Race Preparation

I do so much to get ready physically and mentally for a race. One major thing I need is sleep. I was lucky because it was “fall back” time. I also got good sleep 2 nights before race day. I absolutely LOVED this from my race packet – a door sign for the hotel. Ha! It reminded me I needed to get that shut eye. It was lights out by 9:30 p.m. I woke at 3:30 a.m. for a minute but then got good rest/relaxation until 6:45 when I had to get out of bed to catch a cab by 7 a.m.

Getting to the Start

It was basically a race in itself. I took a cab to a ferry to a bus and walked to the start. But check out some of the cool sites along the way!

Leaving Manhattan – We had an escort with a machine gun! Don’t mess w/ marathoners!

She is so beautiful in the morning sun. Thanks to the People of France for this gift – Libertas – the Roman Goddess of Freedom!

Pre-Race at Staten Island

Here I am with an 87 year old woman who has completed over 20 New York marathons! You go girl…

I made a friend on the bus from the State Island ferry to the start line. I can’t tell you how excited I was to be invited to start the race with them. They were doing a 4 min run, 1 min walk pace for a 4:45 finish. That was in the zone of my time so I figured, what the heck! It was great to have some tempo buddies. And… I got someone to draw cherries on my face to help me “rock the red”!

 

Random Race Photos

It’s not easy to run and tweet, let alone grab pics, but I managed to do it. Here are a few things I captured that weren’t completely blurry

Mile 1-2

I think this was the prettiest bridge. Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn

I took more pics but they were very blurry so I didn’t include them here. It was basically crowd shots — awesome spectators — and shots of bands. There were 130 bands total. THANK YOU for keeping it fun! There were great signs. My fave “Because 26.3 would be just crazy”. I also enjoyed the kids passing out oranges and suckers. So cute!

Bridge Queens to Manhattan – Right before mile 16 – Hubby is waiting for me at 63rd St

Mile 18 – Have U Hugged a Firefighter?

(don’t know this guy at all, but things like that happen when you’re that far into a race!)

Mile 22 – Wow, more firefighters!

Mile 25 – Central Park – Just capturing the last mile!

Post-Race in Central Park

We got a goodie bag that included an apple (of course) so I took a pic of me getting my own “bite” out of this BIG apple.

The Bling

And of course, it’s all about that BLING so here’s mine….

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