New York, New York

Lara K.

Memories and more of the ING New York City Marathon 2010 weekend:

Listening to an inspirational speech by Matt Long at the Flyers' pasta party at Sambuca on Thursday night. And as Mr. President, Glen W., said, it was a blessing in disguise that our original speaker, Olympian Blake Russell had to withdraw from NYC due to injury and therefore would not be speaking at our pasta dinner. You don't have to be an Olympian to captivate a room like Matt did. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house afterwards.

Matt Long inspires.

Great food and company at Sambuca, as usual. Thanks to Nora S. for helping set this up again!

Hitting up the marathon expo on Friday night with Yan P. I couldn't walk 5 feet without running into other Flyers, including but not limited to Ed A., Bob C., Lisa S. I spent more money than I needed to. The expo may have been smaller than previous years, but it's still a candy store for runners.

Gumby, Brian H.

Running in the park on Saturday, soaking up the marathon atmosphere. I brought my camera with me to take some pictures of the mile markers and the finish line. It brought back memories of 2008, the last time I ran the NYCM. I felt like Brian H., running with a camera! Of course, this year was different, and Brian ran the marathon with both a camera and a Gumby costume!

Sunday. Marathon day. I watched the start on TV, then headed uptown to the PowerBar Gel station. Gabi D. did a great job organizing this as usual. She handed me a hot pink shirt to give out Raspberry Cream flavored gels. Is it me, or has hot pink been my color this year?

Keeping runners energetic!

Other Flyers began to show up ready to work, including Angela G., Jamie M., Nicole C., Jocelyn T., Sungwon H., Joe J., Deb M., Heather M., Steve K., Amy M., Dana M., Heidi C. (and kids!), even Jeff T., making an appearance from the left coast. While waiting for the elites to pass by, I tried unsuccessfully to track a couple of my friends that were running. As it turned out, the Athlete Tracker, once again, would be overloaded.

Shalane Flanagan, 2nd place woman.

The headlights. The female elites. Shalane Flanagan in the thick of the lead pack, and as it turned out she would go on to finish second in her debut marathon.

The male elites sped by. Meb Keflezighi and Dathan Ritzenhein were a little off the lead pack. But no Haile Gebrselassie? Thanks to Sungwon having the NYCM iPhone app, we were able to see that Haile had dropped out at mile 16, and as we'd find out later, would announce his retirement from the sport as well. Wow, now that was a shocker!

Sean J. ran a 2:59:58!

Not too long after, the familiar faces of our teammates passed by the PowerBar Gel zone. First Flyer spotted was Canadian Sean J. (who would go on to break 3 hours by the skin of his teeth in his first marathon!), with Denver-ite Todd B. not too far behind. Deanna C. led the Flyer women, followed by Nary L., showing off the effects of training in Kenya. Leslie L. passed though the PowerGel station not once, but twice, simply to hi-five everyone. More and more Flyers passed by, all looking super-strong-I'm afraid to leave anyone out, so let their results speak for themselves.

However, I would be experiencing a part of the course in a way I never had before. When Bo K. passed by mile 18, I ran alongside her, determined to help her break 4 hours. She was hard at work, but we had some fun too, yelling "Hey Duffy!" as we saw Pat D. playing the bagpipes on the new, improved Willis Ave Bridge, singing along to whatever music was being played, mugging for the Brightroom cameras. I did find that part of the course-especially 5th avenue to be super-crowded, moreso than I ever experienced. We entered the park...hmmm that 5th avenue hill didn't feel so bad. Maybe because I didn't run 20+ miles beforehand. I ran with Bo up until the turn onto Central Park South, and told her to GO GET IT! She PR'ed with a 4:01, and I'm positive she would have been under 4 had the course not been so crowded. Felt very good to help out a teammate like that!

I watched the action at the bottom of the park for a while before meeting up with Tiffany B., who was making a rare appearance from CT, and we headed to the post-party at The Parlour. And was it a good time? I'll let the pictures tell that story!

Reason to celebrate!

It was definitely a great weekend. Despite choosing Chicago for my fall marathon this year, I actually didn't feel much sadness at not having run New York. I guess that's because even if you're not running it, you're still part of the party -- the whole city is, really. It's a celebration of all things running!

Congrats again, Flyers! - Lara K.