New York City Marathon 2024 - This was NYC #14 for me (and for Richie too) - if we get to #15 next year, we get some type of "lifetime exemption" guarantee entry (unless they change the rules). Really special this year as my girls, Delaney and Riley and I all ran as a team to complete the course. This was Delaney's first ever marathon and Riley's third. Neither one had great training build-ups. Delaney's longest run was a little over 11 miles though she ran fairly consistently for the early part of her training - she got busy with work and her motivation waned in latter part of the training block. Riley had a couple of "injury" set-backs where she was sick and had some toenail issues. The fact that we had decided about a month or so out from the race that the goal was simply to finish and to finish together, took the pressure off of trying to meet some goal times or running independently of one another.
Richie had a fairly big crew this year with about 9 runners in total on his Team for Kids charity roster. We all traveled over to the start together on the TFK Ferry and enjoyed each other's company in the tent before the race. Meb did a speech as always and came over and did a group photo with us.
Richie's high school friend and teammate Willie, who lives in New Jersey met us there and it was good to catch up with him as we had run at least one or more NYC marathons together sharing miles and pacing one another. With me planning to run with the girls, Richie and Willie would plan to pace each other this year.
Race conditions were very nice with temps in the upper 30's to low 40's near the start and never crept past the mid 50's during the race. It was bright sunshine so there was a sneaky dehydration concern - but overall, we could not have asked for a better day.
Our plan was to run at no greater than 75% of their heart rate reserve for most of the race. Early-on we had a much faster pace than I had expected of the girls. We were consistently hitting 9:45 through much of the first 8 miles. We gradually moderated our pace as we got further into the race.
Richie's crew caught us at around 5 miles and then he and I and Wille stopped to use the toilet and then easily rejoined as the group had kept running during our temporary stop.
Around that time Richie and Willie (Lauren and Val) pulled away from us running closer to 9 minute pace and we let them go. Then it was the 3 of us the remainder of the way.
We really enjoyed each other's company. I would at times check on their HR's and otherwise coach them along - slowing the efforts on hills to keep them from going too hard and reminding them to take on Gatorade and water - and gels. As we got further into Brooklyn we looked forward to seeing some friends and families we knew were spectating to encourage us. Riley's husband and his sister unfortunately missed seeing us at mile 9 or so, where she lives and that was a disappointment for Riley. But then Delaney's friends from Brooklyn spotted us at miles 11 and another group at 12 and that was really a big lift for us. It is funny how spotting friends supporting you on the course can be so encouraging and helpful.
Just before leaving Brooklyn, we stopped for Riley at just before mile 13 for an extended bathroom break that lasted about 6 or 7 minutes. She told us to keep going but we had no intention of leaving her behind.
After we resumed running, much unexpectedly our HR monitors collectively flummoxed on each of our watches in Queens and the readings were off by 20 beats per minute higher than they should have been. So we reverted to old-school perceived-effort for a few miles until the problem seemed to reset itself; but I could tell by mile 16 as we entered Manhattan that the girls were beginning to fatigue. I was initally more concerned with Delaney who got rather quiet and focused and falling a stride or two back at times - but was surprised that it was Riley who declared at mile 18 or so that she was really struggling. So we took a little walk break at her request at the next water stop and that's when I began telling stories and otherwise doing my best to both distract at times and encourage them as things got tough for them in the later miles.
Proud to say that although our pace slowed a bit we only had two more short walking breaks. Fortunately also, Delaney's friends found us again in the Park and then Riley's husband, Sam and his sister Kate found Riley at just before mile 25 to encourage her as well. Also, I saw Tommie twice - a high school friend of Richie who I paced to a 3:20 a few years ago- so that was a surprise seeing him spectating around mile 17 and then again cheering us on just past mile 25.
In the final mile, as we made our way up Central Park South - I kept checking on the girls thinking I would really need to coach them through it, but both were totally focused and resolved, clearly grinding through. As we turned back into the Park with 800 meters to go - I felt their paces lift a bit in anticipation of the finish and we decided to cross the line hand-in-hand; our time was 4:41. I had fully expected we would have been lucky to run somewhere between 5.5 and 6 hours based on how I saw their training runs go - so this was really quite well-done in my opinion by each of them.
The girls were expectedly depleted after the finish and zombie-walked back to the family meeting area, subway and hotel but nevertheless happy with their efforts and the memories that we made together.
Easily one of my best marathon experiences ever.
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