Bringing the City Back to Life – NYC Marathon 2021
Running the NYC Marathon one month after the fifty-mile Midstate Massive Ultra Trail, I didn’t have any expectations. I just wanted to finish and soak in the race, seeing the city come to life after the pandemic would be the real treat. I thought, if I felt good I’d try for a sub-five-hour pace, but I hadn’t been training for speed. Also, after 6 years, I’ll be moving out of the city to Massachusetts, so the marathon felt like a nice send-off for a new chapter.
About three miles in my feet felt numb, ever since running the ultramarathon, every time I ran more than ten miles, I felt pain in my feet. Through my internet research before the race, it looked like something that is caused by overuse – no surprise here – and that resting and stretching will fix over time. I took it slow, I didn’t want to cause a long-term injury. I was still able to finish the marathon in under six hours, just had to go a bit slower than the sub-five-hour time I was hoping for. Looking forward to fixing up my bike and keeping off my feet for a bit while I recover.
Starting at noon and running into the sunset to finish in the dark was a new experience. In past NYC Marathons, I was used to rushing to the Staten Island ferry before sunrise and starting in the crisp morning air. This year felt almost leisurely, as I left the house around seven and then relaxed in the sun at the starting line, watching the elite runners on the big screen as I waited for my start time. The staggard start was more spread out this year and there were around thirty thousand runners instead of the over fifty thousand in a normal year. Although it was a smaller group of runners spread out over a longer period of time, the crowds were out in full force to cheer, which honestly is the best part of running the NYC Marathon.
At the start the excitement kicked in getting ready to run across the Verrazano Bridge, I had already watched a few waves run over the bridge since we got to the start and was ready to get going. Once we started the first mile flew by, as we settled into a 10:30/11 minute pace. An NYPD helicopter kept flying by the bridge – and seemed to cheer us on as we went. Getting into Brooklyn, I realized that my Bay Ridge half marathon shirt would attract more attention than my name that I pinned to my shirt. Throughout the whole race, I would have people yelling “Go Bay Ridge!”. I wore the shirt because it was my first race in NYC and thought it was fitting to wear it for my last race in the city, but inadvertently ended up representing Bay Ridge throughout the course. I don’t live in Bay Ridge, but I’m pretty close, so I guess it works.
Around mile eight I realized I wouldn’t be able to hit the sub-five hour time and I told my boyfriend Mike to run ahead so he’d still have a shot at it. From that point on I walked the water stations, hills and whenever the pain in my feet felt bad I stopped to stretch my feet and calves. I broke down the race into smaller sections, first I just had to make it to Queens, then to the roaring crowds in Manhattan, a quick run through the Bronx, back down through Manhattan, a quick jog through Central Park and around the corner to finish strong. At each milestone, I mentally checked off the different sections as I made it closer and closer to the finish. Running in the dark through central park, was by far the biggest struggle, and had some of my slowest miles with a lot of walking. As I exited the park and turned on 59th street, I got a burst of energy knowing that the finish line was just around the corner. Once we turned back into the park to run to the finish, I sprinted – as best as I could – to the finish. My legs felt good, they actually felt like they could have carried me farther, but as soon as I stopped I felt the pain in my feet again.
Shuffling to the exit with my medal and race poncho, it felt like a perfect race. I had done what I set out to do, take in the city along the way, and finish.
Midstate Massive Ultra Trail – Race Reflections
I still can’t believe that it’s over, that I have officially run my first 50-mile race. It took a bit longer than expected, and there was a point where I had to convince myself to stay in the race, somehow I made it to the finish line. I’m chronicling the race here, from running through the night, getting lost and waiting for the sunrise, to all the ups and downs dealing with blisters and foot pain, and what motivated me to finish.
Prepping for 50 Miles
The race started at 9 pm on October 9th, but I had been prepping since April to build up to 50 miles and get used to running on trails. Not only was this my first ultra-marathon, but I was also a trail running newbie. In hindsight, maybe this was a lot to take on all at once, but I wanted a challenge and I was getting bored of the NYC road races. I trained on the Nassau-Suffolk Green Belt Trail on Long Island and the Long Path in New Jersey. They were a good training ground for getting used to technical trails and learning to navigate over rocks and roots without falling. I probably could have leaned into the more difficult sections of the trail with ] elevation gains and descents, since these were my weak points in the race, but now I know what to work on.
I signed up for the Boulder Field 50k (31miles) in Pennsylvania in September, I got worried about being able to support myself for a 50k training run and thought it would be good practice. Starting with a perfectly cool and crisp race day, I ran at an easy pace and finished in a little over 9 hours feeling even more confident that the training was paying off and my body was ready for 50 miles. The soft trails and cold water/mud felt good on my feet, and they had amazing volunteers stocking the aid stations with delicious food. Camping in Hickory Run State Park was an added bonus, going straight from the finish line to hang out in the woods and fall asleep under the stars.
Running into the Night
Back at the start line on October 9th, I felt nervous and excited. A million questions rushed through my head, did I hydrate and fuel properly? Did I have everything I needed in my pack? Would my crew be able to find me at aid station 12? Did I have the right reflectors? What if I see an animal in the woods? Finally, it was 9 pm and we were off running, I immediately had to stop and figure out how to turn on my headlamp – not a good sign. Once the headlamp was sorted out, I set into a groove with my boyfriend Mike. Thankfully we had each other throughout the race, so running alone in the woods didn’t seem so daunting. We had run the first 14 miles of the course a few weeks before the race, so the terrain felt familiar and I knew when to anticipate turns. We reached the first aid station in no time, quickly filling up with Body Armor -the official race drink – and moving on.
I had never run a trail at night and had never run all night long and into the next day. I am not a night person and am generally asleep by 10 or 11 pm. One of my biggest fears was getting too tired to keep running or to get delirious from lack of sleep. Maybe it was the adrenaline that kept me going, but I never felt tired during the night or even the next day. Something about the blanket of darkness and running through quiet woods and neighborhoods was calming and allowed me to focus on keeping up my forward motion.
At some point my headlamp batteries died and needed to be replaced, even once they were replaced the light was dim, making it hard to see the trail markers. This was about 8-10 miles in, with a few more hours till sunrise, so we made do with the dim light but managed to make some wrong turns and get turned around at a few points. At about mile 13 we were on a long road section of the race and were able to make up some time, but the hard pavement wore down my legs and feet. We kept hoping for another trail section for some relief. There was something meditative about the roads and their monotony though. It was easier to turn inward and focus on my breath and my footsteps and just keep pushing since I didn’t have to worry about tripping over rocks.
Sunrise and Getting Through My Mental Block
Seeing the brightening of the sky ever so slowly starting around 6:30 am filled me with so much excitement that daylight was coming. Looking down and seeing the ground with more and more clarity and looking up to see the woods around me with their fall colors gave me the motivation to push hard to Aid Station 12. Knowing that our crew was there with smiling faces and food made the daylight even sweeter. I felt a blister forming on my toe, but didn’t think much of it, through all of my training runs I never got any blisters so I didn’t think it would be too bad.
Once getting to Aid Station 12 I sat down to try and take care of the blister, the fatigue started setting in as I peeled off my toe socks, popped the blister, and tried wrapping a band-aid around it. For some reason, instead of putting on a fresh pair of socks, I just pulled on my sweaty and muddy socks over my tired feet. I took some Advil to help with the pain, besides the blisters, but my feet were aching from the miles of road running. All of this ended up taking about 20 mins, really pushing us behind our anticipated slow pace. As we said goodbye to our crew and headed out, I was limping and near tears thinking that I would need to tap out at the next aid station.
Mike calmed me down and reassured me that we could just take it slow. I saw other runners taking it slow, walking and running making progress bit by bit, and started doing the same. My feet still hurt, but I was able to run longer each time and felt my mood shift. I went from defeated to full of energy by the next Aid Station almost 5 miles later and decided to push on, we had less than 10 to go, and quitting was no longer an option. After chatting with our crew for a bit and fueling with some PB&Js, we took off knowing that the next time we saw them would be the finish line.
Pushing Through to the Finish
Little did I know, we were going into the hardest portion of the race. I was familiar with the terrain at the beginning and knew there would be a long stretch of road running in the middle, but didn’t know exactly what to expect at the end. We were running into Douglas State Forrest where I knew there would be more trails, and we would pass by the tri-state marker where Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut state borders intersect, but that’s all I knew. We started running on trails and they felt good, the soft ground was welcoming and it felt like an autumn wonderland with picturesque fall foliage. At some point, though the trails got rockier and it felt like we kept ascending and descending – on my tired feet it may have felt more dramatic than it actually was.
There was one point where there was a long flat stretch of trail to run through before the last Aid Station before the finish. Mike had an injury that was shooting pain up his shin, and my feet kept radiating pain up my legs as I tried to push forward. We had less than 4 miles to go, but we were crawling. That next mile would take us almost 30 mins as we tried to keep running, even if it was a painfully slow jog. The last few miles felt like they would never end. In the last couple miles, we could hear the music at the finish line and it kept us going to get closer and closer to the music. Eventually, we turned off of the trail on the road leading to the boat ramp and the finish line. I found the energy to run around the last bend to the finish and was so happy to finally receive our 50 miler finisher medal. It was a mix of emotions, exhaustion, relief, pain, and excitement. It felt a bit unreal that we had actually accomplished the race after training for months. All I wanted to do was sit and rest.
After the Finish
After hanging out with friends and family at the finish, eating and resting our legs, we hobbled to the car and went back home, and passed out. The following day we were sore, but could walk around, after a couple of days we were back to normal and started thinking about potential future races. Overall it was an empowering experience to see what my body is capable of, but also humbling to see how much more training I would need to do if I want to run a 100-mile race. I see one in my future but would like to work on speed and getting in better shape so that I’m not on the course as long. It took almost 18 hours to run 50 miles and we were dead last – although there were about 20 people who dropped out of the 50-mile distance, so at least we finished. I’m looking at some marathon trail races and 30ks in the near future and another 50 miler or two before looking into doing a 100 miler. Excited to continue to strengthen my body and work on my mental fortitude.