Some video inspiration. Be prepared for lots of tension building rhythmic music….

and can we not rain on sunday, pleeese?

Did the last 10 miles with the Prospect Park Track Club on sunday and enjoyed spectacular weather, great support, and got to see a part of the course I had not seen before, the run up First Ave, the Bronx mile, and coming back down Fifth Ave into the Park. It really was a beautiful run, probably the easiest 10 miles I have ever run, which is the irony of course. We do this crazy training for twenty weeks only to get to the taper phase where we are supposed to take it easy and stay off the legs- at precisely the time when the weather is the best, the leaves are peaking, and my fitness is peaking. It is crazy really.

another way to get to the finish line…

the famous uphill finish...

I wanted to share with you the website for the athlete tracking- you will get 5K splits for me along the way; go here and you have to enter your email and a password, don’t worry, the email is deleted after the race. Submit that and then the next page allows you to add runners, either by name or bib number. Mine is 22909. Sometime after 10 am you will begin to get 5k splits which should be in the neighbourhood of 25 minutes per. For the metrically challenged 5K is 3.1 miles. You will also get the final time. Here are some landmarks:

5K; 83rd and Fourth Ave. Brooklyn–10k; 17th Street and Fourth Ave (hey I’m home!)–15k; turn from Lafayette onto Bedford Ave Brooklyn–20K; Greenpoint Ave–25k; middle of Queensboro Bridge (just the sound of a lot of breathing and groaning I am told…)–30k; 102nd and First Ave Manhattan–35k; 128th Street and Fifth Ave–40k; lower Central Park and almost done!

that’s me in the lime green tfk shirt down front-PPTC.org is the group!

I have learned a lot in this training go round, and depending on the outcome Sunday I will have some wisdom to share.

Spectating options; I lifted this from the NYRR website verbatim. Yes they wrote all that funny stuff about moi! I put my splits in there for guidance. I am calculating based on an 8 minute mile, although I will be running a little faster I hope (7:51/mile). So all times are plus or minus about 10 minutes.

Attire: I will be sporting jaunty black shorts and shirt, with a frighteningly lime green TFK singlet over top. And a hat. There will be many like me. I will write my name on my jersey as do most people to encourage a little name-calling, and to assist EMS should I become un-responsive. Not really.

Choose your borough or neighborhood:

Staten Island: This is the staging area for the start. All you need to know is that you can’t get here from there. If you’re curious about the start, it’s better to watch it on television. NBC4 has coverage starting at 9am. NBC is also airing a package nationally at 2 pm to 4 pm with highlights. Don’t expect to see me, it’s like March of the Penguins meets Dawn of the Dead, with less exploding brain. I am Wave 2, meaning I start at 10:00 am, but expect to cross the official start line a few minutes after. Start: 10:04 am.

Brooklyn: Ten miles of the race go through this borough.

Park Slope: Fourth Ave at Prospect is 6+ miles in. (10:52 am) At Fourth Avenue and 7th Street, (11:00 am) Time Warner Cable will have video screens and access to the Race Day Tracker; enter your runner’s official bib number and get an idea of where he or she is. At Fourth Avenue and Douglas Street, BP will set up an Invigorate (?) Station with giveaways and photo opportunities. The Brooklyn Academy of Music at Fourth Avenue and Lafayette Avenue (11:08 am) is a popular place to view the marathon — there’s an ING Cheering Zone here. Beware Bishop Laughlin High School will be playing the Theme from Rocky over and over here…I’ll probably be in a very sunny mood, expect jubilation, high fives, a bon mot or two-yo-Adrian!

Lafayette Avenue (miles 8-9: near 11:16am) is lined with trees and traditional brownstones; lots of marathon-day stoop parties go on here. This is also the end of my first “10″ of the race, the taking it easy part of the game plan. The next 10 miles I get on the game plan and focus on being consistent and plowing all the way through. Consider McCarren Park (mile 12, 11:40 am) as a viewing spot: It’s tree-lined and attracts a lot of spectators and I hear has some good taco trucks.

Queens: On the Queens side of the Pulaski Bridge at about mile 13.2, (11:48:07 am- I should still be in a good mood here- game face, zen mastery!) Asics will set up a huge video screen that will flash photos of runners who have registered to have their image displayed (dunno about that). Also in Queens: A neighborhood cheering zone at 44th Drive near Court Square and an ING Cheering Zone on 44th Drive between 11th and 21st where you can get bright orange cheer sticks (between miles 14-15, 11:56-12:04 pm-start clapping you silly dolphins!!).

Manhattan, East Side, First Avenue: First Avenue might be the craziest, most crowded place to watch the race — the sidewalks can be packed more than eight people deep. (Hint; its the bars and an excuse to drink at noon…) The runners are 16 miles into their race at this point and appreciate the roar of the crowd as they come off the Queensboro Bridge. (estimate 12:12am -this is probably going to be where you will catch RW being emotional-sorry about that) At First Avenue and 59th Street, Food Emporium and Emerald Nuts will be giving away food samples. Next, Time Warner Cable Online Cheer Zone at 83rd. (miles 17-18 estimate 12:20-112:28 pm-probably going to be doing some early negotiation here, might be a good place for a fan intervention moment!) Farther up First Avenue, at 96th Street, you can visit the Mobile Makeover Zone sponsored by T-Mobile. Catherine Zeta Jones will be giving it away here to all the older men…like any other day…Watch the elite runners make a move here; some great runners have pulled away — or been dropped — on First Avenue. I will not be making a move here-except on CZ-J!

The East Side is one of the best places to see runners twice: You can see them run up First Avenue, then walk west and see the runners on Central Park South or, if you’re farther north, on Fifth Avenue above 90th Street.

Bronx: At Mile 20 of the marathon, (estimate 12:45 pm-if I hit this mark or very close to expect to see a very happy runner, it will mean I am having a record day) runners often struggle to find energy and the residents here are famous for supporting participants with signs and cheers. If anyone guts it out to the Bronx to see me I don’t know what I’ll do, I might not even recognize you! Probably thinking why in the hell would anyone want to do this again…

Harlem: On race day, the sidewalks on Fifth Avenue between 135th Street and 110th Street are filled with people coming from church, going to brunch, and cheering for runners. Some gospel bands play live on the course (look at 135th, 125, and 117 streets). Marcus Garvey Park, between 120th and 124th Streets, is a leafy respite with bleachers set up for spectators (mile 22-some serious negotiation going on her, probably some food fantasies going on…beer? chocolate? estimate 1:00 pm if all goes well).

Manhattan, East Side, Fifth Avenue: Here I am fully in the “last 10″ or 10km in this case. If the plan goes according to, this is the actual race section. The runners stay on Fifth Avenue and run along Central Park until 90th Street, where they turn in (mile 24- 1:16 pm-if there is anything left in the tank, it comes out here, at Engineers Gate. That or all the green Gatorade Endurance Formula comes out in a spectacular ballistic vomit that induces all the spectators to vomit a la “Stand by Me”).

Central Park: Central Park is an ideal place to watch the race; just be aware that moving around the park can be difficult on race day. Good spots include: Park Drive between 90th and 86th Streets; Park Drive below 72nd is often more crowded. You can cross the park on either the 85th Street or 65th Street transverse roads. You cannot cross Park Drive, but you can go under it: Try the arches at 80th Street, 73rd Street, 67th Street, and 62nd Street.

Central Park South: This part of the course can be crowded; spectators might find it easier to access the south side of the street than the north side. Look for Continental Airline’s entertainment center at Columbus Circle, where the course turns into the park for the final time. Street teams will also be handing out Emerald Nuts on Central Park South. At this point I don’t expect to “see” anyone. 1:28 pm…I will have tunnel vision, snot running from my nose, dried spittle on my chin, I might look like the Hamburgler on crack…

Finish line: There are bleachers for the last few hundred meters of the race but you need tickets. I have a meeting spot setup that I need to get details on from TFK, I believe it is the YMCA where it will be fun to stay, and NOT be running…info to come.

Left, new, right, 450 miles, 63 hours, 59,774 calories, however you want to count it…

You can’t see it but there is water permanently inside the plastic bubbles.  Beat…

Getting nervous, 12 days to go. Freaking out over all sorts of things, possible flu forecast, weather forecast, long sleeve, short sleeve, hat, touque??? I have a sore achilles on the right side, which I am ascribing to how mushy the shoes have become, they feel like flip-flops. Hence the new kicks.

Soon I will have a marathon route preview, my game plan, times, vantage points, media coverage. And a big thank you to all TFK contributors. You can still contribute, they ain’t gonna turn away your dime, and I get some of my greenbacks back if you do. So think of me as the charity from now on…

What a difference a year makes.

I chose to “represent” in full battle dress today. Did 5 from the apartment over the Brooklyn Bridge at sunrise to the Ferry Terminal. The scene was the same from last year, several hundred of us filing on to the ferry for the trip across. But the scenario is completely different, this was to be the last long run before tapering, and I was on a 40+ mile week pair of legs. Would they hold? Could I maintain marathon pace for 13.1 or better?

The race directions were simple and delivered by a man whose accent betrayed he was on home turf: follow da guy in front-a-ya. On ya mawks…and the horn. The first mile of this race is along the access road which then twists back on itself and climbs onto the bluff at Richmond Terrace. So what was my goal here? Marathon pace is 7:51 but everyone was clipping along at 7:30 or better (the corral I was in was this pace) so I hung back a bit for the first mile for a total of 8:05. But then mile 2 is all downhill which resulted in a 7:30. I tried to pull it back in in mile three at 7:46 but at this point I had the feeling that this was not going to be a marathon pace day but a pr day for the half, so I settled in with some white rabbits and began clocking off 7:30′s, basically for the rest of run.

It was ideal weather, if a little sunny, but we started out at 45 degrees and rapidly it climbed into the mid 50′s. If this was to be the weather for NYCM then I’d take it. Clear blue sky as we ran under the Verrazano and I looked up, way up to the span where I will be in three weeks. Hard to imagine.

What a difference a year makes. I remember last year just how long this run was, but not this year. The miles kept ticking off and I practiced choosing rabbits, getting in packs to draft, relaxing, running the tangents on corners. I think last year I consumed a couple of gels or more just getting around, but in training I have been foregoing that to learn how to run without it. The gatorade proto-slime was good enough. We get to mile 11 and it the beginning of the hills we came down going out, but my pace only suffers a few seconds, 7:39, and none in mile 12, 7:32, however my heart rate is topping 170, evidence I am working hard. But it feels completely different, I know I can do this or better from the speedwork, so I push through to the end, finishing with a little sprint alongside my last mile rabbit who comes out of my rearview mirror in the last 100, so we duel it out to the end, and I get a shout out by name from the announcer who acknowledges the TFK team alliance!

The time? 1:40:33, a pr by 3:30 over my last in the Brooklyn half which was 1:43:58. And last year’s SI half-1:54:51, almost 15 minutes better than that! What a difference a year makes, and this was on tired legs too.

What it means I find hard to believe, they say take you half time and double it and then add 8 for your marathon time, which means I could clock 3:29 if all goes well…the McMillan running calculator says 3:32:04, which means that it is tight, there is not a lot to spare.

What remains then is to enjoy this two week taper-next weekend I will be doing a “last 10 miles” from the Queensboro Bridge up First Ave. into the Bronx and down Fifth Ave. to the finish in Central Park sponsored by the Prospect Park Track Club. I am looking forward to this to get eyes on the course and that infamous hill on Fifth Ave. at mile 23. No one seems to like it. I took a look at it yesterday and it does seem to go on forever, not too steep though.

And also time to fret and work out race strategies and try not to bore everyone too terribly with this stuff…I know all you hear is blah blah blah when I show up.

Holding steady at 1600 of 2500 for TFK-come on people-represent!

BTW, the winner, Jorge Real, in a time of 1:07:47, is listed as age 39! Also the beauty of statistics, I was 91st in my age group 40-44- TOP 100 BABY!

This is where I will find myself 22 days and a little less than 18 hours from now, poised at the foot of the Verrazano bridge, awaiting the start and 225 foot climb over the mile long span. I got the upper deck route, blue start, which is the same as the professional men and women, who leave earlier at 9:40 and 9:10am. I will be honoured to tread in their crushed water cups and exhaled CO2. Actually they don’t take water cups, they are hydrated by the gods dispensing mead and gatorade from golden chalices held aloft by flying winged monkeys. Or so I’ve heard.

starting to see these everywhere-it’s getting me nervous…