This year I had to seriously confront why I run marathons.

 -a toothy grin courtesy Andrew Hetherington…

The first couple you run it’s new and it’s a challenge and you want to see if you can improve. So that’s good enough for numbers one and two. Three is where you know what you are getting in to and you realize that there is a limit to how fast you can run a marathon given the amount of time I wanted to commit to it and where I was physically at my age, the amount of capacity I had to stay healthy and train and not get injured.  And of course you do get injured every year, something starts getting creaky no matter how much you try to avoid it. Its not like I have been running for years, the body takes a long time to respond to training if you consider that against a lifetime of not training.

So going back to the basic question- why run this marathon, if I wasn’t getting any faster, and if I had nothing really to prove to myself, is it just about fun, is that enough? Aren’t there easier ways to have fun?

I knew I could do it, although the any given sunday rule applies, anything can happen while you are doing it. And I didn’t really know how my knee was going to fare. But you don’t go to the start line and think of 26.2 miles. You just think about getting warmed up, finding your comfortable pace, getting to whatever miles your friends are at, seeing whatever landmarks, halfway points, bridges, etc, you piece it out. You are just going from one place to the next.  And that’s how it gets done.

I really didn’t actually think about running a marathon and finishing until 400m from the end, when all efforts to stave off a cramp were failing, I think your body knows exactly what you are asking of it and at that point it is saying, ok, really now, this is enough. This is why in military training you’d do whatever stupid thing it was and they would let you think for a half a second, now we are done, and then they say, ok, now do it again…just so you understand that limits are all mental.

The last 6 miles I really pushed hard, doesn’t mean I was going any faster, but my splits were not tanking into the 9′s either. Mile 26 was actually my fifth fastest mile overall, (8:08!) so I was gaining ground, and I knew that slowing down would mean cramping so it was all about pushing harder not less.

And in that effort I found something strange, I kind of started to welcome the pain, it meant I was doing it right, that I was actuallygoing to finish the marathon…it was a surprise to me. As the legs got more and more leaden, I just pushed harder and harder and I think I realized that there is a whole other side beyond when you think you are done. I don’t want to get all mystical about it, as soon as I crossed the line I was incredibly happy to not be running but for those last 6 miles and especially the last 400 meters which for some crazy reason has to be uphill, the tightening of my right quadriceps into a vice-like cramp was not the real issue, even as it was happening it was not happening, it was over already, as long as I didn’t really focus on it. In reality, yes, it was real, probably another mile and it would have dropped me, but that’s not what had to happen, I just had to get to the top of the hill and that was alright by me.

So why run a marathon, the answer is so that you can experience pain in a different way. You want to lean into it. It means you are closer to succeeding than you think.

At least that is what I learned this year.

That and I’ve got a great bunch of friends and neighbours who supported me on and off the course- thank you all!

20 Weeks, 500 miles, 2 weeks to go…

Reflections if any on a third marathon training cycle?

As research for a recent shoot I watched “Rudy”, the story of one incredibly obsessed man’s efforts to play football for Notre Dame. And when I say obsessed you can think possibly delusional. He claws his way towards one goal, to dress for a game so that his dad can see he really is playing for ND, that it’s not just a made up story, a pipe dream. His assessment is that all of his hard work will be for not if this doesn’t happen. He cannot see the forest for the trees. Several people around him, those that are on the far side of their dreams, remind him that it is not for nothing that he is also getting a first class education, and is not toiling away like his brothers in a steel mill. We are all about the goals, the distance travelled to get there is inconsequential.

What I remember about the training is not the task at hand, but the small rewards along the way, the weather, the people I see regularly and give a small wave too, the kind one farmer gives to another as they pass in pickup trucks, the kind that says, “yup.” I remember the feeling in my legs and body after a long run, a kind of weary relaxation where nothing is particularly urgent and I am just perambulating home. I remember only once this year, running in a light rain, for it was so dry. I saw “the express”, the man who put the bug in me, and we both remarked about how it was so great to have the park to ourselves that day, mostly.

I remember chasing bunnies and getting passed, blown into the weeds, it is pretty amazing to get passed like you are standing still. You look at the turnover and the high leg kick and the relentless pace, you match it for a while just to see, and then you are reminded that you are 44 and not 24…That said, I am faster this year, you do change, it just takes a long time to adapt. It is the whole body that is required to run fast, and those changes accumulate slowly in the 40+, more likely injury is what is accumulating.

On that note, I did sustain an injury this year, same exact one as last year, achilles, this time on the left side not the right. And I had tried so hard to avoid that-I trained gently, I stretched. But 20 weeks is really a long time, and just like last year, after about 12, a sudden training effect surge, then the feeling of being able to go infinitely fast, leading to going to fast, too hard, too soon, and then there you are-injured. If you are reading this looking for advice, I’d say ice is your friend, even if you are not injured, and compression socks are also very good, and finally rest is what fixes it. You can take a whole week off or more even in the cycle, it does not affect the whole, in fact, your body rewards you for the rest by coming back quicker than if you try to train through it. That was my mistake last year. To be afraid to take time off. Two weeks out of twenty, plus whatever base mileage you have before that, you are not going to miss.

My “goal” such as it is for the marathon this year, and I have put a lot of thought into this, is simply completion. You have to give the distance respect, and anything can happen on a given sunday. If you recall I was a little bent out of shape last year at the end, it was kind of grim there. Bargaining. Compromising other parts of my body in compensating for what was hurting. Probably not atypical. What I think is different this year is that there are all sorts of little things that I did differently, preparations, running the course, consistency in pacing, and also just the experience of last year- I think I will know how to handle myself better. My goal is always to run the “perfect” race, the race I could run on a given day. It probably won’t be that, but the obvious mistakes, like last year, going out way too hot, I think I can avoid.

Some other satisfactions: I am in the first wave this year- “locally competitive men’s start”–ha! that is funny. (There is still professional and sub-elite ahead of that…) Downside is that we are on the lowerdeck of the Verrazano Bridge- the advice is to stay near the center to avoid the “gifts” coming from above. Dunno about that, I didn’t see anyone last year heave or pee over the edge…

Also, couple of people I know have begun running this year, and have come to me for advice. I am always happy to “pay it forward.” Whatever the distance or goal, the reward is great.

found yesterday on a stoop in Park Slope. Not too coincidental-there are literally hundreds of books on stoops in Park Slope for the taking…

This weekend NYRR put the word out and 10,000 showed up to run for Haiti, over $400,000 raised simply by tying on some running shoes.

Speaking of tying on some running shoes, I did make a certain “commitment” for later this year…a certain day in November.

Officially 3:38:33. 7370/43741 total (top 17%). 6252/28354 of men (top 22%). 1379/5551 men age 40-44 (top 25%-the most popular demographic).

I spanked that little pansy Ed Norton (3:48:01) scrubbed Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards, 4:08:45) and left Alanis to take the jagged little pill (4:28:45)…

After all that emotion of the last post you are probably wondering what the hell I have to complain about. A personal best (first marathon was 3:49:10) on one of the most difficult courses there is. Is it not enough to take 11 minutes off in 6 months?

If I take the “extra” time off the last six miles, assuming I could have at least maintained 8:00/mile, I add up 7:20- leaving 3:31:13. Still not sub 3:30:00. And probably more agonizing to have missed by a minute-thirteen. So how does this happen, how do the wheels fall off by almost eight minutes?

If you look at the 5K splits and their average minute per miles it breaks down like this:

5 Kilometers Time: 00:23:41.00 Pace/mile: 7:36

10 Kilometers Time: 00:47:32.00 Pace/mile: 7:39- for reference my PB on 10K is 47:45…

15 Kilometers Time: 01:11:39.00 Pace/mile: 7:41

20 Kilometers Time: 01:38:22.00 Pace/mile: 7:54

Half-Marathon Time: 01:43:50.00 Pace/mile: 7:55- for reference my PB on this is 1:40:33

25 Kilometers Time: 02:03:59.00 Pace/mile: 7:58.

30 Kilometers Time: 02:29:27.00 Pace/mile: 8:01

20 miles 8:47

21 miles 8:47

35 Kilometers Time: 02:57:06.00 Pace/mile: 8:08

22 miles 8:38

23 miles 8:56

24 miles 9:24

40 Kilometers Time: 03:26:06.00 Pace/mile: 8:17

25 miles 9:45

26 miles 9:03

Finish Time: 03:38:33.00 Pace/mile: 8:20

The 5K splits tell a gradual story, the mile splits tell the gory story, wheels coming off pretty quick in the last 10K. And look at those early splits, I have a new 10K record! Set during the Marathon! You are not supposed to do that! Clearly there was nothing left in the tank after 20 miles, and those early miles are responsible.

I think 3:30:00 was probably not a possibility. There was no margin for the course or the unexpected. And the unexpected in this case was the course, I did not expect to be so unfocused and running like a scared deer. Oh Bambi!

Looking at those final mile splits I know how bad I was feeling, but I see that I was moving, and that I had a little surge even in the final mile. It certainly did not feel that way. I can accept that this was the best that I could do on that day, and that it reflects the training I put in and the experience level that I (don’t) have. Sure, I could have run a more balanced race and felt better in those final miles, I doubt however that the time would have differed by more than four or five minutes. But everything they say about banking time early and giving it back double is true. I was ahead almost 4 minutes by the half and gave it all back and then some by the end.

In terms of training I really focused on speed this time, and next time I will focus a lot more on marathon pace runs or progression runs, some going past 20 miles or past 3 hours. The last 30 minutes of the race is really “the race” and I need to experience running more on heavily fatigued legs.

Next time? Guess I am not that upset.

Finally something to add about Team for Kids: They came through Big Time in this race: the volunteers and organizers are all amazing, the buses ran smoothly, they did their best to shepherd us through the start on Staten Island. And at the finish, they were there with people to help you to Cherry Hill, they bring your baggage and a beverage to you and give you a place to rest and collect yourself. At that point, they were like sweet sweet beer angels, minus the beer:) I do not want to think about having to negotiate the baggage line and mile long walk from the finish line. We were treated like Rock Stars and they really deserve a lot of thanks for that. If you have googled this to get info for next year, run don’t walk to sign up for TFK, they really have your back.

This is my medal, there are many like it but this one is mine…

Sorry that may be a little creepy to associate a marathon trophy with a rifle but this race was all heart and no head.

Early on it was shock and awe though.

We are at the head of 10,000, squeezed between double decker busses topped with young children. In the distance ahead, through the trees is visible a bridge leading up with the first wave departing. You see it on TV but it is different when you are next. They are small and colourful and rustling uphill like the back of the leaves in a storm wind. I point this out and the woman standing next to me is thrilled, she leans over and touches my arm, we feel connected in the two minutes we have been standing in the corral. We wish each other well, she is a triathlete but running is not her best sport. She expects to finish in a little over four hours. The canon goes off, the race starts, and we are instantly dissolved into the flow and she is gone.

You don’t notice the uphill when it comes, although others are already breathing heavily. Some jump up on the divider to take pictures of the runners and Manhattan in the distance. Coming off the bridge there are about three families waiting right there, a small cheering section. You could be at any suburban off-ramp, a car could be pulled over to change a flat, and it would be the same folks, waiting by the side of the road.

“Go NYPD!” The guy is not actually NYPD, but his friend his, so he joined the escort and got a t-shirt, which is why he is getting the shout-outs. From the looks of him however he is not a first-responder. He is actually a podiatrist from Florida. Greying, 45-49, if he was NYPD he would have been retired by now, unless he was a captain or a detective. He doesn’t have the build of a police officer, but this goes unnoticed. He is trying to qualify for Boston, needs a 3:30 to get there, which is why I know his age range. We run together for five or six miles. At about mile five he spots his girlfriend off the side and runs to her, he says, “I am running with Robert!” I slow down a little, we are very ahead on time and am starting to get worried that I am not hitting my goal pace.

For some reason I really don’t know what to do, I cannot stop checking the sides of the road to see if I know anyone. I want to focus and just run but the spectacle is too engaging, too distracting. When we go past Sixteenth Street I tell NYPD, this is my street, and he shouts to the crowd- “he lives here! he lives here! this is Robert’s neighbourhood!”  It is funny and warm. Even though we are going too fast I continue on, I think there may be some folks at Union Street I know, I can peel off there. I say to NYPD, “if I clock another 7:45 I am going to have to dial this back-”. Union Street comes and goes and I cannot find anyone, NYPD goes ahead, I let it be.  He is no longer running with Robert. I didn’t get his bib number so I don’t know if he bq’d or not. Three minutes ahead of schedule and growing, still not hitting the splits. I am running like it is a half marathon.

I have run seven hundred miles in training, and never gotten a blister. For some cosmic reason, I am getting a blister. It is on the top of the second toe on the left side, the one with the black toenail from the first marathon, since healed perfectly. This little piggy. But the sock, the one I hand picked out of a dozen as being the newest and softest is rubbing a bare patch. Either I stop and deal with it or figure it will eventually go numb. I retie my shoelaces twice in mile eleven, but it is not working. I hit the med tent at mile twelve and ask for some vaseline. There are no emergencies here or traumas, just people like me with blisters. Time is passing but I am so much ahead I think it will not matter. There is no blister, just an abrasion. It makes no sense. The aid worker takes my bib number and ailment. Statistics? Accountability.

Finally the volume of the course ebbs a little through the middle miles leading up to the Queensboro Bridge. I do an internal check and figure I am at about 80% considering. I am running marathon pace finally and figure the uphill on the bridge and the downhill will all even out. I find some friends at mile 14, still optimistic, still unaware. I have no idea what I said but I know I was here, there is a picture-I am beatifically happy. All this leads up to the Queensboro Bridge.

A first sign of trouble, I see some course marshals coming my way, picking their way through the stream, someone behind me is stopped, bent over, another person holding them up. I know I am not 80% anymore. The mile uphill and crosswind has shown me that my achilles is not happy any more, it is sore, beginning to complain, to stiffen, and compensating is my left quadriceps, slowly getting more beat with each landing. The next mile is all downhill, will make hamburger out of my thigh, another sharp turn at the bottom, gingerly on the achilles, they put hay bales on all the sharp turns as if a runner could be going so fast as to miss the turn and need something soft to crash into.  The beginning of the mob noise coming up from the street below. This is Manhattan and the last ten miles.

First Avenue seems as wide as it is long when there are no parked cars on either side.  I may have checked my mile splits here but it was beginning not to matter, I was drawing inward, conserving, doubting, getting scared. I knew exactly how far it was to go, the ten miles was not something impossible, a routine rest day run. I tried to tell myself, it was work to be done, no more no less.

We run past a large grey facade, Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital. I look right and they have wheeled out two children, still in hospital beds. They are very young, a full battery of I.V’s and monitors is behind them, they are pale and I imagine bald from Chemotherapy, wrapped under blankets to keep them warm. They are here to see the marathon. All this stuff about how running a marathon changes you, when it is only the fact that you are living that matters. If change was what comes from running 26.2 miles then these kids would not be in beds. How does one regard another’s suffering? Who was here for whom?

The Poland Spring Hydration Zone at mile 17 distributes green sponges-on a hot day a cool sponge might be a good idea. Under grey skies it looks like a plague of toads has recently fallen, thousands of dark green sponges lie flat on the street. You would not want to step on a toad and turn an ankle.  In the fluid stations the spilled gatorade forms a slick glue that adheres to your shoe for several dozen yards after, and each step skitches as you peel your foot from the road.

Towards the Bronx the noise abates and the crowd diminishes, getting up and down the bridges is about all I have left now. I ask someone what the real time is and they give me the time 11:45am, but they have forgotten to set their clocks ahead-it is 12:45 and this means I have actually hit my goal time for twenty miles more or less. But I know there is no way I can maintain pace for the rest of the race. I am going landmark to landmark, block to block. Finally we are at 139th Street in the Bronx and I know that it is a countdown now to 90th Street and Engineers Gate where we enter the Park. I cannot or neglect to do the subtraction and arrive at 49 as the difference.

In Harlem a church choir and small band are playing something uplifting, another man and a piano dealing the STAX tracks. After all the volume of the race course so far, these sounds are incredibly soothing and mellowing and I pass through them and them through me to 125th Street and then Marcus Garvey Park. More children are out to greet us, youth from the TFK programs. I have nothing to pass back as I am saving it all for the hill up Fifth Avenue to come shortly.

Then I start the mantras. Engineers Gate. Engineers Gate. Engineers Gate. Whatever I can do to dissociate from my physical state. I have few memories of this section, there are spectators but I don’t see them, all the way up to 90th Street. Waiting for the mirage of Frank Lloyd Wright’s white beehive to appear.

Engineers Gate. More hay bales. Where do you get hay in New York? I try to feel like I have achieved something by getting here, that it is all as the saying goes, downhill from here. Except when it is uphill. Breaking the Park down into blocks does not work. It is just winding green turning turning on itself. For a long while I hear over and over “Crazy Daisy!” “Crazy Daisy!” Someone near me has written this on their jersey. I do not look around to see who it is. It takes me a while to associate this, crazy Daisy is the nickname of a little girl I know in Omaha, who not incidentally has endured more in her short time living on this earth than anyone might want to endure, a double transplant, nearly a year in NeoNatal intensive care. At least a dozen operations. How is it that I hear this, right now, here? It is all bizarrely about living, this marathon.

We roll downhill in mile 25 and this is about as much as my leg muscles can take, my left side is twanging like a banjo string, I have never felt this before, and then a partial cramp, and then a real cramp, my left side freezes up in that spasm where you don’t know if you should straighten it or bend it or what- I haul off to the left side of the road, I have no idea what I looked like. A lady with a British accent leans over the cyclone fencing and says, “well you cahn’t stop naw cahn you then? Gota t’keep gowin’…” and she is perversely right, I am startled by her clarity. Just what are you going to do now? So I put weight on it not knowing what is functional and what is not and manage to generate a stride and then another.

The last mile and two-tenths was complete focus on putting one foot in front of another. People around me who are having a different day are pumping their arms and high-fiving the crowd along Central Park South. I really don’t like them and imagine they are all from France or Spain or Portugal and probably enjoy shopping in New York but think America is full of stupid fat people. I stay dead center and aim for the statue of Columbus. He had the right idea. It is a washing machine of emotions, I feel I have so badly bungled the race, so obviously ignored the simple facts of going slow early, I cannot believe this is how I am going to get across the finish line. All heart and no head. This is not my way. I lead everything with my head, the heart has no place in rational matters. And if it is to be heart, it is all triumphant rock guitars and explosions and drum solos. It is not- this-? My first New York City Marathon, that I have watched for thirteen years from the sidelines, have said to myself as we all do, “I’d like to do that one day…” and now I am a mile from finishing, have not a jot of energy left to jubilate, ululate, do the robot, a funky break, muster any sense of triumph-it is just going to get done-

Making the turn to Columbus Circle we bottleneck into the Park, someone is shouting my name over and over and over and I realize who it is-another picture tk- yes I look happy, it breaks me out of this tunnel, and now the last 800 meters. I remember from mile repeats the time 3 minutes 30 seconds, I have at least that and more to go. Remember to raise your arms and look up for Brightroom to take your picture, the clock is there, 3 hours 51 minutes, less the offset which was around 16 minutes means I am still under 3:40 at least, I hope it is not that close because I am not capable of sprinting to close a few seconds gap if it is. Across the mats and it is done. Someone reaches out from behind me and congratulates me-the man at the running shoe store-was I faster than him? I think I squeezed his hand very hard, there was just so much I could not express at that moment. Someone asks me if I need an escort, no, I am fine, really, barely holding it in, you pass the medals, I pick a very young hispanic lad because no one seems to be picking him, he places the medal over my head, I bend down low, I thank him, I hope I thanked him. I pose for a photograph, you could tell I think that I had been weeping, but I stand there, just stand, this is it. I have no idea what that looks like, defiance, sadness, passing through sadness. Next they give you the silver heat sheet and a sticker to keep it on in case you can’t. I pull it up over the bridge of my nose to hide and let the rest out.

If all this sounds like a lot of emotional handwringing it is because it is, because you don’t always know what to make of things when you make them. But this is what it was as I did it. So much different from the first, I think they are all probably very different, all like different lives even, no two the same, all flawed, all unique, all unexpected. I will tie it up in a brighter bow next post.

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…