Tropical Eats

How come nobody warned me that my legs would hate me after running 26.2 miles?

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Marathon morning, I actually slept insanely well. That whole extra hour from Daylight Savings was such a nice luxury! Thank you running gods. I’m a fan.

I took a shower the night before, so all I had to do was scarf down 2 pieces of bread with peanut butter, a banana and wrap up my feet.

Necessary precautions. You’re welcome, Band-Aid Industry.

The night before, I had pasta, chips ‘n salsa and Fig Newtons. A true feast of champions I tell you.

My family was so amazing taking pictures and getting me out the door. Thank you so much for that!

 

Yay pictures.

GO Airlink NYC was my official sponsor and ended up donating over $3,000 towards my Team LIVESTRONG fundraising goal. How awesome is that?!

In total, we raised $3,900 that went directly towards cancer research.

I was so excited to run in honor of my Grandma and wrote both her name and “26.2” on my Livestrong bracelet right before heading out the door.

On the way to the Staten Island Ferry, I took a cab downtown to pick up Khristian, a good college friend and my teammate.

We may have convinced ourselves to sign up together over a giant bowl of fancy sangria with cucumbers and grapes in it. What can ya do.

The ferry was packed and we both looked at each other like, “Oh wow, apparently this is really happening…LOLZ!”

Walking onto the ferry, someone said, “Is it just me, or is the ferry captain extremely hott?” Yup, he was a hottie.

I was pretty antsy the entire ferry ride.

In Staten Island, we waited in line to board a bus that took us over to the Starting Village.

Khristian and I were basically delirious and burst out laughing at the dumbest things the entire trip. Definitely took my mind off of the pre-race jitters.

After hopping off the bus, we went straight towards the porta-potties and then had to split up because he was in the earlier Wave. Sadsies.

I went over to the Orange Area, found my UPS truck and checked in my ginormous bag.

Last UPS truck aka I must be slow.

After stalking the Runner’s World Marathon Forum for about three months, this is what they recommended to bring:

• 2-3 giant sweatshirts
• 2 trash bags to sit on in case the ground was wet
• Toilet paper in case the porta-potties ran out (they didn’t)
• Whole Wheat Flat Wrap with peanut butter and an apple for pre-race fuel
• Extra socks and undergarments for after the race
• Throwaway gloves and a wooly hat

I didn’t need or use 80% of that stuff, but I’m a total cold weather wimp, so I guess it’s better to be safe than freezing my butt off.

I had about 1 hour until we entered the corral, so I sat in the sun, picked out all of the cereal from a trail mix bag, stretched and used the bathroom about 5 times.

That throwaway jacket was buy one get one free from a thrift store. I miss it already.

The gun shot went off for the Green Wave and runners instantly started pouring across the bridge.

See that?! Runners!

Knowing that I was going to be in their exact same spot in about thirty minutes was the scariest feeling in the world.

15 minutes later, we finally entered the Orange Corral and I mingled with a few runners—a Brooklyn Dad running his first marathon and a lady from Texas who had lost 150 pounds and was running her third marathon! Wowza. Talk about inspirational.

I told them about my secret plan to hunt down Mario Lopez which sadly didn’t happen, but it was thought that counts, right?

All of the sudden, we heard our shot gun go off and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” began blasting from the speakers.

The absolute best feeling in the world.

It was our time to shine!

We inched until the Start Line and then finally began running our way across the Verrazano Bridge.

Hey look, we are running!

I knew I didn’t want to burn out early, so I stayed at a pace I felt comfortable with.

I didn’t have a Garmin, so I just trusted my body would figure out a steady pace on its own. And it did!

The view of Manhattan from the bridge was incredible and everyone around me was so giddy! A ton of people pulled over to take pictures in front of the skyline in the distance, but I kept truckin’ along.

Brooklyn was amazing. The crowds, live bands and funny signs kept me entertained the entire time.

My favorite was, “Toenails For Sale.”

I’ll take two!

Definitely my favorite borough in the entire race.

In the first 6 miles or so, a ton of guys veered over to the side of the path to go to the bathroom alongside the street.

The porta-pottie lines were ridiculous, but luckily I didn’t have to go.

At Mile 6, 11 and 16, I took Gu and started to dilute Gatorade with water at Mile 6 as well. Mile 21 I ate Fruit Punch Sport Beans and Mile 23 had 1 Fig Newton that my family handed me.

Nothing quite like a sign that says 20 miles to go.

Think I will have nightmares about that one.

The Half Marathon mark was on the first bridge exiting Brooklyn, and right away I thought, Oh crap. I’m only halfway done with this thing? Bah.

I think my time was around 2:33 at this point.

Queens was quick and easy which I liked.

They played some awesome songs around one bend and I sang along and made up an America’s Got Talent-worthy hand dance to pep me up.

The Queensboro Bridge at Mile 15 was pretty awful.  There were a lot of walkers by this point and I had to do a lot of dodging.

Some girl started singing, “This is the bridge that never ends….” which cracked me up.

My family was waiting at Mile 18 and I texted them that I was running late (oh puns).

Texting while running over a bridge? An interesting experience.

I was really looking forward to First Avenue because a “Wall of Sound” was supposed to hit you from the cheers at the bottom of the bridge.

Sadly, that never happened.

The crowds just stared at everyone blankly and the people who did cheer said, “Go Shawn!” instead of “Go Shan!”

Oh it was so bad. I cranked my music up because there was no way I was going to make it 60 blocks without it.

When I finally spotted my family in the distance at Mile 18, I was SO happy and felt a giant boost of energy. Words can not describe how good it feels to finally lock eyes with your spectators!

 

“Am I done yet?”

  

Next up was the Bronx.

The crowds had thinned out big time by this point and I was ready to finally knock out the fifth borough.

It was weird, but literally everyone around me walked this bridge.

I jogged up to the top and then pulled over to use one puff of my inhaler and stretch out my legs.

At Mile 20, volunteers blasted Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” which gave me major goosebumps.

In my head I thought, “You can do this! Only six miles to go. That’s like what—one loop around Central Park? You’ve done that hundreds of times.”

Totally doable.

—-

Around Mile 22, I completely hit the wall. How do people run these things for fun? This is tortureeee.

I got pretty delusional at this point and honestly don’t remember running through about 10 blocks.

I tried to stay positive and then got a text from my Dad who was tracking me online in Florida that said, “Almost there Shan. Hang tough you are amazing.”

His text perked me up and carried me to Mile 23 where my family was waiting on Fifth Avenue.

Yay family!

I started hyperventilating and wheezing when I saw them again. GAH! I wish I could get that under control.

Notice that I have one glove on. I am weird.

About a minute later, I calmed down and told them I’d meet them at the most northern column of the Natural History Museum.

Literally one block after that, I felt someone pull on my shoulder and say, “SHANNON!!!!”

It was Ashley! She said, “Come on, we are doing this! We are finishing together!”

Ashley said she had a horrible shin splint and we walked a water station together at Mile 24. I knew I had to keep my legs moving though, so I jogged the rest of the way.

Rounding the bend near The Plaza, I heard my friend Lindsay and her boyfriend screaming “GO SHANNON!” and it was just what I needed to finish.

With Ashley at my side, we ran as fast as we could towards the finish line.

(photo via Ashley)

The last .2 miles were definitely the hardest part.

I remember gritting my teeth and just giving it everything I had.

Hand in hand, Ashley and I threw our arms up and crossed the finish line together with a final time of 5:29:12.

We did it!

Boy did it feel good to be done.

I honestly never imagined how hard or painful running a marathon would be and I was just so glad it was over with.

Ashley looked pretty pale, so I told her I thought she should go to a medical tent. She gave me Bo, her husband’s number and I called him to tell him where she was and to come meet her asap.

After 30 minutes of inching out of the park, I hobbled over to the Natural History Museum freezing and called my mom.

Oh man I can’t even describe to you the pain I was in afterwards.

Totally worth it though!

My family helped dress me in the middle of the street which was a very New Yorky moment.

Since all the streets were shut down, we had to take the subway, a bus and then a taxi to get home.

Pure torture, but definitely a funny memory.

I can’t believe I actually did it!

My post-marathon meal was going to be pizza, but then I got a random craving for chicken fajitas.

Extra Guac please!

Now this is more like it.

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Would I ever do it again?

If you asked me right after the race, I would’ve told you OMG NEVER AGAIN. (Ashley heard a lot of this from me LOL)

If you asked me today… totally.

Muwahaha.