NYC Marathon Race Report - 23,705th place

What a great, fun race. I think the biggest race I had done before was one with a few hundred people. This one had 38,009 people! My finish time was: 4:38:17. Click the link and put in Hardman or F9700 to see all the stats. I was plenty happy with that time. Sorry there are no pictures from the race yet, I used a regular camera, not my digital. I will scan pictures when I get them. In the meantime, there are race pictures here.

Here's the story...

We arrived at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island 2 hours before race time along with 40,000+ other people. What a sight! It was wall to wall people. The weather was perfect, cool and sunny. The people were pigs and left wall to wall trash. Sad.

We started the race running by running up the Verazanno Narrows Bridge. We ran across 4 other bridges and through 5 boroughs of Manhattan. The race ended in Central Park. All along the way people stood on the side of the road and helicopters flew overhead. Sometimes the people were 3 and 4 rows deep! Allison made us name tags and people cheered for us by name for the entire 4 hours and 38 minutes. I have never felt more like a superstar in my life!!! Here's a link to a video in case you're interested. The volunteers were incredible from start to finish. They were encouraging and friendly. Amazing!

It was awesome to see people who had many hurdles in life to get over running in this marathon. People were running for cancer, MS and other diseases. I saw a man with 2 prosthetic legs and another with one prosthetic leg. There was a guy in a wheelchair shuffling backwards up a gentle incline. These people were so inspirational!

Appreciate what you've got. Do more with yourself. Live healthy. Exercise. Help others.

If a guy with 2 prosthetic legs can run a marathon, you can do many things you dream of doing too. Baby steps will get you where you dream of going.

I ended the race happy and tired. I was fortunate to run with Allison for the entire race. It was great going on the journey from just working out at the gym 3 years ago to running a half marathon to running the NYC marathon with Allison! She's a wonderful friend and an inspiration to me.

I followed my hydration, food and medication plan through out the race. I ate enough and drank as much as possible (it was not enough). I did not plan to take enough steroids. Wanda, you were right. We crossed the finish line and I nearly passed out. I laid on the disgusting ground and was promptly picked up by 2 medical people and dragged to the medical tent. I took 10 mg of HC and ate some salt, within 20 minutes I was back on my feet. We took the subway and train back to NJ were Donna and her mom Nancy threw us a nice little party (picture below).

It was a wonderful day that I will never forget! Thanks to everyone for the support through emails, phone calls, notes, Hope Oasis, etc!!!