NYC Marathon Weekend 2010 Recap #1

Well, this time last sunday I had finished my first 26.2 miles, reunited with my husband and friend Diane, and found the closest pub to down a beer and some yummy food! I can't believe it was just a week ago that I finished my first marathon! Now, time to reflect about the weekend!!

Friday Nov. 5, 2010

Up bright and early (5am) to load my car, pick up Diane, and hit the road to NYC by 7am!

I was rather frantically running around the house trying to make sure I had exactly everything I needed for the big weekend, and still felt I was forgetting something! In fact, I made a list of what I needed to bring, packed my bags the night before, unpacked my bags, repacked my bags, and so on.....a little OCD?? :) I picked up Diane and we were on the road by 7:30.

The drive there was absolutely uneventful, we chatted and she continually tried to calm me down because I was speed talking. So much anxiety, self doubt, aches/pains, fear, you name it, I was feeling it! In fact, I had multiple sleepless nights the week before the marathon. I just couldn't bring myself down to a calm state to sleep. Seriously, it was ridiculous!!

We arrived in NYC around 2pm, checked into Holiday Inn Express in Brooklyn (2 blocks from the marathon course, perfectly convenient for marathon viewing)! We immediatly got directions to the Javits Center for the expo and headed to the subway. As we exited the subway, I fell UP the subway steps...yep, that's me, grace! What a way to start my marathon weekend!

The expo was good, we found our way to check in, picked up my race number, took lots of pictures, and then rummaged through the vendors and purchasing items here and there. I picked up a NYC marathon half zip tech hoodie, love it! We also bought some powergels & bars, and I found a pair of sport sunglasses I love!!

After the expo, we headed back to Brooklyn to visit with my friends Stacy, Scott, and their kids. It was wonderful to see them and catch up, it's been a very long time!

Through this entire day of travel and getting into NYC, I missed a meal and did a lot of walking. By the end of friday, I was absolutely spent, hungry, and thankful I came a day early to get situated!

Saturday Nov. 6, 2010

I woke up a bit early for my liking on saturday morning. First, I woke up in total panic because I had absolutely no idea where I was, what was going on, what day it was, or anything! Talk about freak out!! Then, as I woke a bit more, I realized I was also on my way to a migraine. Seriously! All I wanted to do saturday morning was get up, head into Central Park and go for a jog, not deal with a massive headache. Diane and I headed down to breakfast in the hopes thatI could eat a large number of calories and kill the headache. I added in some mild drugs as well!

After a bit, we got ourselves together and hopped the subway into the city to check out the marathon course in Central Park. It was awesome to jog part of the course and check out the finish line. After checking out the finish line, we jogged around the park a bit more and then headed back to Brooklyn to meet up with my husband who had just driven down from Boston.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, checking out a pub in lower Manhattan, and deciding where to go for my pre run pasta dinner. We picked a little place called Sophia's of Little Italy in....you guessed in...Little Italy. We also met up with 3 of my cousins who had made the trip to NYC to cheer for me during the marathon. Dinner was fantastic!! I had Gnocchi with red sauce and it was incredible!! Diane made me eat the entire plate of Gnocchi because she knew I was still in need of more calories!! After dinner, I was still having some anxiety about the run and was pretty tired, so we headed back to Brooklyn to get my stuff ready for the morning and get a good nights sleep!