Grete Waitz, NY's Leading Lady

Grete chats with the NYRR Young Runners before the Run with Champions 2008

Nine times she won the NYC Marathon, setting the world record for women 4 times, Grete Waitz really is New York's leading lady. The running world lost a marathon great yesterday and news about her death spread through the running community quickly, everyone expressing real sadness at the loss of such an inspiring woman. As a child born in the 80's, I was too young to remember the way Grete changed the sport for women, showing us that we could really do ANYTHING, but I know that I have her to thank for the running world we live in today.

The two articles in today's New York Times about Grete are really beautiful and capture her spirit well. Not only did Grete win the race 9 times on her own, but she always claimed that her run with Fred Lebow in 1992, when he was dying of brain cancer, was her 10th victory. I can't say it nearly as well as Lix Robbins, Bruce Weber and George Vecsey can, so please check out the articles here: Scandinavian Cool That Warmed New York and In Marathon and Beyond, a Graceful Champion I recommend having tissues nearby.

I had the great pleasure to meet Grete twice in my time here in NYC, and I can still remember the way my palms got sweaty and I became speechless at the thought of meeting a hero of mine. I consider myself lucky just to have been in her presence, not to mention seeing her interact with the kids I coached at an elementary school in the city. The first time I saw Grete in person was at the NYRR Run with Champions which happens every year a few days before the marathon. It is a big day in Central Park where all of the Young Runners teams gather and have a few races, eat lunch and then get to hear some marathon greats give their running advice. In 2008, the first year I ran NYCM, Grete was part of the panel of speakers along with some other amazing current marathoners. In her cool Norwegian accent, she told the kids to follow their dreams and work hard for what they wanted in life. I'm sure she told them other things too, but I was too starstruck to remember. The photos in this post are from that event. I remember explaining to some of the young girls on the team exactly who Grete Waitz was, and hopefully some of the awe in my voice conveyed just how important she was to opening up the world of running to them. I know they were impressed when they heard how many times she'd won the marathon, but then again who isn't?

I cannot for the life of me remember the details of where my second encounter with Grete took place, but I distinctly remember her wearing a rose colored fleece jacket and me standing behind her going "oh my god, it's Grete Waitz!!" I am almost certain that someone took a photo of the two of us, but I can't find it anywhere. It may have been at the marathon expo in 2008, it may have been at an end of year event for the coaches and staff of the NYRR Youth Programs, I simply cannot remember anything but her serene presence and the grace with which she greeted all of her many fans, myself included. I know I babbled something about running the marathon and running and her being an inspiration. It was truly an honor just to be in the same room with her.

What a woman. As Fred Lebow used to call her, she was "The Queen of the Road" and she will truly be missed. Thank you Grete for all you did for us girls.

For other great blog posts abour Grete, check out Races Like a Girl's post.

Ahh the marathon...

It is sweetest when it is all over and done with. The soreness has peaked and is beginning to slowly recede, so it is time to share the story of a 26.2 mile journey that began on a windy bridge in Staten Island.

The day began on Staten Island with a few hours of relaxing and chatting while dressed in soccer mom-looking sweats and a NY Yankees poncho. In case you were living under a rock and missed it, the plan was for EG and I to run together this year, a decision we made many months ago. As we were cruelly locked out of Wave 1 by a not-well-advertised 8:55 closing time, we stood around for an extra half hour before the race as we waited for Wave 2 to start at 10:10am. Looking back, I blame that for all that went wrong during the race. Ha. If only.

The race began on what has been called "The greatest start in sports" on the Verrazano bridge which was windy and chilly and strewn with discarded clothes from runners who went before us. Don't they know your clothes cant be donated if you toss them on the bridge? The gall. So off we went on the uphill climb with incredible people all around us. There was a blind runner to our right, a double amputee in front of us and just the buzz of adrenaline and excitement all around. Despite the chill we tackled the uphill and the crowds in 8:45 and whizzed down towards Brooklyn in 7:29. A lil quick, but we quickly settled down, cranking out the next few miles all around 8:10 despite the urge to surge ahead in the excitement of the wonderful and amazing Brooklyn. I swear it, half a million folks in Brooklyn yelled out my name as I ran by, I wish I could have hugged them all, but there was work to be done. Mile 5 brought a glimpse of my hubby and Mom cheering us on. They snapped this awesome pic:

Brooklyn continued on in the same fashion, I was in awe of the support and excitement there and I frequently commented on how great the crowds were. We trekked along 4th, Lafayette and Bedford Aves with ease, spotting EG's parents at mile 8. We knew our next "fan" was TK at mile 14. As we schlepped through the quiet parts of Williamsburg (actually welcomed silence after the continuous crowds of Fort Greene/Clinton Hill that made us want to speed up) I began to make a connection between my beloved chewy snacks and the nausea I was starting to feel. Boo. I tossed them off to the side (sorry environment) at mile 12 or so to prevent any temptation to try them again. Bummer, I trained so well with those too.

As we made our way into Queens we were hit with more great cheers and excitement and even more folks screaming my name. I joked at one point that they'd probably seen my article on DNAInfo.com and that's why they were cheering. It had nothing to do with the giant letters across my chest, definitely not. After one particularly long string of "Go Amy" cheers, I goofed around and said, "I'd like to thank my many fans..." The miles were getting to my brain and making me goofy. In Queens my eyes were peeled for TK and also for Josh who we expected to see, and thank goodness we saw them- it was a nice boost before the big bridge. As we neared the bridge I remember hoping that there wouldn't be a huge pile of shit on the divider in the center of the bridge this year like there was in '08. Tragically, that is one of my most vivid memories from my first marathon. Yep, gross. Luckily there was no poo this time and the bridge felt great, it felt like we breezed over and down into Manhattan. I suggested a quick pee break at the bottom of the bridge and EG let me keep my promise of not peeing on myself.

Manhattan offered up everything it had on Sunday, the people were out in full force cheering, screaming, waving funny signs and just going nuts. We held it together and kept the pace close to 8:20 for a few miles, knowing that my Mom and Hubby were waiting at mile 18 at 95th st. They nearly missed us because they weren't expecting us so soon, but hubby managed to snap our still smiling, though strained, faces. It was shortly after seeing them, heading into the Bronx that things started to come undone. I'd stopped checking my watch at mile markers around mile 19 because I was running as hard as I could, so why bother peeking if it was going to make me feel bad? (I should have looked- 18 and 19 were 8:24, I'd have been happy.) As we crossed the Willis Ave bridge into the Bronx a very sad thing happened: we were passed by the 3:40 pace group. I was in some sort of denial and was trying to convince myself that they were going too fast and we'd be able to catch them in a bit. If only I could make the nausea stop..it was getting really bad at this point.

Crossing back into Manhattan and beginning the schlep through Harlem was where things got hard. Not like "hitting the wall" hard, but "I'm going to barf all over" hard. I was torn between barfing and hoping it would make me feel better and sucking it up. In the end I didn't barf, but it was very touch and go there for a bit. Sipping water helped for a few minutes, but it always came back. We made a pit stop for EG somewhere along the way in the W100's and my legs tightened up immediately as I focused on not puking on the sidewalk. Damn, this point in the race was so much better in '08. Most of the UES is a blur as we made our way down 5th Ave towards my family and the Inwood Hill Runners and ultimately Central Park.

As hubby and Mom waited for us along 5th Ave at 95th, they captured a few fun shots including a few celebs. While he missed Bobby Flay (who was apparently just ahead of us the whole time) he managed to spot and capture Jennifer Carpenter who was running with a fellow Dexter character from this season, Jonny Lee Miller. We LOVE that show, so it was awesome to see the pics afterwards. They ran a 3:34.

Jonny on the left in the Team Continuum jersey, JC in grey

Jennifer working hard at mile 23, aka Debra Morgan from Dexter

Also: Assman walking

After we snagged some tangerine slices from my Mom at mile 23.25 we passed an enthusiastic Inwood Hill Runners crew just before entering Central Park. I was hurting. My legs didn't want to keep going, neither did my head. Can you see the anguish as I snag the tangerine from Mom's hand?

Trust me, I was in a BAD place. Luckily for me, I had EG by my side. She knew I was struggling without my saying a word and she started talking to me, encouraging me and just helping me push through the "I want to STOP" that was going through my head. I'm not sure what I would have done without her there, honestly. I mean it, I didn't care that I'd come 24 miles already and only had 2 to go, I had no desire to keep going. There was a small voice in the back of my head battling that louder voice, but without E's help, I may not have made it. I got an awful pain in my upper chest during mile 24 and I pictured myself keeling over with a heart attack (Don't worry, I knew the pain was not actually "chest pains" or I would have stopped.) Somehow she knew just what I needed to hear and she leaned close and just simply said "fight". Something snapped in my head and I began to see a little more clearly- we only had a mile to go!!! Mile 25 was relatively strong, we brought it back down to an 8:50 (from an embarrassing 9:32 mile 24) and passed quite a few people.

Entering the park was bittersweet, but looking back I think it was mostly sweet at the time, just bitter thinking about it now. I said "oh my god, I can't believe we made it here" and I meant it. As we ran along Central Park south I remember thinking that I was giving 100% with every CELL in my body. It was taking everything I had to finish. We crossed the line together at 3:46:54 and despite missing my goal by 11 minutes, I was elated. I got a huge 17 minute PR and I FINISHED without puking. Win, win, win.

While tons of folks have asked me "how did it go?!" the last few days my answer has varied. The runners I am close to know that I missed my A and B goals (3:35 and sub 3:40) but they know what it can be like to have a shitty day. Others hear my time and are out of their minds with excitement because they don't know anyone who has ever run that fast (or maybe far) before. Yesterday our building Super asked how it was and all I could think of was "it was long", what a lame answer. He was happy for me when he heard my time though. My own feelings about the 3:46 are mixed. Most of the time I'm happy with it, other times I'm bummed because I missed my goal, but that usually passes quickly. I do know that I received tons of really supportive emails, texts, phone calls, facebook messages and tweets over the last few days. Thank you all. I plan on relaxing this week and next (and the next) with my feet up, red wine in hand and a good book and cat in my lap. I'm no longer training for a marathon. Wahoo!

Good luck to my brother, Todd and his wife Heather who are running their first marathon in the Outer Banks this coming weekend! I'm really excited for them, they've been training hard and I'm sure it is going to pay off on Sunday. Congrats to all of the other 44,000 NYC marathon finishers, you rock! A special thanks, of course, to my awesome friend E who stuck by my side and made great company for the 26.2 mile journey. I couldn't have done it without you (nor would I have wanted to!)

The numbers:

Place

Gender Place

Age Place

Runner No.

First Name

Last Name

Age

Team

State/ Country

Finish Time

5 km

10 km

15 km

20 km

13.1 mi

9530

1689

337

16708

AMY

C

27F

NY

USA

03:46:54

00:25:20

00:50:51

01:16:47

01:42:47

01:48:36

25 km

30 km

35 km

40 km

Minutes per Mile

___02:09:30_______02:36:27 _____03:05:18_____03:34:15____08:40

NYC Marathon Article

Earlier this week a local journalist from Inwood asked if she could interview me for an article about the upcoming NYC marathon and I gladly agreed. Having followed Carla's blog, The Streets Where we Live, for years I knew I could count on her for a great article. She has also been writing for DNAInfo.com, a NYC-centric news site where you can get specific news for your neighborhood or the city in general. Since she began writing for DNA, I've been using it as a daily source of info for what's going on around the neighborhood. On Wednesday I met up with the lovely Carla (you can follow her on twitter @CarlaZanoni) and we talked and took some photos in nearby Fort Tryon Park where I do a lot of my training. I have to thank her because the article is really sweet and honest and it has already brought a ton of traffic to my little blog. Please check out her blog and DNAinfo as well, they're both great reads especially for those in our little community of Northern Manhattan.

Here's the link to the article: The Heights Proves Perfect Training Ground for Uptown Runner and Online Friends

Expo Goodies

I stopped by the NYC Marathon expo yesterday after work before most of the crowds arrived so I had plenty of time to walk around and stare at all of the goodies. I thought I'd share some of my goodies with you including the bib # in case you're planning on tracking athletes and want to add me to the list. It really helps to know that people are rooting for you when you're out there on the course. You can sort of hear them in your head yelling at you to keep it up or (god forbid) pick it up and you can always be sure that no one is yelling "You're almost there!"

First, a frame that lives on my nightstand and has been there for 2 years- the damn cat knocked it over this morning and made a loud clatter as it crashed to the floor. Maybe he was trying to to tell me something?

My plan going into the expo was to make sure I didn't spend too much on unnecessary "stuff" but I wanted to buy a new sweatshirt and some more of my favorite Asics marathon gloves. Despite finding about 5 shirts that I could swear I "neeeeed", I escaped with what I went in for. There was only ONE style of sweatshirt being sold at the expo, luckily I liked it. Matisse seems to like it too...

Some of the other free stuff I walked away with along with my gloves. I was picking out my gloves when a man came up and started asking me questions about running with gloves. He said he was from Texas and had no idea what to look for in a pair of gloves. I assured him that I run in the Asics gloves all of the time and love them. I think he got a blue pair in the end, but I'm almost certain that he'll freeze to death on Sunday morning.

My bib and blue D-tag. I like the blue, it's a nice change of pace from the usual orange. As for the bib, I will snag some saftey pins from bibs that I have here from some of my better races this past yr. I did the same thing last time I ran the marathon, it was a little touch that made me smile when I thought of it during the race. I think I'll use pins from my NYC Tri bib, my Harriman tri bib (#2), my PR 4 miler and from my Shamrock half bib. They all have good vibes attached. Am I the only person this OCD? Surely you have superstitions of your own..

The official shirt this year is a nice, subdued dark grey color which I'm happy with but it is a bit dull compared to the '08 shirt which boldly asks "What Does It Take? Heart Pounding Dedication." It sort of looks to me like people running from a fire.

I also bumped into a booth with some running books that caught my eye so I browsed for a second before realizing that the man sitting behind the booth was the famed John L. Parker, Jr. author of one of the most popular running books of all time- Once a Runner. The book ran me through the gamut of emotions and left me exhausted and exhilarated at the end. It has been re-released and no longer sells for $800 like it did just a few years ago. I discussed this with John at the expo and he laughed, telling me that it wasn't something he intended to happen. Anyhow, he has a new book, Again to Carthage that is the sequel to Once a Runner. I decided to snag a copy and he signed it for me. I'll review it when I finish, I plan to read it in my free time post-marathon. Also, if you'd like to borrow my copy of Once a Runner just let me know.

Today I also had the pleasure of meeting Magdalena Lewy Boulet at Paragon Sports. I walked in (again, beat the crowds!) and saw her sitting at a table. I was so starstruck that I was unable to congratulate her on any of her specific accomplishments, but I told her I was a big fan and followed her career. She signed a card for me which says "Dream Big", she's so cute. She's a tiny little thing, but full of spunk with intense blue eyes. Next time I'll prepare for my star sightings by checking to see who will be there so I don't stand and stare with my mouth open.

Explaining myself.

With the marathon just a few days away I find myself fielding lots of questions from interested friends, co-workers and family about all aspects of the race and race day. A common question this week has been along these lines: So, what do you do this week? Do you run/not run? Are you resting all week? How many more times do you run before the big day? As many of you know, the answer varies so much between people and depends on how you are feeling at this point in the game. 2 yrs ago when I ran NYC I had a bad sinus infection the week before and didn't run all week, no biggie. This time I'm feeling good and am going with however I feel, in fact I played soccer last night.

I came up with a good answer today to the variety of questions mentioned above, I told a co-worker this: Nothing you do this week will make any difference on race day, at this point any running is to stay sane. She thought that was a good answer and offered the analogy that it is "like trying to cram for an exam the morning of, it's too late- you either know it or you don't." Excellent analogy for the taper if you ask me. I used the same line about sanity a few more times today and it worked like magic. People understood, even if they couldn't grasp exactly why running keeps you sane in the first place. They get that it probably helps with nerves and staying loose- mentally and physically.

Here we are, 5 days til the starting cannons blast into the sky at Fort Wadsworth. To answer some other questions I've gotten this week: No I am not nervous, Yes I am ready, No I will not pee on myself while running, Yes I'm carbo-loading, Yes I am running for time, and best of all- yes I am EXCITED!

Happy Halloween

This weekend marks our 1 year wedding anniversary so we (read: I) decided that we needed to get away and relax for a few days. We packed up the car with a few warm outfits on Friday and headed north into the foliage covered hills of Orange County, NY. The colors were amazing the entire weekend, it was orange/red/yellow overload! We had some really delicious food (there is such a thing outside of NYC! Who knew?!) and enjoyed what was probably one of the last gorgeous fall weekends outside. A trip to West Point for a tour led us unexpectedly to the bleachers of the home game vs VMI where we cheered hard for Army! Sunday brought us to Storm King Art Center which was honestly one of the coolest places I've visited in a long time. I loved it there. We spent a few hours hiking around the grounds, but not before I snuck in an 8mile run.

A few minutes searching online for a run near Sugarloaf, NY led me to discover the Orange County Heritage trail, an 11 mile pathway between Monroe and Goshen. I snuck out of our cozy B&B early this morning and went on the hunt for some cheap gloves to help me fight off the morning chill. Shop Rite in Chester, NY was a winner and I hit the trail shortly after armed with my gloves, 2008 long sleeve NYC marathon technical tee and shorts and a pocketful of gummy bears. The plan: 8 easy, flat miles with a few marathon pace miles thrown in to keep the legs fresh. My legs were practically BEGGING for a run on Saturday night so the run felt great. Even though it was early I had some company on the trail, I saw a few cyclists in lots of layers, a handful of runners and even more walkers (with and without dogs). I saw 3 very large deer including one that nearly gave me a heart attack as he stood silently on the side of the trail, just feet from me. The leaves were so beautiful that the miles flew by. I got in 8 miles in 1:08 and felt fantastic.

Breakdown:

8:49

8:58 (deer sighting!)

8:19

8:13

8:04 (woah)

8:13

8:34

9:32 (a lil walking and gummy bear snacking)

The run was a good mental boost as the taperworm begins its gnawing at my confidence. Here are a few blackberry shots from the run and one from the real camera of the Chester Rail Depot where I parked.

My finishing spot

The historical Chester Rail Depot

Along the way

The leaves were breathtaking

14 miles with 15 days to go

It seems like just a few weeks ago I was just getting into the groove of marathon training and now here I am 2 weeks away. After a few weeks of a training slump caused by traveling, a cold and general fatigues I finally snapped into training mode and felt revived. I think it had something to do with starting Physical therapy for my knee and low back and finally giving those the attention they need. Luckily PT is kicking my butt and really strengthening my stabilizing muscles in my hips/glutes that are oh-so-important to running. I can definitely feel a difference in my everyday life as well as my running, I'm stronger and not relying on my quads to pull me through. This is definitely a learning experience in the ways that my body compensates for weakness and lack of stability during running. *mental note: never let this happen again.*

So Saturday was my triumphant return to the Inwood Hill group for our weekly Saturday runs. I can't remember my last Sat IHR group run so I decided that it was time to fix that. With a goal of 13-15miles for my final long run I knew I'd need to tack on a few extra miles before and after the run so I started a little early and made a few extra loops through the quiet early morning Inwood streets. It was fun to explore areas that are always way too busy to run at regular times of the day. I met the group around 9 and the 3 of us (small but triumphant return) headed up towards the Broadway bridge that leads to 225th St. Since the 1 train isn't running to the Bronx on the weekends (due to a 2 year project that just began) we had to alter the usual Riverdale route to include a turnaround. The nice thing about the Riverdale route is that it contains some great trail running and we doubled our trails by turning around and running back that way.

The most exciting part of the run was my inaugural run across the newly renovated Henry Hudson bridge pedestrian pathway back to Manhattan! We had a chilly headwind on the bridge, but otherwise the weather was amazing the entire day.

Leaving the group after a solid 7 miles put me at a total of 10miles, yikes 3 or 4 more miles on my own. It is always tough to go from having company to not having anyone by your side. Miles 11 and 12 came and went at a nice pace while watching the football players tackle each other in the dirt at Dyckman Fields (at the northernmost tip of Manhattan). I was feeling good until I hit the Staff St hill when I began to feel hungry and sort of shaky. I couldn't be hungry, I had been fueling like crazy with GU chomps (new watermelon flavor) and a Honey Stinger PB&whey bar all along the way. Damn it. I ate a few more bites of each and pushed through even though I REALLY didn't feel like it. The mental battle was going strong inside my head and lucky for me the "this is good training for mile 20 in a few weeks, just push" voice won. I hit the end of mile 13 and knew that the only thing standing between me and home was a neverending hill from the river up to Fort Washington Ave. For some reason when I hit the hill I perked up a bit and kept a steady pace for the climb. I passed another runner with ease as she struggled up the hill (she was WAY overdressed) and even snatched a kiss from my hubby who was on his way to get a haircut. I had told myself I'd stop at a specific corner close to home but when I got there I glanced at my watch and saw 13.8 miles, no way was I stopping that close to 14. The bad and good thing about my immediate neighborhood is the serious hills, so in order to hit 14 I zipped by the folks heading out for coffee to the bottom of the hill and then turned and zipped by their surprised faces again to a solid 14.03 miles. Total time 2:16 including a handful of water stops. Avg pace 9:42 which is fine by me considering the difficulty of the course.

I'm completely satisfied with my training at this point and I know I've done all I can do but I'm sure the taper will bring its usual insecurities and anguish in the next few days. I run relatively few miles during marathon training, even my peak weeks are only in the high 30's, maybe mid 40's. I'm not even sure if I hit 50 this training cycle because of my knee. So one thing I can be completely sure of is that I'm not in danger of overtraining.

Someone remind me to come back and read this in a few days when I'm going nuts and doubting everything I've done for the last 4 months: I AM READY.

*img from bestbridge.net

Autumn Running in New York

Well, I can't believe it but my wedding is a mere 19 days away! Hence the lack of posts lately. sorry about that, if people would send in their damn RSVP cards on time I'd have a lot more time to myself... I hate to vent here but seriously people, I've already addressed it and stamped it, how hard can it be to pop it in your mailbox? Ok, I'm done. Sorry.

So in more interesting news, Autumn is in full force, at least this week. Hopefully warm weather rolls back around for Halloween (our wedding day!) before settling into the 50's and below. I spotted tons of pumpkins on my trek over to Broadway to pick up some Mums today and they all made me smile. Fall is such a pretty season, I can't wait for the leaves to change. I'm convinced that the best running takes place in the fall because of the crunch of leaves beneath our feet.

Speaking of running, the ING NYC Marathon is fast approaching! I'm not doing it this year because its the day after the wedding (I wanted to, but no one thought it was a good idea) but you can get out and cheer for the 40,000 runners out there giving it their all on this 40th anniversary of the marathon. It's such an amazing experience for both the runners and the spectators. My mom came into the city to cheer for me last year and was BLOWN away by what a good time she had cheering for all of the crazy and amazing runners out there. For more info about volunteering or simply getting out there to cheer everyone on, check out the website: Volunteering for the ING NYC Marathon

These are just a few photos from last years race, what a gorgeous day. I am on my way to securing a spot for next year and I can't wait to do it again.