Hey there. Hope everyone had a great weekend.
The weather here in New York/New Jersey was awesome and we also got an extra hour thanks to Daylight Saving. Oh, and there was this little marathon with 50,000+ runners yesterday too 😉
On Saturday, Mr. SOTSS and I took the dogs to Asbury Park (New Jersey) to stroll the boardwalk and let the dogs play at the beach. I love the Jersey Shore “off-season”.
Yesterday I traveled into the city to spectate the 2016 NYC Marathon.
I met up with my friend’s husband and we split our time between mile 23.5 and mile 18. I saw some people I didn’t expect to see and some I very much did expect to see. I saw NYC Running Mama around mile 23.5. She was on fire and went on to set a 5 minute PR finishing in 3:07 something. And then I noticed Dean Karnazes. Running celebrity in the ultra marathoning world for sure.
I got to meet Colene in person finally! I met her “virtually” on Facebook in 2013 through a running group page she used to organize but had to wait 3 years to meet her in person. She lives on the west coast. Congrats to you girl.
I spotted my friend Erin at mile 18 too…
After hanging at the Mile 18 mark for a while we headed back to 5th Ave (Mile 23.5) to catch Lisa Valerie and Mike again. I spotted Jorge. I also got to see my friend Cathy. It was her birthday yesterday too!
And without fail I felt so many emotions surfaced. I have run the NYC Marathon 3 time, so I know very well the pain you feel on 5th Ave as you head back into Manhattan from the Bronx. I remember the amazing crowds and awesome volunteers who made me feel like a rock star. But when you’re spectating you can really see the mass of runners in such a different way. From runners with visible physical challenges to not visible personal challenges to longtime marathoners with streaks upwards of 30+ marathons and other’s proud to run their first. I could see determination, joy, pain and grit on the faces of every runner….something I don’t get to see while I’m actually running (although I do get to read the backs of shirts!).
It really was a fun day. And might I add almost as exhausting as running the marathon HA!
Hope you all have a good week.
So many wonderful pictures! As someone who’s never run NYC, you made me feel like I was there. Thanks for sharing!
🙂
I really need to get into the city to spectate one year. I live way too close not to, and it looks so inspiring 🙂
Join me next year!
Oh my days I hear you on the emotions! I spectated the London Marathon this year, as several of my friends were running it, and my running club friends actually live on the course. I got so emotional. It was only two weeks after my own (disastrous) marathon effort and I definitely had the feels! Plus a big event like that takes over the whole city and it’s great to see everyone banding together to either run or cheer.
I always wondered what living on a marathon course must be like.
It must be so nice being able to the shore without the usual amount of foot traffic. I rarely spectate races since I would much rather be running. But I did get to checkout a 5k my boyfriend was running and it was really nice and relaxing 🙂
that’s true!
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