Hi folks,
Happy Monday! It’s chilly here in New York today but I’m so happy that we finally have daylight at 6:15am again after turning our clocks back in the wee hours yesterday. I love daylight savings for that reason, although I’m not looking forward to seeing darkness at 5 tonight when I leave work. Time to take the flashlight now when walking the dog. Speaking of, yesterday I got up super early (another perk of daylight savings!) and took Duncan to the park. He had been trapped in the house all day Saturday since the rain just never let up. The leaves were peaking and just so gorgeous yesterday.
Then I drove to my boyfriend’s house where I left Duncan to hang with him for the day. Once the doodle drop-off was done I hopped on an 11:30am train to Penn Station and then switched over to the subway to get me up to the north east tip of Central Park, 110th St. and 5th Ave. (gee, sound familiar to my commute to the Dash to the Finish Line 5k on Saturday?) I arrived just a few minutes past 1pm. The weather temps were perfect for running but the winds were way out of control 🙁 I read today that there were wind gusts of 60mph on the Verrazano and 45mph at many other locations along the route. That’s tough for a runner. I’m proud to say that it didn’t deter any of my friends. They all finished!
Happy spectator Sally
Shortly after squeezing in and settling into my official spectator spot my friends started passing through. Some noticed me, others did not. First we had Robin…
Robin was looking for me as I took the picture.
She finally heard me screaming her name and waved! Next up was JD, who was running his first marathon. He was so in his zone he didn’t see me either…
In his zone! JD’s first marathon!
Then I was lucky enough to recognize this guy…
38 year streak! This is 71 year old David Obelkevich
Dave Obelkevich who is 71 years old, has run every NYC Marathon since 1976! I only recognized him in that split second because yesterday morning while having breakfast they had some pre-marathon footage on the news and he was interviewed! Crazy!
Next up was Carey.
Every Mother Counts…especially this girl. She’s run so many marathons getting really close to completing all 50 states.
I even saw Waldo!
I found Waldo!
I missed seeing Cindy somehow but I didn’t miss Lisa. So here’s an AMAZING statistic. In the 43 years that the NYC Marathon has been in existence and with the 1,000,000th runner finishing this year, only 354 women have run the NYC marathon 10 or more times and my friend Lisa, the Lisa that inspired me to start running, is one of those impressive people. Yesterday was her12th NYC Marathon and 51st overall marathon. Can you say UNBELIEVABLE?!!!
Go Lisa Go!
Next up was Jorge with his infamous smile!
It’s so easy!
And last but not least, another loyal NYC marathoner. My friend Pete (1 of 1,947 finishers) has run every year for the last 14 years straight! And get this? His training consists of running basically 3 miles a day every day and then he does a half marathon a month before. Easy peasy!
Go Pete Go!
He even used his camera to take a selfie with me.
photo courtesy of Pete!
I’m so happy that I chose the spot that I did to spectate. It was easy to get to and so full of energy. There was a band playing music and I was in awe of how many runners still looked so strong and effortless at mile 22.5! Here’s a quick 10 second video.
I had such a great time watching from the sidelines. It pumped me up. I’m only one race away from securing my spot next year. I thought I was done running NYC after running it twice but somehow it’s just contagious. If you ever get the opportunity to run it or watch it DO IT! Trust me, you won’t ever regret it =)
Hope your week starts off well.
Have you ever run the NYC Marathon?
Have you ever spectated at a big race?
That looks fun! You were able to get great pictures of your friends.
So when you say you are one race away from entry into the NYC marathon, what does that mean?
I was looking at the entry requirements on Sunday, it looks like a lottery, and qualifying times?
Did you get to see the elites go by? I would like to see that sometime, I just can’t fathom how fast they race!
Hi Cheryl,
I am a member of the New York Road Runners and they have a guaranteed entry program called the 9+1. Basically, I run 9 New York Road Runner events and volunteer at one additional event in a calendar year to get guaranteed entry for the following year. It basically only benefits those who live close enough to run their races since the majority of them are in Central Park. Here’s a link to all the details http://www.nyrr.org/join-and-give/become-a-member/run-9-give-1
Gosh I would love to do the NYCM some year!! You rock for being out there cheering runners on, its always so great to have support on the course 🙂
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