Pain is temporary…
This was my mantra today while I made the long run of the ING New York City Marathon 2006.
Everything began very early in the morning when I woke up to do my isolated stretching exercises, have a light breakfast, drink plenty of water and meditate a bit just before Poli, Javier and I traveled all the way down Manhattan. We headed to the station where we boarded the ferry that took us to Staten Island. Once on the other side of the river, a shuttle bus left us a few blocks away from the marathon start.
Poli & Javier left me at the corrals entrance in Fort Wadsworth and wished me luck for the rest of the journey. At the place I met Jorge, another mexican who was also entering the race and we arranged to run it together. After an hour of talking and keeping warm, the moment arrived to approach the start line. An enormous sensation of anxiety, doubt and happiness flowed through my body. I was about to participate in one of the most famous races in the world.
By 10:10 a.m. the gun was fired and the platoon began to move across the starting line. The atmosphere while we ran over the Verrazano-Narrows bridge was extremely exciting, all of us were very motivated and positive about the whole marathon route.
Once we got to the other side of the bridge we entered Brooklyn and made a few turns until reaching the 4th Avenue, which we ran up for 5 miles straightaway to the Queens area. Running through Brooklyn was a great experience as it is an extremely ethnically diverse borough; we crossed a few latin, asian, afro-american, jewish and polish neighborhoods. At this point Jorge and I were in excellent conditions, beginning to rehydrate and enjoying people’s cheerings.
After passing the halfway point of the marathon (km 21) we entered Queens and made a few turns until reaching the Queensboro bridge; this part of the race was a bit more into the industrial area of the city. At some point before this, I lost track of Jorge while he stopped to tighten his shoelaces and I never got contact with him for the rest of the race. I silently wished him luck and continued my race.
We finished crossing the Queensboro bridge and just after its exiting turn, the whole platoon was received by a huge amount of people who were waiting to cheer us at the entrance of the Manhattan borough.
We entered Manhattan’s 1st Avenue and then begun the physical hard part of the race. The route here was completely straight for another 5 miles on our way to the Bronx. During the long course in this exciting setting, at some point around km 30 I finally “
hit the wall“. This was the moment where fatigue became present and my body began to suffer the consequences of the hard effort.
Until that moment I was running at a very comfortable but steady pace, at about 10.5 km per hour. When I was about to complete my 3rd hour of running, a sudden sensation of burning in my thighs appeared and after that, an extremely painful set of cramps happened, forcing me to walk by the side of the platoon. Here I ate some energy gels, drank a lot of Gatorade and meditated as I slowly walked for almost a kilometer to the bridge that took us to the Bronx.
Once at the Bronx, I began running again (after almost 20 minutes of walking with cramps!). I began at a very slow rhythm, waiting for sugar from energy gels to enter my blood and relieve a little bit of the pain in my thighs. The route only covered a very small area of the Bronx, letting us enjoy the views of some of its neighborhoods and the Yankee stadium.
When I reached the Madison Avenue bridge, it was the cheering of a small group of children which gave me the necessary motivation to get back to Manhattan and run the rest of the race without mental limitations.
We entered Manhattan by the 5th Avenue and straight to Central Park. Here the route had a slight elevation and a lot of runners were walking by the sides due to physical exhaustion. This was the psychological hard part of the race for me, but I was really into it and tried to keep my motivation high; somehow it worked… I never stopped again for the rest of the race.
We entered Central Park and the sensation of closeness to the finish line was a huge motivation for all of us; the effect of this was something compared to what we climbers know as “summit fever”. I fastened my pace while I ran across the beautiful Central Park. The autumnal atmosphere and the positive ambiance of the people kept me motivated through the last kilometers of the race.
The finish line became visible after a few turns in and out Central Park. The final meters and the sensation of accomplishment exploded into a huge smile in my face as I ran across the finish line at 4:36:52. The dream came true, the sum of all the hard work from the past months of training became something real. I was extremely happy and thankful.
After picking up my medal at the finish line, I met Poli & Javier and went to the apartment to take a well-deserved shower. Tonight we celebrated the success of our mission: theirs was to arrange all the necessary stuff to take me to the starting line and to get me into the race; mine was to overcome my limits and to do my best effort while enjoying one of the most memorable sports events in the world
When inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds: your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed to be.
- Pantanjali, 150 A.D.
