This year the NYC Half Marathon fell on March 17, St Patrick’s Day! The city was already busy with the St Patrick’s Day Parade when I arrived in New York Saturday morning. It was my seventh in-person NYC Half, all of them for the Children’s Tumor Foundation.
I got in early enough to catch a CTF NF Endurance Team meet-up.
Our team captain, Lydia, had already picked up my bib for me so I didn’t have to battle the parade crowds on Fifth Avenue, where the Expo also happened to be held. At my request, she got a picture of herself with my bib and a photo of my name on the NYRR wall.
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| Team captain Lydia (R) with Barbara Gallagher, a VP at CTF, who also ran! |
Saturday afternoon I rested in my hotel with my feet up and
went over my plans for race morning. At
one point I had to consult with a native New Yorker, my dear friend and college
roommate, Dara, to confirm that I was reading the subway schedule right. The train I had planned to take from my hotel
to the race start was under construction, and it wasn’t clear to me which stops
were affected. She reassured me that I
had picked the right route and station, but expressed concern about me riding
the subway alone on a Sunday morning before sun-up. I told her not to worry, that I was confident
there would be plenty of other runners riding with me.
Sure enough, Sunday morning about two dozen other runners
got on the 6:05am train with me at 50th street, and the train itself was
already standing room only with other runners!
(Dara later commented “Y’all are an odd bunch!”)
(On a side note, I had also asked Dara to wish me luck that my knee would hold up during the race. She sent me this screenshot of her calendar.)
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| My start time was 8:20am :) Who could ask for a better friend? |
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| Obligatory Flat Runner shot |
We couldn’t have asked for better weather—partly cloudy, 50 degrees, and dry—unlike the frigid temps we had last year. I arrived at the starting area in Prospect Park, Brooklyn in plenty of time to hydrate and use the ubiquitous Port-a-Potties before my corral opened. While I was waiting around, I saw another woman wearing a Children’s Tumor Foundation shirt, someone I didn’t recognize from our team. I hailed her down and introduced myself. Her name was Sasha and it turns out she had been running for CTF for several years (ctf.org/news/nfe-athlete-spotlight-sasha-drebskaya). She has three young children with NF, and only learned after her children were diagnosed that she herself has NF. I was thrilled to meet her!
As usual, the NYC Half was part road race, part tour of the city. We ran from Prospect Park to Central Park in Manhattan via the Manhattan Bridge. We passed through both Grand Army Plazas, past Grand Central, and through Times Square. And—thanks to Dara’s prayers to the Knee Goddess I’m sure--my knee didn’t bother me for the whole 13.1 miles. Being St Patrick’s Day, there was lots of green and lots of Irish-themed signs held by spectators, with messages like “You sham-rock!” and “There’s a Pot o’ Gold at the finish line!” and, most popular, “Hurry up and finish so we can drink! Sláinte!” In Times Square, another spectator, channeling John Cena at the Oscars, was apparently nude and holding over his private parts a sign that read, “Run faster or I’ll drop this sign!”
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| Running over the Manhattan Bridge |
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| In front of One World Trade Center |
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| Running up FDR Drive on the East Side |
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| Lydia and our cheer team were waiting for me in front of the CTF offices in the Chrysler Building! |
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| Past Grand Central Station on 42nd Street |
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| Done! |
We learned after the race that Lil Nas X had joined us! Unlike most celebrity runners, he even registered under his real name, Montero Hill.
We also learned that more than 27,000 runners participated in the race this year—the largest field ever for a NYC Half Marathon!
Incidentally, March 17 was significant in one more way: it was Henri’s fourth birthday! Helen bought him a treat to celebrate.
