Adventures in London: Issue 67 (Special NYC Marathon Edition)

1 Nov 2009 marked the 40th running of the NYC Marathon. The first running of the marathon was back in 1970, with race directors & NYRR presidents Fred Lebow & Vince Chiappetta. Fred Lebow invested only $300 of his own money for the frist marathon with 55 finishers and a 100 spectators. Today, the ING NYC Marathon is one of the largest marathon in the world attracting over 40,000 runners and 2 million spectators and is apart of the World Marathon Majors.

On the first Sunday of November, runners gather at the Verrazano Bridge to run the 26.2 mile course taking them through all five boroughs of New York City. This, however, was not always the case. The initial course in 1970 were repeats of Central Park. If you thought a 5K in Track N Field was torture, then I cannot even imagine the mundane exercise of running that course. Thankfully, the course now travels through the streets of Brooklyn for 11 miles passing through Park Slope, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, etc. At the half marathon point, the course enters into Long Island City, Queens for the next 2 1/2 miles. This is the pinnacle point in the marathon as at 16 miles, when runners begin to question their decision to enter the race, the course crosses the Queensboro Bridge into Manhathan. Runners then travel along first avenue north into the Bronx for a mile before returning to Manhathan and around Central Park finishing at Tavern on the Green.

In 39 years, the marathon has seen a number of memorable moments including Grete Waltz winning the marathon in 1972 in 2:32:30. She later won an unprecedented 9 times. The marathon also accidentally gave the infamous Rosie Ruiz a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon where she broke the record time. We have Rosie to thank for the checkpoints in races to ensure that each runner actually RUNS the entire course and is not taking the tube, or the T or the subway to the finish line. In 2000, the wheelchair race was officially introduced in the marathon. Two years later, the marathon start schedule changed allowed the elite women a 35 minute head-start.

I started watching, cheering and photographing in 2005. I missed the 2004 marathon as I was in Florida visiting family friends with my Mom. It would have been great to see the closest women's finish in history between Paula Radcliffe and Susan Chepkemei. I may not have been there for that race, but I have been there ever since..

2005 was an exciting race. It marked Mary Wittenberg's first event as NYRR CEO. She was also became the first woman director of an international marathon. That year had the most amasing men's finish between Paul Tergat and Hendrick Ramaala. Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia won the women's race in 2:24:41 making it her first marathon win. Within the race pack were Deratu Tulu, Gete Wami, Salina Kosgei, Lornah Kiplagat, Susan Chepemei, Ludmilla Petrova. The top American finisher was long distance olympian runner Jen Rhines (pictured to the left) and ironically Magda Lewy-Boulet (whom I later had the pleasure of meeting in 2008 at the NYRR's USA Women's marathon meet-n-greet in Central Park).

In 2006, Jelena Prokopcuka won the marathon with a time of 2:25:05 making her the first woman since Kenya's Telga Laroupe to win back-to-back marathons. Personally this race marked the start of my annual tradition of watching the race from the 17th/18th mile marker on first ave and then the 23rd/24th marker in Central Park - many thanks to CJG for introducing me to these spots. That year I had the sincere pleasure of cheering along side my friend as well as capturing photos of Catherine Ndbereba, Lidiya Grigoryeva, Susan Chepkemei, Lornah Kiplagat, Madga Lewy-Boulet, Marilson Gomes Dos Santos, Paul Tergat, and of course the American record holder Deena Kastor (it was absolutely brilliant to see Deena running a mere 5 feet away from you). Deena without doubt was the favorite to win that year, but just like any of us - we have bad days and that Sunday was not Deena's. For Brasillian runner Marilson Gomes Dos Santos, he became the first South American runner to win the race in 2:09:58. The marathon also included 7-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong along side his runner coach Joan Benoit.

2007 was the year that I was waiting for. I finally got to see the legendary Paula Radcliffe run the marathon. I don't think there are words to capture the feeling of seeing one of your idols running. Now I had my set - I had seen Catherine the Great, the American Sweetheart Deena Kastor and Britian's running Queen Paula. That year was an interesting race as it was truly a fight to the end for both the women's and men's race. On the women's side, the marathon was one of the deepest elite pack with Jelena Prokopcuka, Catherine Ndereba, Gete Wami, Lidiya Grigoryeva, Elva Dryer, and Telga Loroupe. Not only was this the race to the be the NYC Marathon champion, but it was the race to determine the World Marathon Major champion. All the ladies had a reason to give it their all - this was Paula's first marathon since childbirth, Gete was racing only 34 days after winning the Berlin marathon, and Jelena was looking to become a 3 time NYC marathon winner. Paula ended up winning the marathon with Gete claiming the $500,000 world marathon majors prize.

On the men's side, the race was just as intense with four former NYC Marathon champions with Martin Lel, Rodger Rop, Hendrick Ramaala, and Marilson Gomes dos Santos. Without pacesetters this year, it was up to the men to make their own race and Martin Lel, Abderrahim Goumri did just that. A repeat outcome of the 2007 London Marathon, Lel won the race with Goumri as the runner up. The race followed the men's olympic marathon trials the day before. I did not go to see the marathon trials (as I wanted to, probably because of some lame reason), but I will always remember the race. The Olympic Marathon trials marked the last race for Ryan Shay, one of America's great distance runners. A little under 10K into the race, Ryan Shay collapsed and was taken to the hospital where it was pronounced that he died of a massive heart attack from an enlarged heart. It was stories like this, that made me decide no to risk running. The marathon is going to test the body enough, I did not need it testing my heart and the doctor's "advice" thus far.

Well you already know about the 2008 marathon recap from issue 15 so I will move onto the 2009 marathon. What was supposed to be MY marathon. I knew that being in NYC that weekend was going to be tasking and I even debated not coming in cause I did not know if I could handle being in NYC, but I also knew that I did not want to be any other place. Within 30 seconds of leaving JFK airport the tear started when I saw a "welcome to NYC marathoners" sign. Was the rest of the weekend going to be like this? More or less it was. I had a superpower that weekend to notice EVERY marathoner on the street carrying their race bags. Just could not escape it on Thursday and Friday afternoon so I did it. Call me what you want, but I went to the NYC marathon Expo in the Javit Center. I had to see what my marathon was going to look like - what the 40th NYC Marathon medal looked like, what it would have felt like to collect my race-packet, etc. I had been counting down to that day ever since going to the London marathon expo with SH. I tried to hold myself together while I entered the expo. I made it a good 10 minutes before I started balling in the middle of the expo. Would I ever get a chance to collect a NYC marathon race packet? Would I ever be able to race again? Run again? I did not know the answers to these questions and that scared me beyond belief. With the support from my mom and the kind words from a lady in her 50s I collected my spirits back. May not be the 40th running of the marathon, but it would the 40th anniversary of the race that I would run! No one was going to take my dream from me.

We all have our dreams and goals and in life their will always be challenges and obstacles. It is what we do when faced with one that defines who we are. At the slightest hiccup we can walk away or we can fight. I feel like I walked away in some senses. However I also know that I had much to risk if I did decided to foolishly run the marathon. Could have I finished? Would everything be okay? Well we will never know...

A lady who decided to fight through the challenge was Paula. She bowed out of the London marathon and later the IAAF marathon in Berlin due to injury. It is not an easy task to accept when you are not 100% and are unable to perform as your optimal. This race, she went for it. Despite calling Mary Wittenberg a week prior with leg pains, she still ran the tasking 26.2 course around New York City.

She had a strong first half of the marathon, but she was accompanied with a pack of women who were going to give her a fight. A rather "unknown" pack of runners, I figured the outcome was certain for the women's race. Just goes to show - there are no certainties in the marathon. Yuri Kano and Salina Kosgei were the two other contenders to win the marathon, but a slip 5K into the race took Kano (and eventually Kosgei) out of contention for winning. The race was between Paula, Deratu Tulu, Ludmila Petrova and Christelle Daunay. Paula as expected led the race for the most part, but after crossing the 20K marker Paula began to fade due to hurt hip and hamstring. Some people say that marathon running is a individualistic sport, but what they don't realise is the team work involved. I have such respect for these marathon women runners, especially Deratu Tulu. I have a new appreciation for her and I am gutted that I was unable to capture a proper picture of her.

Deratu Tulu, 37 years old, from Ethiopia had not won a marathon since 2001. This race was her certainly part of her come back. She was going up against one of her rivals Paula Radcliffe. Yet despite this "rivalry", when Tulu noticed that Paula was starting to fade behind the pack, she held back to encourage Paula along. It takes a class act with a bucket full of confidence to do that. Tulu taught everyone a lesson of respect and dignity. Once it was clear that Paula's story of 3 times consecutive winner was not going to be printed, Tulu joined the lead pack and battled it to the finish with Ludimilla. As the two older ladies of the marathon field they showed us all the age means nothing when it comes to marathon running. The two ladies took to the lead and pushed the pace of the race. At a mile left to go, Tulu made her move and "easily" ran to the finish becoming the first Ethiopian female to win the NYC marathon. Christelle Daunay finished third with Paula running her slowest NYC marathon by nearly 6 minutes to finish fourth. It was certainly a race that no one expected - especially me. When the lead pack ran by and Paula was not leading I felt as if the earth was pulling out from under my feet. There in the midst of all the "fans", I cried. I quickly composed myself to take photos the script that was being written in front of my eyes.

The outcome of the women's race however was quickly overshadowed by the amasing outcome of the men's race. With Martin Lel out of the race, the field was open game. Packed with one of the richest pack of elite marathoners, the men's race was what the 2009 marathon will be remembered for. Years from now, when people look back on the 40th running of the NYC Marathon they will remember three letters, M-E-B. Meb Keflezzighi proved that Americans can compete and beat some of the best marathoners in the world. In fact, the day was all about the American male marathoners with six finishers in the top ten; including Ryan Hall (who broke the Olympic marathon record in 2008, he was also one Ryan Shay's close friends).

102,486 applied to run the the 2009 NYC Marathon. 43,741 participants started the race and 43,475 runners finished. With a completion rate of 99.4%, the race marker the largest number of finishers in its history representing 110 countries. Italy and France had the highest number of non-USA finishers with nearly 3,000 runners. With 6,700 marathoners running for a cause, $24 million was raised for charity. Amongst the pack was the American legend Joan Benoit. At the age of 52, Joan broke the US women's 50+ marathon record with a time of 2:49:08. Joan held the American marathon record for 18 years with her 1985 win of the Chicago marathon in 2:21:21. She is most known for winning the first Olympic marathon at the 1984 summer games in LA. Despite retiring from the marathon, she continues to run and "competitively run". She is an inspiration to any long-distance runner.... just goes to show nothing is impossible.

Well that is it. Most of you probably stopped reading after the heading, but this blog entry was honestly intended for one reader - TK this one's for you. It was a pleasure to see you while I was in NYC. I am glad we got the chance to catch up in person and not over BB while watching various marathon from our respective locations.

Miss you all and love you more

xoxo

T