marathon week 2011: everything BUT the marathon.

marathon week is quite possibly the most exciting week to be in nyc.  i love seeing the marathon signs lined up on the streets, the marathon ads on buses and in subways, the finish line up in central park.  the city takes on a whole new vibe and it is absolutely incredible.

thursday night i headed down to the marathon expo.  thursday is definitely the better day to go as i was actually able to walk around and enjoy myself.  the past two years i went on saturday.  bad, bad idea.

i walked out of the expo with the following:

• 2 pairs of asics gloves (one for mom, one for me)
• a marathon beer glass for dad
• a t-shirt for john
• a hot pink marathon running shirt for me 
• 2 tubes of nuun tablets and a (free!) nuun water bottle

friday night i fell asleep early, woke up to let seth in, and then went back to bed. saturday morning, my rents and my brother came in and we headed downtown to my uncle ronnie's awesome apartment near the finish line. it was such a relaxing day as all i did was sit on the couch, watch the michigan football game, and eat some food.  good looks.

after the game, we walked over to sambuca's where everyone carb-loaded for the marathon.  yea, that's right, my family and friends carb-load with me.  isn't it great that i have people who are willing to consume large portions of amazing pasta just so i don't have to eat alone? they are so selfless, i tell you.  

after dinner, we decided to walk over to the finish line since it was so close and neither john nor sunim has ever seen the finish.

i wanted to get even closer so we walked to right in front of the finish line.  everything was starting to feel real and it truly began to hit me that come tomorrow morning, i'd be running 26.2 miles with this exact spot in mind.  also, it was really weird how small the finish line looked.  i always remembered it being so much bigger.  (note: sunday when i ran through it around 3:30pm, it looked humongous).

we had bought tickets to see moneyball at lincoln center so we walked over to broadway from the finish line area.  i figured it was still early enough that i wasn't going to want to go to bed but i knew that i needed to be sitting down and relaxing.  a movie just seemed like the perfect choice.  also, moneyball is an awesome movie.  go see it.

after the movie, my parents went back to ronnie's apartment and i dropped seth and john off at harlem tavern, figuring they could go out and do their own carb-loading while i took a shower, got everything ready for the morning, and went to bed.  

unfortunately, those two are idiots and couldn't work my key to get into my apartment and i ended up having to get up to let them in around 1:30am.  FORTUNATELY FOR THEM, i was able to fall back asleep.  if i hadn't, i would have unleashed the wrath of a 1,000 suns on them.  

my alarm went off at 4:37 (totally normal time to set your alarm to), and i got myself out of bed.  thank you, daylight savings, for being the weekend of the marathon and allowing me an extra hour of sleep.  i had set up everything perfectly the night before so i was literally ready within minutes and was able to sit on my bed and relax until my car was due to come at 5:30am.

so glad i chose to run in the shorts. it was hot out!

i left my apartment before 5:30 so that i could wait in the lobby for the car to show up. when i got down the stairs, i see he-who-must-not-be-named sitting on the front steps. thank god he was there because the car never showed up and when i called, the dispatch woman told me that they were running on "more than an hour delay." UHHH HELLO?!? WAS SOMEONE GOING TO CALL ME?! DO YOU THINK I'M GOING TO THE PUBLIC LIBRARY AT 6AM TO READ A BOOK?!? I HAVE SOMEWHERE TO GO!

after lots of freaking out, he-who-must-not-be-named was able to run down a car and we were off to the public library to put me on a bus to staten island.  the bus system was surprisingly organized and well run.  had i known that this is what the bus was like, i probably wouldn't have freaked out as much as i had.  but ya know what, i was running a marathon that day, i'm allowed to be a little crazy.  

on the bus, i sat next to an older woman from london who was running her first marathon ever so she had lots of questions.  it was perfect because i love answering questions about marathon running and running the nyc marathon, in particular.  ya know, because i'm such an expert now. 

lisa and i waiting at fort wadsworth, staten island. 

i like to wait for the professional marathon pictures before i post a full marathon recap so definitely stay tuned!

congrats to all the nyc finishers this year!