NYC Marathon: Highlights

It's been a little over a week since the NYC Marathon.  The aches and pains have gone away, the blisters have faded, and all that's left are the memories.  What follows is a short recap of what I consider to be the highlights of the race:

My Fellow Runners
What a critical mass!  It's amazing to see the sheer number of people undertaking this great challenge.  It felt good to be part of such a group.

The Crowd
Hands down, the best part of the marathon started the moment our feet left the Verrazzano Bridge, and someone shouted, "Welcome to Brooklyn!"  It didn't stop there - Brooklyn was amazing.  The crowd was vibrant and rowdy, shouting out the names of runners as they went by.  (Many of us had our names printed or ironed onto our shirts - I felt like a celebrity every time shouted "Kat!")  There was live music along the route, along with DJs, and even just locals blasting music from their apartment or car.  What's even better, many spectators had runner's essentials:  tissues, water, chocolate!

The Views
Some of the views of the city were breathtaking!  Crossing over the Pulaski Bridge from Brooklyn to Queens was a very cool moment for me.  Partly because we were entering MY old neighborhood of Long Island City and partly because that afforded us the most amazing view of the NYC skyline.

Support & Energy
Just when we would get tired and think we could go no further, we'd see someone or something on the side of the course to give us the courage to go forward.  My father met up with us at multiple points along the course; we saw friends, family members, celebrities - we stopped to take a picture with Carolina for the Elvis Duran radio show!  Thank you to everyone for being there - especially to fellow Sick Chick Jodi, who was there cheering me on in BK!

The Finish
It took me a LONG TIME to finish.  I will get into that in a later post.  There were times that I was sure I would not be able to finish.  But I did.  And what means the most to me is that I finished right alongside my sister, Adrienne.  Throughout the race, we supported each other when the road ahead seemed impossible.  In the end, we crossed that finish line together, holding hands...and that is something I will never forget.

No RA Pain
'Nuff said...

xoxo
Kat