NYC Marathon: I'm inspired, damnit

 

Image courtesy of NYRR

 

This past weekend marked the 54th annual NYC Marathon. First up, a shoutout to all of the runners (~55K), volunteers, organizers, and spectator that keep this marathon running (pun intended).

The winners of this year's NYC Marathon were:

 

Image courtesy of NYRR

 

  • Men's Division: Benson Kipurto (Kenya), 2:08:09

  • Women's Division: Hellen Obiri (Kenya), 2:19:51 (course record)

  • Men's Wheelchair Division: Marcel Hug (Switzerland), 1:30:16 (7th victory)

  • Women's Wheelchair Division: Susannah Scaroni (US), 1:42:10 (3rd victory)

Although I no longer live in NYC, I always try to make it a point to watch the NYC Marathon every year. You know what grinds my grits? We have 80 million streaming platform (ok so it's 6 or 7) subscriptions, but I could not find a way to watch this without adding an additional tier to a couple of these apps. Fortunately, it was Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), the Spanish public broadcaster, to the rescue with its live coverage.

 
 

Bonus points because RTVE gave me an opportunity to work on my Spanish comprehension since the commentary was in Spanish...although I wasn't paying attention too closely.

Aside from that minor hiccup, I absolutely enjoyed watching the elite runners and wheelchair athletes do their thing. Check out this amazing finish from the men.

 
 

Not to take away from the women's finish, but it was pretty evident around the last 800 meters that that Hellen was going to take it.

 
 

NYC Marathon Memories

There is something that so inspirational about the NYC Marathon. Perhaps, it's become this marathon has been an integral part of my NYC life - having living there for 20 years and running 7 or 8 NYC Marathons.

 
 

t's kind of funny because from 2002 until running my first one in 2012, I somewhat despised the NYC Marathon. Why? It had a way of screwing up my day because of all of the street closures. Starting in 2010, I worked on the Upper East Side, about 10 blocks from where the marathoners enter Manhattan for the 1st time. When I had to work on NYC Marathon Sunday, this meant that I had to walk an extra 20 blocks to get to work. I guess that I eventually developed a mindset of if you cannot beat them, join them.

Another aspect of the NYC Marathon that I miss. During my last four years as a NYCer, the marathon went through my Harlem neighborhood. As a runner, there's nothing like seeing the support of the neighbors that you see on a daily basis. I will say it was a bittersweet feeling running through my neighborhood.

 
 

  • Yay! I can see my apt building, and I'm getting a lot of love from my neighbors.

  • BOO! I still have 4 miles to run. Why cant this marathon end in my neighborhood? ;)

In my experience, the last 5-6 miles were always horrible because you know that you are going to finish (unless something major happens), but you STILL gotta run/jog/walk/crawl those last 5-6 miles. He only plays with larger dogs.

The Inspiration

While watching the marathon with my morning cups of coffee spiked with whiskey and a cigarette, I had this internal dialogue with myself.

Me at 10ish: That's it, Kwame! You are going to get your life together and run a major marathon (NYC, Chicago, London, or Berlin) next year come hell or high water.

Me at 10:45ish: BITCH! You are already booked for a fall marathon. Remember, you deferred your Richmond Marathon 2025 registration for the 2026 one.

 
 

To be honest, I'm cool with running Richmond Marathon instead of one of the Majors.

  • First, I haven't been too lucky with the lotteries for the World Majors marathons.

  • Second, there are a lot of logistical concerns that comes with running these marathons.

Ok, so I do not know about the logistical considerations for London, Chicago and Berlin since I have not ran these. However, one of the bits of the NYC that annoyed me was how much time AND effort it takes to get to the start. For NYC Marathons, I would have to wake up around 3/4 am to arrive to the start village for a 10-10:45 am start. At that point, you have been awake for 6-7 hours BEFORE even starting to run 26.2 miles for 5-6 hours. Dirty Old Sneakers sells a T-shirt that perfectly describes this situation.

 

Image courtesy of Dirty Old Sneakers

 

What's next?

Since I have some time to get ready for a fall marathon in 2026. I wanna break this down into two parts...considering my last long distance race (a half marathon) was in April (wait, I think it was May). Spend the next 6-8 months getting into some sort of shape to actually train for a marathon; then spend 3-4 months actually training for the marathon.

Like my dad (oh crap, I was supposed to return his call yesterday) say: Ain't shit else to do.

An LOL Moment (or a WTF Moment)

A marathoner ran his 26.2 miles through NYC while wearing Timberland boots. If this isn't NYC AF (at least urban NYC AF), I don't know what is. I can feel the blisters that he probably has to tend to.

 
 

Post-Richmond Marathon: Where do we go from here?

 
 

Now that Richmond Marathon is 9-10 days behind me, I'm wondering where do I go from here. Since I kind of half assed trained for last week's marathon, I'm not really experiencing post-marathon blues.

 
 

From Runner's World (link: ***):

"Well, you might start to feel a bit flat – it’s known as the post-marathon blues. ‘Whatever the distance of the race, if you have trained hard for it and it was important to you, then once it physically ends you might have a psychological hangover in the shape of post-race blues,’ explains sport psychologist Josephine Perry, director of Performance in Mind. ‘These usually pop-up mid-week when the euphoria of finishing and the post-race DOMs starts to subside, and you get a dip in mood.’"

Kwame’s Post-Marathon Blues:

I have not really being having feelings of post-marathon blues for a couple of reasons:

  • I was not really on top of my marathon training, so it's not like I'm really missing my training routine...because there really was not one. ;)

  • While I completed 26.2 miles last Saturday and walked a SIGNIFICANT part of it, I kind of feel like a fake who did not run/jog a marathon.

Well, this sounds a bit depressing. Hey, maybe there is some aspect of post-Richmond Marathon Blues in there. Over the past few days, I had a chance to reflect on my very subpar marathon performance and realized that I want to become a better runner. Or rather, I would like to get to a point where it does not take six hours to complete a marathon.

 
 

Mental/Physical Endurance:

While I might run slow as molasses (for now), I can run (or rather a combination of running and walking) for 6 hours.

 
 

Ok, so there were multiple points of last weekend's marathon where I 200% over it, but I did power through and completed the marathon...eventually. So that's something...I think.

Experience:

I have been doing this long-distance running thing for about 12 years and have been hit with almost anything associated with the sport. For the most part, I know what works and (more importantly) does not work for me in terms for running programs, groups/clubs, nutrition (somewhat), racing in general.

Willingness to adapt:

While I can be a bit stubborn, I am open to hearing and taking in different opinions and approaches to training. Also, I think that i'm pretty good with setting goals...well ATTAINABLE goals. My only problem is keeping up with with a routine to meet said goals.

Things I need to work on:

Consistent Running:

 
 

Lack of consistency is one of the things that really too me out of training for Richmond Marathon. Once I become consistent at being inconsistent, my attitude changes from I can do this to eh, fuck it. Going forward, I would like to stay consistent with three runs a week for the next two months. I'm thinking of 10+ mile runs on the weekends, 5-7 mile post-work runs (probably Tuesdays), and a speed workout.

Racing:

While I am not overly competitive with others, because who has time to worry about what others are doing. I've noticed that my state of running has taken a nosedive after we left NYC. For most years, I was trying to complete NYRR's 9+1 program for guaranteed entry into the NYC Marathon. While I did not run the marathon every year, it was nice to know that I could have a spot in the marathon if I ran nine races (and volunteered for one) during the year. Racing, usually at least one 5K, 10K, and/or half marathon each month, gave me a chance to compete with myself to improve my times. Since I have not been racing as much (mainly out of logistical laziness), I've found that I do runs mainly to complete them instead of completing them in X amount of minutes. Yes, one can do this without a race. However, for me, it's an inspirational feeling to run with others in a race who are reaching for the same goal of trying to do better than their last race. Maybe it's less about racing and more about 'mob mentality'. ;)

 
 

While there are some races in the area, I have been spoiled by living in NYC and having easy access to many races. For instance, many of NYRR's races are in Central Park, and Central Park is pretty accessible by multiple forms of public transportation. In these parts of Maryland, you have to drive everywhere. One example. For last year's RnR DC Half Marathon, I did not worry about transportation until the day before the race because I just assumed that I would take the subway to the race. I just so happened to check which metro line I would need to take to get to the start, and I learned that DC Metro/subway does not start running until 7 am on weekends. Another example: the closest half marathon next month is a 1.5-hour drive from Silver Spring, Maryland to Annapolis, Maryland. Random thought: While I absolutely loved living in NYC, I think living there may have done more harm than good in terms of living outside of NYC (more on that on another day).

Nutrition/Weight:

Unfortunately, that part of the marathon really did not have spectators, so it was a bit hard to stay motivated with the exception of an alien offering to transport us to the finish.

 
 

Unfortunately, it’s not huge secret that I’ve gained quite a bit of weight since leaving NYC. A lot of this is on me because I have not been very good at monitoring what goes in my mouth (that’s what she said). Besides my waistline and man boobs, I’m really feeling this on the “inside” 1. My blood pressure is getting into prehypertension range and my blood sugar is a big higher. While I’m not technically diabetic (or even pre-diabetic), it’s going to happen very soon if I do not make major changes ASAP especially since diabetes runs in my family. Pretty much everyone on my mother’s side of the family that make it past 60 years has type 2 diabetes.

Two month plan:

  • Return to portion control and meal prepping after Thanksgiving.

  • Stop late-night snacking. Lately, I’ve been doing this weird thing where I wake up around 1 – 3 am. Since I’m unable to go back to sleep, I’ll make myself something to eat..usually something not good for me.

  • Cut down my consumption of Devil’s Lettuce to 1-2 times a week. While I’m not a huge consumer of Devil’s Lettuce, I find that even when I take a couple of puffs that I really get the munchies, and this opens the floodgates to crappy eating.

  • Work up to 16-hr intermittent fasting during the work week (I’m currently on 14 hours now). While I did not see significant weight loss right away, I did notice after about 30 days of fasting five times a week, I became fuller faster.

Let’s see where I am in two months.

Race Report: Richmond Marathon

 
Richmond marathon course
 

DATE: November 16, 2024

DISTANCE: 26.2 miles

PLACE: Richmond, VA

WEATHER:  45 - 63F

OFFICIAL TIME / PACE: Like Bruno will not speak of such things.

FINISHERS: 5058

SWAG: Finisher's medal, a cap, tech long sleeve, blanket, pizza, beer

Not so Quick takeaways:

Pre-race mantra: I just have to run five miles five times.

 
 

General ThOUGHTS:

While I was not prepared for this marathon, I'm glad that I powered through and completed it. Ok, so I did not really have a choice because I tried to downgrade to the half marathon, but the half was at capacity when I made this attempt.

Random KOS and VA trivia:

I share a birthday (June 25) with Virginia (my mother state). I guess technically I share my birthday with VA's first birthday. The state was admitted into the US twice, the original time and when it was readmitted after the Civil War, I guess the state has two birthdays.

First non-NYC Marathon:

After about 11 years for running a near-annual marathon, I finally ran one outside of NYC. Yay me.

 
 

MARATHON LOGISTICS:

Overall, I thought the logistics (from bib pick up to getting to the course) for Richmond Marathon were pretty easy breezy. Actually, I prefer the simplicity of this marathon (probably other non-NYC marathons too) compared to that of NYC Marathon. What do I mean? For my previous NYC Marathons, I would wake up around 3 am, make my way to the Staten Island Ferry by 6:30 am, arrive to the starting village by 7:30 am, and sit around until my wave started around 10/10:30 am. Put it like this: one year, the professional NYC Marathon runners finished the marathon BEFORE we even started. Basically, before you set foot on the course, you've already been up for 7+ hours. All of this is BEFORE you run 26.2 miles, so tack on another 4+ hours. With Richmond Marathon, I woke up around 4 am, dropped off my post-race bag by 6:45 am, and was off to the start by 7:30 am.

 
 

MARATHON LOGISTICS II (EXPO):

Overall, I thought the expo was pretty nice. I love an expo where you can buy random things like hair extensions. I must have arrived to the expo too early because there was not a lot going on. However, I wanted to be one of the 1st people at the expo on Friday to see if there was any chance that I could switch to the half marathon. Unfortunately, the half was at its 10,000-runner cap. Well...there were some charity slots, but I was not trying to pay $300 bucks for a charity spot.

 
 

While the expo was fine, I did not understand why it was held so far of the way. The expo was at Richmond Raceway (the site of many NASCAR races), which was about 30 minutes by car from the downtown area. I get that you need a lot space for bib pick up, vendors, presentations, etc. However, I did not think we needed THAT much space because I did not think there were that many registrants. I believe there were 6,000 for the marathon, 10,000 for the half marathon, and (maaaybe) 5,000 for the 8K. Also, it annoyed me that the expo was held at the Raceway when there is a perfectly good convention center in downtown Richmond that was empty over the weekend. At least the organizers provided a shuttle to/from the expo from downtown Richmond. If I had driven from Silver Spring, Maryland to Richmond, I guess I would not be complaining about this.

Also, a good chunk of this is my fault. At first, I decided to book my hotel accommodations outside of the downtown area. When I was looking up places to stay in June or July, hotel prices in the downtown area were starting at $300 a night. My cheap a** was like I am NOT paying $300 a night to stay in RICHMOND, VIRGINIA!!! So, I decided to find something a bit out the way with the intent of checking again to see if some of the downtown hotels' price would drop. Clearly, the second part of my plan did not happen. I did pick a place that was near public transportation, but I learned the busses were not super frequent. However, kudos to the city of Richmond because public transportation is free.

The course:

 
 

I thought the course's scenery was absolutely beautiful. For this marathon, we got a taste of the downtown area, many really nice neighborhoods, various historic districts, colleges/universities, and plenty of nature ;). Actually, I think we might have had too much "nature" because the John Smith Trial/State Park portion seemed to go on FOREVER.

Unfortunately, that part of the marathon really did not have spectators, so it was a bit hard to stay motivated with the exception of an alien offering to transport us to the finish.

 
 

The course was pretty easy because most of it was very flat; of course there were few small hills, but it was nothing too crazy. I think maximum incline was like 200ft, which is pretty light (especially compared to NYC Marathon). Also, the finish was a treat because it was all downhill for the last 0.25 miles. Many say that this is an excellent course to qualify for Boston Marathon because of its flatness.

Also, the weather was absolutely amazing, which ranged from 42 to 64F. Virginia is one of those places where you can experience all four seasons in a span of one day. The morning was pretty brisk, but it started to heat up a bit by the afternoon. Around Mile 14 or so, I had to take off my tights, which were originally under my shorts. Normally, this would not be a big deal, but I tend to wear a jock strap for 10+ mile distances. So, I was literally assed out for a few moments after taking off my tights and putting on my shorts behind a dumpster. I probably should have changed out of my tights while we were in the wilderness for a good eight miles. Oh well, live and learn. Fortunately, I started the marathon with a long-sleeve shirt that came in handy because I draped around my butt so my ass checks were not expose while putting on my shorts.

 
 

I'm so glad that I did not toss away my long sleeve shirt during the 1st few miles.

My "performance"

Once I learned that I couldn't switch to the half marathon, I set the bar low...well, I set the bar as low as hell. My overall plan basically simply was to finish. Originally, I was going to push myself in the first half; however, that plan quickly changed when I passed a woman (somewhere in between the 1st and 2nd miles) on the ground and surrounded by a group of EMTs with one performing CPR. This terrified me because I've heard about these things, but I never actually witnessed something like this in person. I said a little prayer and thought about her during a decent chunk of the marathon. Seeing her on the ground was my second red flag telling me to take this marathon VERY easy. I saw the first red flag while having dinner the night before the marathon. There was a news segment discussing a man who returned to Richmond Marathon after going into cardiac arrest during last year's marathon.


 
 

You know, bad things typically happens in threes so I was very cautious running. The night after the marathon, I asked folks in one of my Facebook groups if they woman survived, and a couple of people said she did. PHEW.

Since i was taking it very easy, it gave me a chance to really "enjoy" the marathon. I think that I visited almost every person that was handing out beers and mimosas. While the crowds were not as plentiful (especially for us taking up the back), there were still quite a few folks out and about, especially in the neighborhoods, so it was nice to see people sticking around for the back of the pack folks.

 
 

Random, I definitely have been spoiled by NYC Marathon. With the exception of bridges and the 1st three to four miles, there are fluid stations at every mile. For this one, the fluid stations were located at every 2.5 -3 miles. Fortunately, I brought my own water bottle (like always) and filled it up (even if it was 9/10s full) at every station bc I did not know when I would cross the next one. Well, that's my fault bc I probably should have studied the course map a bit more. My other struggle, which also could have been prevented had I checkout the map. Some of you may know that I like a course with a few turns because it helps reset my mind. However, Richmond had VERY long stretches were we ran in a straight line (especially on Arthur Ashe Ave), which was making me go bonkers after Mile 15. At one point, I yelled how long is the freaking stretch to which another runner cosigned my frustration.

 
 

Where do I go from here?

While I've been kind of ambivalent about training for this marathon and running in general, I think this marathon revitalized my interest in becoming a better running. Since I'm drafting this entry few days after the marathon, this could be due to the remaining endorphins talking or rather, typing. In the very near future, I might be interested in signing up for a few coaching sessions just to get an idea of what I should do to improve my running. Typically, I play these type of things by ear, but it's quite apparent that my body's physiology has significantly changed from when I first stared running in 2011. Also, I really want to get my nutrition together because I would like to (well need to) lose a significant amount of weight over the course of the next few months. I'm getting to the point where I do not like how I look in a mirror while "wearing" my birthday suit. All that said, I need to strike while the iron is hot. Since I have 26.2 miles under melt (even though I walked a lot of this weekend's marathon), I would like to get back to running 10-15 mile long runs during the weekends even when I'm not training for something. Also, I would like to start getting back into my post-work 7-mile runs from my job to my apt. For this effort, I even bought one of these glowing vest since the streets in my parts of Maryland are VERY dark.

 
 

I'm going to take a week off from running to get through my soreness and get back to some sort of a routine. Well, I am thinking about registering for this half marathon in Annapolis.

Would I run Richmond Marathon again?


 
 

HELL YES! I need a redemption Richmond Marathon. Also, I really liked how this marathon was on a Saturday so runners could have Sunday to recover. Also (part 2), I'm glad that I requested PTO for the following Monday, because I really needed on extra day for recovery. However, I do not think I will run Richmond next year, because I want to run the Marine Corps Marathon for my fall marathon. I was supposed to run that last fall, but my back injury changed that plan.

Thanks again, Richmond Marathon!

 
 

Playlist:

These are the songs that were playing when I hit each mile marker.

 

Richmond Marathon Training: Who Knows?

 
Richmond marathon course
 

What a few months:

Just quickly popping in. It seems like I never have time to update this thing. Then, when I realize how far behind I am with updating this site as well as my other two blogs, I feel even more defeated to start writing.

Election 2024:

While I do not really get into politics in this blog. I have to admit that I'm pretty disappointed with the results from this year's Presidential Election, but I've come terms with it... actually faster than I anticipated. As a minority who checks multiple boxes for underrepresentation, I'm used to disappointment from others. For me, it's not a democrat/republican thing. It's more of a never having a candidate with so much dirt on him and still make it to the highest office of the land...twice. I mean, this man literally told (or rather heavily suggested) that his followers over through the government when he lost in 2020. Unfortunately, I kind of had a feeling that he would win a second term. To put it bluntly, there is no way that the US is going to elect a non-White women as President before a White woman.

Richmond Marathon:

 
 

Looks like I have four days, well technically five days, before Richmond Marathon. Y'all this marathon is going to be a disaster. But, hey, it's my own fault because I really was not dedicated to training for this marathon. Not sure why, but it was very hard to get into the groove of training for this thing. For instance, my longest run (18 miles) occurred during the 1st week of October, and it's not like I have been doing a lot of easy runs over the past few weeks. While this is 100% my fault, I think part of the reason for my training failure is not having or finding a running community/culture in my part of Maryland. While I was not an active member of running groups while living in NYC, I had ample opportunities to run and participate in local races. Yes, there are local races here, but many of them involve a medium to long commute to them. Also, most of the NYC local races that I ran typically were in Central Park, so it was easy to make and stick with racing routine. Finally, my fitness and eating habits have gone to crap (again, my fault), so I have gained some (well a lot of) weight. Before I even get started working out, I'm already feel like a disappointment for letting my fitness health decline. :(

LOL. I asked ChatGPT to give me some advice on how to "run" a marathon with very little training. Here's what ChatGPT told me.

 
 

Richmond Marathon plans for the week:

-Load up my phone with plenty of music, podcasts, and audiobooks because there will be A LOT of walking on Saturday. I even bought a new portable charger for this purpose...maybe I should purchase two. ;)

-Pack plenty of running snacks because I have a feeling I'll be on the course for more than 6 hours.

-Make reservations for a post-marathon dinner. At this rate, I probably will have to get dinner a Taco Bell since I'm going to finish the marathon VERY late. ;) Actually maybe I will not finish too late in the night. This marathon starts at 8 am, unlike NYC Marathon that would typically start around 10 am for my wave.

playlists:

 
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