This year’s NYC Marathon was even crazier than it normally is. My goal for the race was to run as close to 3 hours as possible. I ran a 50-mile Ultra about 3 weeks prior to the race so I knew that a PR was out of the question. I was still feeling some of the effects from Ultra but nothing too bad.
Race morning was very cold – much colder than last year. I had made the wise decision to purchase some of those tear away pants and tops while at the expo the day before the race. I was still cold but not freezing. I looked for Lance Armstrong but he was probably in an RV somewhere staying warm. I was seeded near the front so I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Lance at least once during the race.
The gun went off and the craziness began. About halfway over the Verazzano Bridge (about ½ mile into the race) I saw a friend on the other side of the bridge and she said she had seen Lance go by and he was moving pretty fast. At that point I figured I would not get a glimpse of him. At about mile two I came up on Lance and his entourage.
The “Lance Cam” as everyone was calling it consisted of a motorcycle with a modified sidecar. The sidecar was actually a flat platform where a cameraman and what appeared to be a producer of some sort were sitting. This was in front of him by maybe 5 or 6 feet the whole time. There was also a police motorcycle off to the Lance’s left. He was beeping his siren every now and then to get people out of the way. I am surprised no one was run over by that Lance Cam contraption. Alberto Salazar was running just to the right of Lance and there were a couple of other people but they did not look like security to me (the were not very big).
There was a group of complete idiots that were trying to run as close to Lance as possible. There was another group doing their best to embarrass themselves on national television by making goofy gestures in front of the camera before they got pushed out of the way. Lance seemed to be oblivious to all of this, as did Alberto.
Alberto was talking to Lance non-stop. He was saying “Lance you are at a 6:40 pace right now. You need to watch the pace as we go up this hill… blah blah blah”. I was running about 5 yards in front of them as way off to the right so I was hearing everything. I kept trying to push further ahead but Lance was holding the pace very well.
Whenever Lance wanted water, Gatorade, Gu, anything all he did was say something and someone handed it to him. There was no going over the aid stations. He could not have gone over there anyway as the Lance Cam Motorcycle was much too wide so it and he never left the middle of the road.
Two things surprised me: How short Lance is, and how muscular his upper body looked. I was expecting him to be much skinnier but he looked pretty stocky.
Another impression I got was that Lance could have gone much faster if had trained. We were running 6:40 miles and Lance was talking to Alberto like they were sitting down. He literally sounded like he was not even running at all. He was talking to Alberto saying “ That hill was longer than I thought it was…. etc.”. Alberto would answer back but he sounded winded when he talked, as I am certain most people would at that kind of pace. Lance was not breathing hard at all but you could tell he was putting in a lot of effort. When I came up on him at mile 2 or so he was already covered in sweat.
The crowds at NYC are always crazy but they were going absolutely berserk for Lance. There were people dressed in Discovery Channel kits yelling at the top of their lungs. There were noticeably more female spectators this year also. At points on the course it felt like a seen from the Tour. The crowds were pinching in on both sides so close that I had to push people back to get them out of my way. One guy literally jumped right in front of me with a huge camera (looked like a freaking telescope). I stiffed armed him because I had nowhere to go and he made a very audible groan as he went sailing back into the crowd.
I stayed about 5 yards in front of Lance until the half marathon point and from there he started to pull away. I finished in 3:10 – not my best time but definitely my best marathon experience.
Dave
