NYC Marathon Report by Jody Draude

4:30 am - alarm. That would be EST. Too early. Perhaps I could fake an injury.

5:30 am - Staten Island ferry. Pouring rain and windy. Yup, the warm, dry, bed is looking good right now. I bet it's nice in Calgary.

6:30 am to 9:30 am - Refugee camp - with coffee and bagels. Still raining. This is not cool.

9:30 am - At the start line. An Italian guy just peed on my leg. Note to self : must, at all cost, beat that Italian guy. Can't wait to get going. This is cool (can a 40 year old say that?).

9:40 am - We're off. Rain has stopped. Windy. In our face. Still happy to be there.

Approx 1:23 and change later - 13.1 miles in, and all is well. Plan to run the second half in low 1:20s. Left the Italian guy behind long ago. This is easy. I am awesome. ( Foreshadowing....)

6: something later - Mile 14 water station. Wondering if anyone ever gone blind from splashing Gatorade in their eyes while running a race. I am something less than awesome. Bad omen. Getting plenty of shouts of "Go Harrier", though.

Approx Mile 15 - beginning to wonder if I should have taken Jeremy's Deere's advice and worn my Etonic Tayu's. Why listen to Jeremy? What does he know about running anyway? The excruciating pain emanating from my right foot within my beat-up DS Racers provides the answer. I am an idiot.

Mile 17 - wondering if I will ever walk again. I actually stop and re-tie my shoe in the hopes that somehow my amateur knot-tying technique is my issue. I curse the triple knot I tied in my shoe to ensure that it would NEVER come undone in the race. Amateur. Back and running approx 1:30 later. Shouts of "Go Harrier", replaced by "You suck Harrier". Am I in the Bronx?

Mile 20 - Decide that I will make it. Way off pace. Too bad: aside from the excruciating pain in my foot, I feel pretty good.

Mile 22 - Decide that I don't care if I ever walk again: I will at least break 2:50. Spend the next 5km all but sprinting past - well, it felt like sprinting, compared to the death march around me - the many, many inconsiderate bas--ards who passed me during the shoe fiasco. Fueled by a combination of fear of failure and anger, I pass 108 people. Not one passed me. Not sure what me knowing that fact says about me aside from the fact that I am obviously OC.

Mile 25 onward - Lots of "Go Harrier" cries again as I roar past people like a psychopath: feeling pretty chuffed about myself until it dawns on me that the huge roar from the crowd is not for me, your now humbled Harrier, but for the 52 YEAR OLD lady that just beat me. I feel a bit better that it was Joan Benoit Samuelsson (sp?) (I should have beat her). Oh well, I definitely beat the Italian urine-boy.

2:49:14 - Done . Broke 2:50. Don't care if I looked like a maniac doing it.

Approx 2:50 after start - DS Racers deposited in the rubbish bin. Note to self: listen to Jeremy.

3:53 pm - Having my fourth recovery Guinness in St James' Pub. Humbled. My only truly professional running move of the day.