My New York Marathon BQ - Or How Stars Sometimes Align

Well, it’s been over 6 months since my last blog post! Life kind of got in the way and blogging had to take a back seat although I thought I would at some point post again whenever time allowed. But having run my second World Major marathon just over two weeks ago and managed to bag a Boston Qualifying time, I thought that was maybe a story worth telling. So here it is…

My first marathon in London! Happy to have finished in 3:54:46. That was a looooooong time ago. No kids back then, lots of time to train. Was I capable to running another one this year? And do a sub 3:40?

I have always liked setting myself challenges in life, being at work or outside of work. If I’m told I can’t do something or if I have doubts that I can do it at all, that just forces me to try harder. So after my first ultra-marathon last year, I thought I may have another go at my all-time runner’s dream of qualifying for the Boston marathon. So what’s the appeal of Boston you’ll say? Well, first of all, I like the fact that Boston is the only World Major marathon that you need to qualify for in order to run it. That in itself is the challenge I wanted to set myself. Another reason for wanting to run Boston is that I lived in Wellesley, one of its suburbs for 1.5 year (incidentally this was my training ground for the London marathon. That included a few laps of Lake Waban through the Boston winter, which I have very fond memories of). As it happens, the Boston marathon runs through Wellesley, so that makes it extra special to me.

When I was younger and training for London back in 2010, qualifying for Boston definitely felt out of reach (it was then 3:35 for my age category). But back then the qualifying time for the 40-44 bracket was 3:45. When I managed 3:54 in London I thought that I would give it a go when I reached 40 as I thought I could do a sub 3:45. So after completing my first ultra last year, I thought a Boston qualification would be my next challenge. But then the bad news came this year in the form of faster qualifying times. The 3:45 qualifying time became 3:40, which made it more challenging. Never mind, I had my trusted coach on my side (he had already coached me to victory in my ultra so if he thought that was doable I would just throw myself into the training and see what would happen). That’s when I signed up for the Edinburgh marathon, because I had been told it was flat and a good course for a PB. But things didn’t go to plan during training and I got injured (the good old hamstring). So that put an end to it. I had agreed with my coach that we would focus on 10ks and half-marathons for the rest of 2019 to have a good marathon prep for 2020. But then in February this year I received the unexpected news that I had got a place in the ballot for the New York City Marathon on 3rd Nov 2019. The New York City Marathon an iconic race that my marathoner dad always dreamt of running but never did because he considered the associated expenses too extravagant. He passed away last year so running this year would be very special to me. So Coach and I had to revisit the training accordingly.

I ended up running the Edinburgh half-marathon instead of the full distance in May. I was glad it turned out that way as the wind gusts would definitely have got in the way of a BQ anyway. I started marathon training for NYC around June time. Initially on 4 days a week as I was expecting to change job at the time and we had some family holidays planned, which I just wanted to enjoy without having to worry too much about the impact on my training. I picked up an Achille injury towards the second end of June and worried that it would set me back again. But I just rested it and iced it for a few days and resumed training on grass and that seemed to go away. I ran the Mad’Trail 19k again in July (1250m ascent) and improved my time from last year, finishing 5th in my age group, which I was very pleased with (an age-group podium place next year maybe?). By August, the marathon training was in full swing and I was getting into the long runs. I remembered from my London marathon training 9 years ago that getting into the 20-mile long run would take its toll on body and mind alike, and sure enough it did. By then I was training 5 days a week and trying to fit in training around family life and work, which was really challenging. But I had a goal and wanted to do everything I could to achieve it, promising myself that when it got ticked off I would just chill (more on that later!).

I started to experience issues with my left hamstring again around September time. I discussed with my coach and we decided to monitor. As it happens, I could run with it but it seemed to get worse with speed sessions. Reluctant to see a physio so close to the NYC marathon (I didn’t want to be told to ease on the training, as unwise as it may be), I decided to resort to the old method of icing, resting and elevating and to get a sports massage to see whether this would help. That appeared to keep things in check, but I agreed with my coach to keep the last few weeks of training to easy pace, so as not to risk an injury so close to marathon day.

I was very anxious in the weeks leading to NYC. I had invested so much of my time towards that goal and frankly wasn’t sure I was ready to do all this again, should I not manage a BQ on the day. I had signed up for the Paris marathon in 2020 as a back up but wasn't sure I could face the strenuous training once more. NYC had to be it. But the more I read about the race and the route, the more I realised it would not be a stroll in the park. The bridges make NYC a pretty tough course. I had read it was not the marathon to target for a PB. I felt a bit deflated, thinking maybe I had put in all these efforts for nothing, that it would just be too hard to make a sub-3:40 on that course. And what about the jet-lag? When I ran London in 2010, I was unfortunate enough to have to fly around the Icelandic volcano ash cloud. For that reason I ended up landing in London on the Saturday afternoon to run the marathon the following morning. With the jet-lag that was far from ideal but I was so happy to have made it in time that I didn’t care. This time, for NYC, I decided to fly on the Thursday just to be able to relax for a few days before the race.

Unfortunately the family couldn’t come with me because the children were just finishing half term and I didn’t want them to start school again feeling jet-lagged. So I decided to fly solo, which in insight was probably the best possible idea given how nervous I was. I spent my first few days in NYC doing pretty much nothing apart from going to the marathon expo to get my bib (and meet Meb Keflezighi). I had also bought a book to keep me distracted and that peace and quiet was probably the best marathon prep possible. Fortunately I had visited NYC a number of times before so I didn’t feel the need to cram in any of the touristy things. I just ended up spending most of the time in my hotel room reading my book and getting everything ready for marathon day, including stitching my name to my running shirt. I did two more easy training runs in Central Park also. On the Saturday morning Central Park was absolutely buzzing, with the volunteers being briefed and all marathoners doing their final training run. I felt elated. The trickiest part was trying to stick to my pre-marathon diet of plain pasta as I didn’t have cooking amenities. Thankfully I managed to find a take-away pasta place around the corner where I could order a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce. I got a weird look when I ordered (‘You’re sure you don’t want anything else with that?’). That’s what I had for lunch and dinner for two days in a row. Needs must.

The morning of the race was a pretty early start. I set the alarm for 4:30am as I was 20min from the marathon bus stop which was due to leave for the Staten Island start line at 5:30am. Obviously I had not slept well that night, which I think is pretty common for all runners before a big race. I just had to forget about that and hope I would mange to sleep a bit at the marathon start village (I would certainly have the time as my start was at 10:10). Everything was very well organised and I left on the bus as planned. The trip took about an hour. I didn’t really sleep on the bus, although I had my eyes closed for most of the trip. When we got there I went to find my village (I was in the Orange wave) and managed to find a spot to lie down. I had packed ear plugs and lots of clothes to discard in a charity bin including a throw so I manage to doze off for an hour or so, which really did me good. I had set my alarm to have my usual breakfast of cereal and milk sufficient early before race start. I had planned everything very carefully as I wanted to give me the best chances.

I finally made my way to the start line and was literally buzzing with excitement. The day had finally arrived where I had to give everything I could and see what I could achieve. A cannon announces the start of the race, it was so loud it just adds to the excitement. Then it’s off over the Verrazzano-Narrows bridge. A pretty hilly bridge but in he excitement I hardly felt the incline. The view over Marathon was just breath-taking and the helicopters flying around the bridges were just the icing on the cake - I felt part of something very special! As a result I started way too fast, and found it quite hard to slow down. I knew I had to stick to my marathon pace though, for fear of burning out way before the end. I had diy’d a pace band based on the uneven splits advised by my coach. But I had started off so fast that the paceband became unnecessary and I just kept checking my Garmin to ensure I was in the pace ballpark. I had left the 3:40 behind, so I knew I was doing ok. Coach had allowed a few extra seconds for drink stations but in the end I negotiated them reasonably well and carried extra fluids on me in a fuel belt so I didn’t need to slow down.

At 14k, I started to feel the strain on my legs. My immediate thought was that it was not a good sign. I was only a third in. But I kept pushing, knowing I was realising a dream of mine by just being there. The motivational signs held by the crowds also helped. I remembered the adage that pain is temporary and kept pushing. The watch indicated I was still on track. I could also hear people cheering me on. ‘Come on, Nat’, ‘Looking strong, Nat!’, ‘Keep going, Nat’. Honestly these people who shouted my name have probably no idea of the massive impact they had on me. It really lifts you off the ground. These people didn’t know me but they still shouted my name, with this massive smile, and this was just the encouragement I needed to keep pushing. My husband had warned me that the long straight stretches would be tough (his boss had run it before), so I was prepared. But somehow they didn’t bother me. I was so focused on my goals that I was actually surprised the miles were flying by. A good place to be. The pain was there but it didn’t get worse. I just ignored it. Kept going. A lady at the start had warned me about the 59th Street Bridge. She had told me to ensure I slowed down about a mile before to conserve energy. Except I had not studied the course map enough. I had no idea what bridge that was or how far into the race it was located. I went over a bridge thinking it was that one and thought to myself ‘The really wasn’t too bad!’. Except that was not THE bridge. Many miles later I hit Queensboro Bridge and then it hit me: ‘Ah! Yes, I see it now. That’s what the lady was talking about!’. Sure enough I had not slowed down enough and going over it felt a real slog. But others were finding it tough and cracked some jokes about it and I knew we were all in the same boat and I felt this sense of belonging that was just overwhelming. We were just there having (or trying to have) fun together. What a ride. So I kept pushing and before I knew it I could see the top of the trees of Central Park in the distance.

Smile of relief for having survived Queensboro Bridge!

At that point I spotted the 3:35 pacer. That was a good sign. I tried to stick with his group but I was getting quite tired by then and then I dropped one of my bottles. I had to stop and go against the runners to retrieve it (I had had a quick ‘Is it worth it?’ moment and decided it was). By the time I turned back the pacer was in the distance, and as much as I tried to catch him up, my legs just wouldn’t let me. But that was fine, I knew the 3:40 pacer was still behind me, and that was all the reassurance I needed. So I kept going towards Central Park. There was this long stretch on the street parallel to Central Park and it seemed to keep going and going and all I could think was ‘Where is the entrance? Surely it can’t be much further!!’. I knew there were a few miles left in Central Park before reaching the finish, and by that point it was getting harder and harder to stick to the pace. I could sense my running form degrading and was starting to drag my legs a bit behind me. But I kept pushing, trying to stick to that pace. Knowing that a BQ was now a possibility. I had not blown it and I just had to keep going. Finally we entered Central Park and I felt a hige sense of relief. I could almost feel the finish line although it was not in sight. But running through Central Park was a real treat. I kept pushing. Not far now. I can do it. I’ve worked hard for it. Don’t let yourself down. Just a few miles and you can stop. Eat whatever you want. Do whatever you want.

And then it happened, the finish line was in sight. I kept shuffling and before long I crossed it. I looked at my watch and felt tearful. Tears of joy. I had done it. I had achieved my dream and qualifying for Boston. It felt surreal. Like floating on a cloud. An overwhelming sense of achievements. I texted my husband to let me know and then started to receive messages of congratulations. I started the long walk to the medals and ponchos and started chatting with a fellow Canadian racer. We talked about the race, about running in general, where we both came from etc. I really love the running community. The walk to exit the race was long and a bit painful but I didn’t mind. I walked at snail pace and tried to absorb as much of the atmosphere as I could. This moment was unique, and something I would never forget.

So if you are ever considering running the New York City Marathon, here’s my advice: do it!!!

My New York Marathon BQ - Or How Stars Sometimes Align

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