How I Spent the First Sunday in November

The first Sunday in November is a special day in New York City. Many New Yorkers call it an unofficial City holiday. For those of you that don't know, the first Sunday in November is marathon Sunday in New York City. The 2007 New York City Marathon was my first marathon. I finished in 4:21:57. My times have improved since then but the New York City Marathon will always hold a special place in my heart. I don't live in the City but I do work there and run there as much as a I can.

Even though game 3 of World Series between the Yankees and Phillies ended after 1:00 a.m. due to a rain delay, I was determined to run Sunday morning. I benefited from an extra hour of sleep. I woke up at 6:00 a.m. with a spring in my step itching to get out. It was a beautiful fall day, leaves of all colors lined the streets and in honor of the race, I wore my 2007 NYC Marathon shirt. I really didn't know what to expect since I haven't been running much recently. As much as I'm enjoying them, the Yankee playoff games have been ending way too late for me to able to wake up at 5:00 for my morning run. Back to today, the run itself went pretty well. I ran 5.33 miles in 44:26 for an 8:20 pace.

But today wasn't about me, it was about the 42,000+ runners that would toe the line in Staten Island for the New York City Marathon. I'm not going to recap the men's and women's professional races. All I'll say is Deratu Tulu of Ethiopia won the women's race. Defending champion Paula Radcliffe struggled in the later miles and settled for 4th. The men's race turned out to be a great day for American distance running. American Meb Keflezighi won the race. Ryan Hall took 4th, and 4 other Americans finished in the top 10.

About halfway through the men's race my daughter, who was watching the race with me on TV, turned to me and said "Daddy, no offense, but the professional men are much faster than you." I laughed for bit and then replied "none taken."

I knew a bunch of people that ran today. I want to give shout outs to:

• My buddy Joe, who ran his 1st marathon today. Joe didn't run this marathon for himself. He spent the day with an athlete with disability who was running his 95th marathon. Joe guided his athlete to a 5:57:37 finish today. Joe will be running his first "official" marathon on November 22 in Philadelphia.
• Sarah Stanley who finished today 4:14:17. What makes Sarah's race so impressive is that New York was her 3 1/2 marathon in 4 weeks.
• Co-Worker Allen finished in 3:29:55. 
• Scott finished 4:44:05
• Julia finished in 3:59:27
• Tara made the trip from California and finished in 4:19:42
• TK's little brother, battled dehydration and still managed a 4:44:16
• Matt finished in 3:47:18
• Laminator finished in 3:04:20
  

My apologies if I forgot anyone. Please leave your finishing time in the comments. Whether this was your 1st marathon or your 100th, you are all amazing and an inspiration.