I woke up early around 8:00am to catch the live coverage of the marathon on tv. I slept pretty good considering my incident the night before. I saw some snaps of my friend in full marathon gear and it seemed everything was going according to schedule. I was surprised to know that the men’s kickoff was around 10am. That was pretty late to me! Oh well. Once the race went off I decided to go down the street to Leo’s Bagels and get myself a bagel with lox and cream cheese. I can’t believe I waited so long to get one.
I ordered online to save some time but everything seemed unorganized. There was a line out the door. I waited in the meantime because it wasn’t too long. What a mistake! The line moved so slowly. I figured I had nowhere to go anyways since my friend just started the race. He had told me earlier that he expected to finish no more than 4 hours. I calculated my time in meeting him at Central Park around 2pm.
I finally got my bagel and coffee and ran back to my hotel room to pack my things. I checked out on time and left my luggage there. I decided to walk around some more to kill time. I ended up in Tribeca and went towards the Oculus Station when I decided to walk through Soho again. I had downloaded the marathon app and looked up my friend’s time. To my amazement---he had already crossed the finish line! Oh my goodness! I can’t believe he had finished so soon!
I jumped in the metro and headed towards Central Park. He had warned me that you needed tickets to be around the finish line area, and since I didn’t have any, we decided to meet back at his hotel if we didn’t see each other. I was upset with myself that I had not come down sooner. It was exciting watching the runners make the last stretch. The area was filled with bands playing music and people cheering everyone on! I was inspired by their spirit.
Eventually I got back on the metro and headed back to my friend’s hotel in Times Square. Sure enough, he was back in his room. We talked about the race and he explained that he had ran much earlier than 10am. He did great too! 3:12:57! According to him that was the best time he’s ever done! I was so proud of him.
His roommate who also ran the race eventually met us in the hotel. I was amazed that the two of them came so far away to do this marathon. He was excited as well. In the end my friend grew hungry and I helped him get up since he was now cramping. We walked over to the same restaurant we ate last night. I ordered a plate full of meatballs and it was delish. We ended the night with me walking him back to his room. I had to take off to catch my flight. I was pretty sure he was going to pass out soon. As for me, the nerves kicked in when I was making my way to the airport. I decided to take the metro line but opted not to wait on the bus service. I ordered an uber instead and the traffic heading towards the airport was jammed packed. Luckily I didn’t have to go very far. I was also relieved my flight was smooth on my way to Chicago. I was tired when I got in. We landed around 11:30pm and I still had to take the train back home. What a trip!
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