The ING New York City Marathon took place on Sunday, November 7th in the Big Apple under cool, clear conditions.  The weather was perfect; 50 degrees at
the start and 68 degrees three hours later with just a little breeze.  37,000 people got together in the event this year to run all five boroughs and 26.2 miles while being cheered on by 2.5 million spectators.

The opening miles featured a large pack of runners, but it eventually dwindled down to a three-man race.  Kenyan runner Timothy Cheritag, Meb Keflezighi of the United States, and  Hendrik Ramaala of South Africa broke away from the rest of the field over the final 6 miles.  Ramaala, who had never finished higher than fifth in a major marathon, was the winner of this year marathon in 2 hours 9 minutes 20 seconds.  Keflesighi finished second in a time of 2:09:53 - his best time ever.  Cheritag, who is the 2004 winner of the Boston Marathon, finished third 9 second behind Keflesighi (2:10:00).   Patrick Tambwe of France was fourth in 2:10:11, and Kenyan Benson Cherono finished fifth in 2:11:23.  I managed to finish the race on 29,935th place a couple of minutes later :)

The women's race was the closest seen in the last years and was just decided
in the last 400 yards in Central Park.  Paula Radcliffe of England and Kenyan Susan Chepkemoi battled to the end, with  Radcliffle capturing a dramatic victory in 2:23:10 and edging out Chepkemei by only four second(2:23:14).  Lyubov Denisova of Russia (2:25:18), Margaret Okayo of Kenya (2:26:31), and Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia (2:26:51) completed the top five spots of the women race.

For different work and personal circunstances I did not train as well as I planned.  My longest training run was only 14 miles.  Since I had little  preparation in the last three months, I changed my strategy for this year's
event.  I completely forgot about trying to break my PR set 2 years ago in New York (my only previous marathon experience).  This year I wanted to raise some funds for my son's school by starting in last place and challenging people to donate a fraction of a cent for each person I could pass during the 26.2 miles.  Unfortunately, I was informed at the last moment I could not raise money for the children because there was a limit of the numbers of fund raising events the school was permitted to do yearly by law.  Finally, I kept the same race plan but now raising funds among members of a Colombian mailing list for a Colombian family living in Grenada and who lost everything after Hurricane Ivan hit and devastated the island in September.

Now my  report... I went to bed early on Saturday (11 pm) to get up for the
Sunday run.  I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and had some nice breakfast.  Staying in
New Jersey, I took the bus to New York, and then the subway to reach the station of the Ferry, which would take me to Staten Island.  I arrived at Fort Wadsworth, site where the race started, around 8:15 a.m.  With my less than ideal physical condition, I lined last in the green area.  At 9:50 was time to move to the start line.  Being in the Green Start, our group had to use the left side of the Verrazano bridge in the lower level.

After the cannon fired, I stayed standing 20 minutes before I could move forward.  I crossed the mats at the start line after a little more than 22 minutes of the official start.  I ran strong and passed a lot of people in the first miles.  I ran the first 10 K comfortably in 54:07 net time (1:16:14 official time).   Miles 2-12 through the borough of Brooklyn were completed at a smooth level.  As I approached the halfway mark, I was very happy since I was keeping a steady pace.  It took me 2:07:47 (2:29:54 official time) to hit the mile 13.1 sign on the Pulaski Bridge.  The spectators were great.  They turned out to wave, cheer and exhort.  Since I had my name on my shirt, hearing someone yell "GO, GO RAUL!!" was really uplifting! In addition, I was playing "local" since there is a big Colombian community in Queens.

All was going according to plan.  I estimate I had already passed around
15,000 runners by this point. However, I started to have problems when reaching mile 14, a twinge in my left hamstring initially, then a more forceful tug.  A minute later, I also had cramps in my right hamstring.  The tightening persisted, becoming a full lock-up.   I was forced to start walking.  I tried to loosen the muscles but did not work.  To make the things worst, I pulled up with a cramp in my right calf too!!  It was too early to have this problem.  The pain did not subside.  Since I had never had such problems running, I did not how to handle the situation.  I tried to stretch, run again, nothing worked!  There was a lot of frustration and lots and lots of cursing (sorry!).  Since I
could not get rid of the cramps, I almost dropped out of the race.  However,
I remembered I was running for a cause and told myself: "You can't give up!
shut up and just keep going even if you have to crawl to the end!" :)

Then I walked and walked and walked.... I got every source of carbohydrates
available (PowerAde, bananas, pieces of Powerbar, gel) in the following miles, but It just would not let go, and the pain was excruciating when I tried to run.  I crossed mile 20 still walking in 3:45:31 (4:07:38 official time).  I headed into the Bronx and tried to smile when people in the crowd called my name and cheered me up.  I was a little sad but determined to finish.  As I approached Central Park, the crowd started to get bigger; people were yelling "you're almost there!!! keep going!!  I felt a little better at the mile 24 mark and ran again (finally!).  Some hills and plenty of curves received the runners in the park, but it was all fine.  I was energized by the support of the New Yorkers and picked the pace up.  After more than 5 hours of the journey, I saw the finish line, smiled for the official picture, I crossed the finish line!!

My final net finish time was 5:09:03 (5:31:10 official time) - a lot longer than I planned but I'm trying to look on the positive - I finished!.  I got my medal, caught my breath and walked through the park.  After discarding the racing chip, I boarded the subway and went back to my friends home, took a long shower and  slept zzzzzzzzzzz....  Early Monday afternoon I was back in Hattiesburg.

The volunteers were awesome for this race - water every mile, PowerAde every
two, food, cheering, get, etc, etc - it was great!  Today I'm finally walking fairly normally. I have no muscle stiffness, only a little joint pain.

After all this I've learned my lesson.... I have to prepare and train well for a marathon or just forget about them and keep running shorter races.  I decided to follow the second option, just run half marathon, 10K, or 5K races in the near future.  I love the idea of running another marathon; but I just want to finish and enjoy myself and not hurt myself; however, I don't like planning so much around a Sunday morning long run.  I like to push myself hard for a moderate period (1 or 2 hours) but definitely long runs are boring.

See you guys at the Mississippi Coast Marathon in the Stennis Space Center in three weeks (well... I mean see you in the Half-Marathon! :)

A picture with a Colombian friend, Alvaro,
in Staten Island right before the official start.

Fast and strong at 10K

Picture over the Verrazano Bridge - A friend of mine sent
me this picture, but I am not sure whether it comes from
the New York Times or any other newspaper

Just walking, looking down, tired and frustrated at mile 20

Celebrating at the finish line 
(the official clock does not appear in the picture, great! :)

A smile for the camera after finishing

Picture taken in Central Park after finishing the marathon