The SuperStorm Sandy Disaster Relief Marathon Results Are In!

The SuperStorm Sandy Disaster Relief NYC Marathon of Oakdale, CT is complete! I'm happy to say that not only did I finish first in my age group, I also won the overall classification. Let me break down the event by the numbers:

Total Distance

26.2-ish miles
The GPS app I use to track my running (iSmoothRun w/ Runkeeper) listed the total distance at 25.73 miles, but I've measured it using a few different mapping tools and I get distances between 26.1 and 26.3 miles. Maybe it was a little short, but whatever.

Running Time & Pace

3:52:46, at an average pace of 9:03/mile
A little slower than I was hoping to run the official NYC Marathon, but given the hilly nature of the course (not surprising considering 6-7 miles of the course were run on roads with the word "Hill" in their name), it's really faster than I expected.

Total Donations (as of this post)

$1,148.10
That's a lot. Much more than I would've predicted when this seemingly hare-brained idea was hatched in an NYC restaurant on Friday night a few short hours after learning the NYC Marathon was cancelled. I can't thank everyone who donated enough. I also appreciate everyone who spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, or word of mouth. It made what might've just been a very disappointing weekend into a extremely positive experience.

Donations per mile run

$43.82/mile

Donations per minute of running

$4.93/minute

Average miles driven by the support staff to get from their home to the starting line

288
836 of which were driven by my amazing sister, who decided to take an impromptu vacation and drove overnight from Holland, MI(!) to cheer me on.

Number of support staff

3
Consisting of my wife, Samantha, my father-in-law, Gregg, and my sister, Meika.

Number of times the police were called because of the support staff

Once. (maybe)
Evidently they pulled into the driveway of some very suspicious homeowners to wait for me. My sister is pretty sure she overheard one of the homeowners on the phone reporting suspicious activity. Fortunately they were gone before any law enforcement officials showed up.

Pileated woodpeckers seen

One
I didn't realize Pileated Woodpeckers lived in Connecticut, but I spooked one between miles 3 & 5. It flew along the road before landing in a tree further up the road. When I caught up with it I saw it fly away again further into the woods. It was easily the largest (non-animated) woodpecker I've ever seen.

Reflections on the Event

My wife and I had just arrived in NYC. We'd checked into our hotel, and headed out to catch the shuttle bus taking marathoners from the hotels to the Marathon Expo. We just missed the bus and were standing on the sidewalk waiting for the next bus when I received a couple tweets telling me that the marathon had been cancelled. At first I figured these people were confused. I mean, Mayor Bloomberg had said in no uncertain terms earlier in the week that the marathon would go on. Turns out, they were right. Truth is, because we were without power for a 36 hours, I was busy trying to wrap up first quarter stuff at school, and planning for a run I hadn't been paying very close attention to the level of destruction Sandy had caused in the NY/NJ area. I knew it was pretty bad, but I didn't realize the extent of the devastation.

We eventually caught the bus anyway- we really just didn't know what to do- and attended the saddest pre-race expo I've ever seen. It was striking how many people were there from overseas. We passed a large group from Denmark and then were surrounded people talking French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, and several other languages I couldn't easily identify. Clearly, these people had much more reason to be upset than I did, with my measly 3 hour commute which included a free train ride into the city from New Haven.

I was extremely conflicted: I was mad, but then mad at myself for being upset knowing that the canceling the marathon was the right decision. I was ticked that the decision was made so late1, but humbled by the fact that so many people had flown thousands of miles just to have the marathon cancelled at the last minute.

Ultimately, this frustration is what led to the idea for the SuperStorm Sandy Disaster Relief NYC Marathon of Oakdale, CT. Since the NYC Marathon uses a lottery system, I'd been applying to run for 3 years before gaining entry for this year, and I'd spent the last 6+ months training. I'd made it no secret to those who asked that this was most likely going to be the last time I ran a marathon- the training is extremely time-consuming and strenuous. I do enjoy running, but coming home after school on a Tuesday to do a 13 mile run in the dark or waking up at 5am on Sunday morning to crank out 18 miles isn't so enjoyable. In the end, I didn't want all the preparation to go to waste. I also wanted to do something to help those still suffering- those people who should benefit most from the cancellation of the NYC Marathon.

The response to my fundraising marathon has been more than I would've ever expected. My post announcing the marathon caused a spike in traffic unlike anything this blog has ever seen. Then there's the $1,148(!!!) that's been raised for disaster relief. Here I was thinking that if people donated a hundred or two dollars on top of what we were donating it'd be a wildly successful event. Perhaps it's cliché at this point to say something about the power of social networks but this event certainly wouldn't have been as successful without being connected to awesome & supportive people from all over the world.

Race Recap

The route was a combination of routes I'd used when training, so I was very familiar with most of it- which means I knew it would be a tough run thanks to several long and several steep hills. That being said, the route is also gorgeous. The route is mostly made of narrow backroads through wooded areas, passing small family farms and scenic lakes along the way.

The first 7-8 miles I managed was maintaining a very fast 8:15ish per mile pace. I was hoping to do the NYC Marathon near an 8:30 pace (This may have been a bit ambitious), so I was really cruising. However, I was definitely being helped out by running down a lot of hills through this section. The support staff was stopping every two miles supplying water and cheers. It was fun to come up over a hill or around a corner and see my cheering section and the official support vehicle up ahead.

Just past 8 miles, I started on the only part of the course I had never run before: a 4-mile section that I hadn't actually scouted. It turned out that 3 miles in this section were extremely narrow unpaved roads- I was worried that these roads might not actually go through as they're shown on maps (something that's not all that uncommon in the area), but fortunately they did. At about the half-way mark, I was back on familiar roads- which was good because I knew what was coming- it was also bad because I knew what was coming.

The next 6 or so miles were the hilliest of the entire route, notably featuring a killer mile that included a gain in 280 vertical feet. About 19 miles in, I was thinking finishing this race might not be a guarantee. Fortunately the next couple of miles were more downhill that up, and I felt refreshed (well, as refreshed as one can after running 20+ miles). I was definitely feeling tired- my upper back and shoulders were sore, and my legs were pretty well thrashed.

By mile 24 or so, I was in very familiar territory, but I was also beat. The last mile includes a significant hill. The dread for this hill kept me from having many happy thoughts about being nearly done. I decided to walk up part of the hill since my calves were pretty tight and I was worried I might start cramping up. Fortunately that didn't happen. I got up the hill and ran in the last half mile or so, feeling pretty dern good at the finish. My wonderful support crew even drew a finish line on the street and managed to recruit one of the neighbors to honk his truck's horn as I finished.

I'm glad to have done this race for charity and I'm glad to be done with training. This still might be my last marathon ever- even if it's announced that the 2012 NYC Marathon runners are automatically qualified for the 2013 race. Training for a marathon sucks. For that matter, running a marathon really doesn't go under the "fun" category either.

Race Route

  1. Still my biggest gripe- it should've been cancelled right away on Tuesday. []