Race Report
Another day, another 26.2 miles. The New York Marathon was everything everybody said it would be — exciting, enormous, equal to the hype. Running over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge is a hell of a way to start anything, and running up and over the Queensboro Bridge felt like slowly flying into Manhattan, with the huge crowd noise a cloud to land on.
I also had an interesting tour, on foot, of some of my personal history — Park Slope, where I lived until I moved to Chicago to take over as host of “Wait, Wait;” Greenpoint, where my father was born, and then into Manhattan, passing my grandfather’s old apartment, and the apartment where I lived in 1996, and onwards and upwards and backwards into Central Park, which I’ve always loved as much as the everybody else. (Is there anybody who does not love Central Park?)
So far, so good, and I’m sure someday soon — maybe even tomorrow — I’ll look back on the whole experience with joy and nostalgia, but right now — flying home to Chicago Sunday night — man, it was brutal. The first half was great, easy even, and my split was fast enough that I thought about breaking my PR of 3:20. Then, around mile 18, my calves started to cramp. First twinges, like warning shots, but by the I time I hit the Bronx it felt like somebody was hitting the backs of my legs with hammers. My friend Arden and I stopped to stretch out together; a few miles later I dropped back and had to do it again, and then again, and lost sight of him. The last six miles were the most painful I’ve ever run… I adjusted my gait so I could keep my calves stretched out… running normally was agony, and I told myself that I would only stop to stretch if I actually shouted in pain, which I did every half mile or so.
Anyway, I kissed the PR goodbye somewhere while staring up the long slope of 5th Ave, heading south, but got to the entrance to the park at 3:10, and figured if I could run two miles or so in 20 minutes, I’d get my Boston Marathon qualifying time, which is now 3:30. I didn’t know if I could, but miraculously, the cramping subsided and I stumbled in at 3:27. I don’t know whether to be grateful for the fast first half, which gave me the cushion I needed, or curse it for wrecking my legs.
In the hours after the race, I kept wondering about the answer to a question my wife always asks me: If it hurts, why do it? It’s self-evident, but hard to articulate, and particularly hard to articulate right after you’ve done it. If I had to guess, right now, it has something to do with why engineers bend metal to see when, or if, it’ll break.
I do want to apologize to just about everybody who came out to cheer me… with one exception (thanks, ladies!) I didn’t see or hear you. The crowds were huge, and after a while I was just focusing on putting one balky leg in front of the other. But I appreciate everybody who shouted and yelled and made signs, if not for me than for anyone… you guys are the wind beneath my aging, crampy, painful legs.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Well done! You give all of us NPR nerds hope.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:20 pm
As soon as my husband informed me that Meb had won the race (an incredibly interesting man and WONDERFUL human being who I was fortunate enough to meet a few years ago — we have mutual friends) I wondered how you had done. Thanks for the update and I hope your recovery time is short.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Personally, I hate Mile 18 (or at least last time I was close to qualifying at 3:20–last year at Grand Rapids–Mile 22). Same thing: calf cramp and adjust the gait and then not making the qualifying time.
Thanks for sharing your story of running for the last couple of years and I today I listened to the Carnegie Hall ‘cast today on my 10-miler: the podcast is a staple of my long run listening pleasure (oh, Brian Williams was a hoot, you know?).
November 1st, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Loving you you is easy. Running is hard. I hope your life includes arnica massage oil. Thank your wife for taking proper care of you; the rest of us mean well, but we are unreliable.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Congratulations on your Boston-qualifier! Well done on a tough but fun course.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I’m impressed you can TYPE after doing *anything* for 26 miles… Major congratulations!
November 1st, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Congratulations Peter, you did great!
In honor of the marathon, I rowed a 1/2 marathon on my erg (can’t run right now).
Have fun at Boston.
Ray
November 1st, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Sorry hear you had to work so hard. If you have to miss a PR, make the Boston time & get to enjoy 18 miles in the Big Apple Tour of memories, WITH Cheering Hordes……!!
November 1st, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Yay! Inspiration for my first half, in Houston in January. Come run it with me!
November 1st, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Any BQ is a good BQ Peter. Congrats on finishing, and on showing that pudgy boy from 30 years ago that anything is possible.
Totally off topic, after the nice words you had about Joey Harrington after he was on WWDTM, I thought you might be interested in this article on what he’s up to these days: http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=125676812810514200
November 1st, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Congratulations on qualifying for Boston!
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:26 am
Thanks for blasting that stereotype which insists we choose between athlete and nerd,
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:26 am
Peter,
I admit, I had a groupie moment and looked up your time on the NY Marathon website after reading an article about Meb. Well done!
I am a runner myself, although I stick to 5ks and the occasional 10k. I admire your ability to be a great athlete, a hilarious comedian and yet still a total NPR dork. Cheers.
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:11 am
Congratulations! You did something MANY of us will never do!!!!!!!
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:10 am
Congratulations on your BQ time, and for pushing through all the agony. I can’t imagine what that would be like (just ran my first HM, which went great, but obviously the full is a whole different animal) but you are definitely an inspiration to “just-getting-started” folks like myself. Congratulations again and enjoy!
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:55 am
Congrats. It may not have been a PR, but you finished and still had a time that was envious.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:40 am
Only after you finish a race will you know the answer to your wife’s question. There’s nothing like finishing a race! I used to ask that question until I ran my first race, a half marathon. Even though my legs felt like they weighed two tons after I finished, I wanted to do it again.
Congrats, and here’s to many more races in your future!
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:52 am
You’re a stud! Boston 2010!!!
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:18 am
In honor of your marathon, I donated a Flock of Hope to Heifer International.
I knew you wouldn’t chicken out from the pain, or duck out of the race altogether.
(Puns, the lowest form of humor….)
http://www.heifer.org/site/apps/ka/ec/product.asp?c=edJRKQNiFiG&b=477887&ProductID=164805
I teach some of the most at-risk teenagers in the country, for crap money. And while I love NPR and all that, something about any kid going hungry just does me in. (Many of my own urban high schoolers face food instability issues). So with my limited little grubby funds, I say thanks for the laughs. I need them and you guys give them.
I will donate another Flock of Hope if Doug drinks coffee on a subway where it’s banned, wearing the pink wig. Photographic documentation required.
And the reason you run is because not running isn’t an option. Either that, or OCD.
Fondly, and with regards,
Alli
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Congratulations on the qualifier!
November 2nd, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Congratulations…
I guess they can’t all be great… that’s why we do it no?
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
As a veteran of twelve NY Marathons, I would advise you not to be too hard on yourself. New York is not a fast course, and yup, the first half feels too easy and then at the end the hills of Central Park hit you! Congratulations on qualifying for Boston, and thanks for getting me through many long runs with your delightful, funny, and thought-provoking show on my ipod shuffle…
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
P.S. Forgot to mention…don’t forget, you beat Anthony Edwards!!
November 4th, 2009 at 9:34 am
I’ll be in Boston with signs waiting for you!
November 4th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
You know, when you mentioned on Twitter about that “BQ” I read it as “BBQ,” and I thought, Holy crap. They’re giving out free barbeque after the New York Marathon? Sign me up!
Then I figured out you were talking about qualifying for Boston, which isn’t half bad either.
November 5th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Congratulations! I watched some of the coverage and when they said celebrity runners I thought, OH GOOD, THEY’LL BE INTERVIEWING PETER! Imagine my disappointment. But then, WAIT, WAIT, I think I see his head…no, there were way too many that looked like your. Maybe in Boston.
November 13th, 2009 at 11:21 am
A thousand congratulations on your latest Boston qualifier! I will be making a try at joining you in the BQ’ing ranks in Seattle on 11/29. (I made it in 2008, but never since.)
Having been stricken with the Cramp Devil in the latter miles of two ‘what might have been’ marathons, I know your pain and salute your ability to push through it, but I must ask: how in the world did you make the cramps go away? Any ideas on that? Please? Any? Pretty please?
By the way, first time caller long time listener here — I love the “Wait Wait” show, and saw it performed when you came to Portland a couple of years back.
Well done, and I hope to see you somewhere amid the sea of bobbing running hats in Boston next April. I hope to be wearing one of those hats myself, but time will tell.
-Dale