2023 New York City Marathon Recap: Part 1

I must begin with a huge THANK YOU for helping me exceed my $10,000 Alzheimer’s Association fundraising goal—$10,535, to be exact! I am in awe of your incredible support. Thank you for believing in me and caring enough to make a difference. ❤

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Aaron and I began our New York City adventure with an early morning flight out of Seattle on Friday, November 3. I considered booking a Thursday-night red eye instead to give us more time in the city on Friday, but my Instagram friends convinced me not to. That may have been the right decision in terms of getting quality sleep before the marathon, but I was sad to miss the Ali On the Run live show with Ellie Kemper on Friday afternoon; we were just landing at JFK as it began.

After an hour-and-a-half taxi ride to Manhattan—during which I became incredibly grateful Aaron’s mom Greta was babysitting Evie back home, since she would’ve hated such a long travel day—we checked into the Hilton Midtown around 6pm.

Immediately, I spotted professional runners Keira D’Amato and Colleen Quigley in the hotel lobby and knew I’d booked the right hotel! I was too exhausted and shy to approach anyone, but internally fangirled very hard. Aaron and I dropped our bags off in our room and headed to LumLum, where we enjoyed incredible Thai food for dinner.

I didn’t go out of my way to carb load for this race after I had a terrible experience trying to majorly carb load for a half marathon in the spring. My meals and snacks were just a bit more carb-y than normal and it worked out great for me.

I was in bed by 9:30pm (which felt like 6:30 to my body) to try to get on East coast time. I fell asleep immediately, but woke up around midnight to use the bathroom and lay awake for at least an hour afterward. Dang it!

On Saturday, I woke up at 6:30 feeling somewhat refreshed, ate a couple of Superhero Muffins from my stash (a must for destination races) and ran a few blocks to Central Park to meet up with Emilia Benton for a shakeout run.

Emilia and I became Instagram friends a while back after I heard her on the Ali On the Run Show talking about her career as a freelance journalist and running her first Boston qualifier at the Houston Marathon. We cheered each other on throughout NYC training and I was thrilled to finally meet her in person.

Our run flew by and I wished we had so much more time to chat. I told her about my obsession with Liquid I.V. and how I wasn’t sure I should use it every day, but had been the past few weeks to stay hydrated. She dropped this bit of wisdom that wound up really helping my race:

“My friend Starla [Garcia], who’s a dietician, says you can’t really overdo it on electrolytes.“

Thank you, Emilia and Starla!

I headed back to the hotel, grabbed oatmeal and fruit from the lobby restaurant, then showered and got ready for the day. First we made a quick stop at the marathon expo to pick up my bib and shirt. We crossed paths with the Peloton instructor Olivia Amato on our way in!

Then we headed to Bacall’s for the Alzheimer’s Association team lunch. It was so nice to meet the Alzheimer’s Association folks I’d been corresponding with all these months and see a lot of the team in person. We shared a table with a woman named Donna and her husband. Donna has been running marathons—mostly Boston, where she lives—for the Alzheimer’s Association for many years and estimates she has raised more than $200,000 in total. She was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year and continued training through her treatment—incredible!

With our bellies full of pasta, we headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner. Another Instagram friend, Grace, stopped by the lobby with her adorable son to say hi and deliver some Levain Bakery cookies—so sweet! We also fangirled over retired pro runner Meb Keflezighi, who gave us big hugs and was so nice. His brother and manager Hawi took our photo, and I made sure to let Hawi know I knew all about him from Ali’s podcast so he wouldn’t feel like we only cared about Meb. 🙂

Then I texted Ali Feller herself, queen of NYC Marathon weekend, to see if she was around. She was staying at the same hotel and I was determined to sneak in a quick hug since I knew she was incredibly busy. The only time I’ve spent with Ali in person was in NYC in 2015, when she ran 13 miles of a 19-mile run with me, but I’ve also had the honor of being a guest on her podcast and guest-hosting an Ask Ali episode.

It was Zac Clark’s episode of Ali’s podcast that had me in tears last year and inspired me to run the NYC Marathon. And this year, Ali has been undergoing treatment for breast cancer. I wanted to give her a hug even more than I wanted to get one from her.

Alas, she was not around, but she promised to text me when she was.

I laid out my race outfit and executed my, um, interesting fuel-carrying strategy. I could only fit two UCAN Edge packets in my shorts pockets, so I pinned the other four to my sports bra. I’d never tried this before, but my race singlet seemed to be snug enough that the packets wouldn’t bounce when I ran. Fingers crossed!

Aaron and I met up with my dad for dinner at Au Cheval, a restaurant famous for its double cheeseburger. We fell in love with the burger at the original Au Cheval in Chicago in 2015, and Aaron was eager to eat it again. Luckily, a big, greasy hamburger and fries is my go-to pre-race meal! We can confirm it still hits.

My dad was in town to sightsee in addition to spectating the marathon, so it was fun to hear all about his adventures. I feel very lucky he came all that way to cheer for me.

I didn’t get in bed that night until about 10:30, but the end of Daylight Saving Time was on my side; we “fell back” overnight and gained an extra hour of sleep. Hooray! It took me a long time to quiet my mind and fall asleep, so the extra hour was probably a wash.

I woke up at 4am full of nerves and excitement. I was never nervous about the race itself; it was more about the logistics of making sure I had everything I needed and getting to Staten Island.

I quietly got ready in the bathroom while Aaron slept. I drank a full bottle of Liquid I.V., ate two Superhero Muffins and did my business. I was just finishing getting ready when I got a text from Ali asking if she could meet me in the lobby at 5:15. I was planning to leave at 5:00, so I assumed we wouldn’t catch each other and wished her luck on her broadcast. She replied: “I’m coming down to give you a hug.”

Due to my last-minute triple-checking that I had everything I needed, I was NOT in the lobby at 5:00 and Ali was—oops! I finally made it down at like 5:08 and got teary-eyed in the elevator. As soon as I saw her, I ran into her arms and fully burst into tears. Dramatic. I was feeling all the emotions of race day and finally getting to hug a friend who has been going through a lot. We only had a minute or so before I had to leave and she had to run back up to her room, but I will never forget that moment, captured here in a chaotic blur.

I hightailed it to the Silver Level charity buses at 59th & 7th, which was really just a few minutes’ walk. The buses were scheduled to depart at 5:45 and I wanted to give myself plenty of time. I hopped on one that was nearly full and it left right away. I chatted with the woman next to me the entire time, so the ride went quickly. She dropped another bit of wisdom that I carried with me during the race:

“Run like you’re on a leash for the first 18 miles.”

We arrived at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island around 6:15 and walked like a herd of cattle through security and into Athletes’ Village. I saw the silhouette of the Verrazzano-Narrows bridge against the sunrise and got so happy and excited. I was finally there and just had to wait until it was my turn to run!

I had a few hours to kill before the Wave 2 start at 9:45, and I was very thankful for the accommodations we had in the Silver Charity Village. The Alzheimer’s Association team had its own tent filled with chairs, and the village had plenty of porta-potties, bottled water, coffee and bagels. As the sun rose, it was warmer and nicer outside of the tent, so we pulled the chairs outside and sat and talked. I ate a banana and continued to drink water to stay hydrated.

I had a nice chat with Alissa, who was in Wave 1 and was treating the marathon like a long run in her buildup to a potential sub-3:00 at CIM. We shared our names so we could track each other, and it was only after she messaged me on Instagram shortly after she headed to her corral that I realized her last name—Kolarik—was so familiar to me because I already followed her!

Around 8:00, I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich I’d made the night before. I kept drinking water and used the porta-potty two or three times. My physical therapy for runner’s knee included foam rolling before every workout, and since it wasn’t practical to bring a foam roller to the start, I brought a Stick with me. I’d had it for many years and rarely used it, so I didn’t mind tossing it. (You can’t check bags at the start, so anything you bring to Staten Island and don’t take with you on the run gets donated or thrown away.) I started rolling out all my leg muscles around 8:45.

When the Wave 2 corrals opened at 9:05, I did my dynamic stretching routine in the charity village and used the bathroom one more time. I stripped off my throwaway clothes and bequeathed the Stick to my teammates to use before their waves started. One of the Alzheimer’s Association folks stopped me to take this photo. I ironed photos of my mom onto the back of my singlet so that she’d be with me the whole time.

The entire team cheered for me as I left the village, which made me smile so big! I absolutely loved my whole experience running with a charity team and highly recommend it.

The weather was a dream: in the high 40s when I arrived on Staten Island and in the 50s by the time the Wave 2 corrals opened. I brought a throwaway hat and gloves, but didn’t use them. I wore arm warmers as I walked to my corral, but didn’t really need them and ditched them before starting.

Once I got into Orange Corral E around 9:20, I immediately got in line for the porta-potties to go one last time. The corrals closed at 9:25, I did my business, and I was out and eating my pre-race UCAN Edge by 9:30. I ran into my college friend Jesse, so time flew by as we chatted and walked slowly in the herd of runners toward the start line. I used to party at Jesse’s fraternity in college, so I found it hilarious that we’d meet again at the start of a marathon!

Shoutout to NYRR: Everything about Athletes’ Village, the three starting colors (orange, blue and pink) and the corrals was super organized, clearly marked and easy to find—and ran perfectly on time. These people know what they’re doing!

Finally I heard the National Anthem, then Frank Sinatra singing “New York, New York.”

BOOM went the start cannon, and it was time to RUN!

Stay tuned for Part 2.