Sunday was supposed to have been the 2020 New York City Marathon—the 50th anniversary of it, no less. Not only had I signed up to run it, I’d already picked out (in my fantasy shopping) the sweet 50th anniversary New York City Marathon sweatshirt I was going to splurge on at the Expo.
Mostly I have made peace with all the cancellations of 2020—though listing them is a bit like poking a marathon-blackened toenail: the travel, the gatherings, the holidays with Sister and Mother, age 92; the reconfigured work, school, church, everything.
Ouch! Yep, still hurts.
New York City was my first marathon back in 1989 (faint!) and it’s been the lodestar on my calendar ever since. I haven’t run it every year (I’m not that crazy), but when I’m not running it, I’m watching it—in person or on TV.
When October rolls around, my civilian friends (the non-running division) and co-workers know to ask, “Are you running THE marathon?” (If I say, “No, but I’m running Philadelphia,” they respond, “Oh.” Disappointed. “How far is THAT marathon?”)
And while fall mornings without exhausting long runs have been something of a revelation (how do non-running-division civilians earn brownies?), I looked at my training log one Saturday night and felt sad.
And yes I know I could’ve participated in a virtual 26.2 NYC Marathon. But I am too pouty for that, not to mention cheap. For $300, I want hoopla. (My 2020 entry is being rolled into a future NYC Marathon.)
Which is why I came up with my brilliant idea to do …
**Not the 2020 New York City Marathon! [or] 26.2 KILOMETERS.**
Brilliant, right?
BRF and I had been doing long-ish runs of 10-ish miles every weekend, so how hard could 26.2 K be? Who even knew how far that was anyway?
Well, it’s 16.27 miles if you ask Google, which we finally did, about a week before Not the New York City Marathon. Oh.
Text from BRF exactly one week out from Not the NYC Marathon: “I’m going to need the time it takes to run 26.2 miles to run 26.2 kilometers.”
What’s so great about the NYC marathon? The process of working toward a goal; the electric energy in the week leading up to it—which I can feel even from distant suburban NJ home; omigosh the cheering along the route—don’t even get me started; the high you ride all week long afterward, not to mention the post-race burger, fries and beer. Ouch! Poking the blackened toenail!
[For those of you who’ve not yet experienced a blackened toenail, sub in the sting of water in the post-race shower hitting an unexpected badly chafed armpit. Ouch!]
BRF and I didn’t actually need all the marathon time to finish 26.2 kilometers, though we were dragging at the end and tired afterward. (Pro tip: Do more than one long training run before a long-distance running “event.”) Our pace turned out to be 6:10 per K. See how forgiving kilometers are?
And no, it wasn’t as good as the real thing. Zoom Thanksgiving won’t be either. Not the 2020 New York City Marathon was a placeholder, a reminder of the amazing (and hard!) things we’ve done in the past and a reminder of the amazing (and hard!) things we will do again in the future—and right this minute, come to think of it.
And by “we,” I’m talking about all of us here. One day there will again be travel, family gatherings, hoopla, and of course, marathons. I can’t wait to see you there!
Oh Tish what a lovely story! I ran NYC is 2015 and it was a true highlight! And from someone who thinks in kilometres, your pace was great!
Thanks for sharing. Can’t wait for live races to return.
Great article! I ran NYC last year, and it was the best marathon we’ve run! Start to finish was just what we hoped for. We weren’t lucky enough to land a lottery draw this year but did sign up to do it virtually. Definitely not the same.Praying 2021 has us all racing it again!!
I feel the same way about this race. I ran it in 2017. This year would have been my third year in a row volunteering. I can’t say enough about how wonderful volunteering is! I plan on doing it every year for as long as I can. My ultimate dream is to hand out medals at the finish line!