NYC MARATHON RECAP PART I: Pre-Race

My marathon recap is going to be detailed so I’m splitting into three parts- before the race, race day, and post race. So here you go, Part I, the pre-race recap!

On Thursday before the race I headed to the expo to pick up my race number and check out the vendors. This was by far the biggest expo I’ve ever been to (and with 50,000 runners this should come as no surprise). Tons of racing food to try, branded race gear to buy and everything running-related you could ever want. I spotted a bunch of race branded gear I wanted but I’m superstitious and didn’t want to buy anything before the actual race. What if something happened and I didn’t finish the race? Then what would I do with all the NYC Marathon gear? I’d probably hate it and throw it out, so I like to wait until after the race to buy my gear.

Skip ahead to Saturday, the day before the race. I went on a short 2-mile run with Shira to loosen up my legs and to check out the finish line (all the marathon postings were up and only a few blocks from my apartment). It was exciting to see everything and get pumped for the next day.

I painted my nails a sparkly gold and as you can see in the next picture, I also laid out a bunch of stuff for MM to carry with him for the day. Since he’d be out cheering for me at various points in the race, I had him carry small 7oz water bottles he could pass to me, sunglasses in case the wind was hurting my eyes, extra socks if I needed to change mine, Aquaphor if I had chaffing, gu in the event that I dropped one that I was carrying, plus snacks and a hat for MM and Shira who were going to be chasing me around the course.

For dinner I had whole wheat pasta with veggies and tomato sauce and then because Sunday was a super early wake up, I laid out my entire outfit so I’d be all set when my alarm went off at 3:30am.

I got in bed around 10:30pm, I knew if I got in bed any earlier I’d lay awake for hours. I finished the last chapter of my book, A Race Like No Other (huge recommendation for anyone running the NYC Marathon) and drifted off to sleep, ready for an early morning of racing!

Check back soon for Race Recap Part II: Race Day