Semi-Charmed Life

ING New York City Marathon

Congratulations to Andy Au for finishing the ING New York City marathon at a very respectable 3:35:02!

Going to the various locations to support Andy and cheer him on was more fun than I thought. It almost felt like a scavenger hunt or something. We projected Andy's arrival at the half-way point to be at noon or so using an estimate of 7:3omin/mile and sure enough, he reached the half-way point averaging just a little over 7min/mile. He still looked fresh and pumped at this point, which was a good sign.

After we saw him, we quickly raced to the second spot on 86th and 2nd ave but we were unable to find him. I'm pretty sure that had we waited around a little longer we would have seen him.

After our failed second attempt we made our way to Central Park at around the 24 mile marker. When we finally saw him, he was the complete opposite of how he was at the half-way point. Instead of enthusiastically running over to give us high fives he had a stank face on and barely acknowledged us with a weak fist pump of a hello. He told us later that at around the 18 mile marker, his body crapped out and he had to stop and stretch to recover, which hurt his time significantly.

All in all it was fun to go out and support Andy but I hope he does not run another one again. I'm not a fan of super long distance running like that but I guess that's because my goals are different (plus I think it's terrible on your body!).

PS - Read Hyperbole and a Half. It is all kinds of awesome.