Read This New York Race Report

I've never run the New York Marathon. I'm from New York--born and raised until I was seven and my parents uprooted my sister and I to Michigan--and love all too many things about it like the bagels, the pizza, the hot dog stands, the Yankees. But it's still one marathon that I've only been able to appreciate from afar--or live through the stories of others, like this one.

Take 2008 when Fit-Ink was still in its planning stages but Liz and I swapped race battle stories...me at Ironman Wisconsin and then Chicago (yes I did that funky double then, too), her at New York, and then me again at December's California International Marathon. We were both secretly on the quest for Boston Marathon berths--she got hers while I fell short. And well, I looked for every hint of race advice I could get for the December race since it'd be my last chance to join the 2009 Boston ranks.

Nothing was different in 2009--or 2010. When I wasn't running, I was reading others' tales, and when I was running, I'd scour the internet for experiences like my own. Like Sonja Wieck. Or Slater Fletcher. Or Weight In Vain. Or Adrienne Hengels. Or MJ the Ironman (MJ Slikas). Or Bree Wee. That's just starters...my internet cookies and random clicks kept my eyes busy.

But here's one recent race report (it's only maybe hours old) about the New York City Marathon that I was loving. Not because of who wrote it--my The Bachelor obsession, Dr. Andy Baldwin--but because it only solidifies my yen for marathon and testing my legs across New York's five boroughs. I'd trade the Windy City for the Big Apple any day to see those sleeping bags and herds gathered at the start on Staten Island, to listen to the crowds at the Central Park finish line, to spot celebrities like Trista and Ryan Sutter or Anthony Edwards, to hear the music playing through each neighborhood and engrave it to memory, to smell the familiar scents from the street carts and wish I could chow down, too.

Everyone's calling today Marathon Monday Mania, registering for their shot at admittance to the 2011 race--don't forget the lottery opened at noon--and parading their 2010 finisher medals around town. Call it the unseasonably warm weather we're having in Chicago, but I can see why. And no, I'm not talking about the chance to freely run with Yankees garb and avoid getting booed out of town. Chicago's full of medals and those limpers on Columbus Day, traditionally the day after the race, but minus the clamor for lottery slots. One thing is for sure: regardless of what marathon you run or watch, the day after leaves you wishing you could do it again or do your first. Did you register for a lottery spot or do you think you can gain guaranteed entrance with your speedy legs?


Photo grabbed from the NYC Marathon.