D Day 🤩🥳😍🥳

And finally it comes, the D Day! We wake up extra early, after a very short night as I could not fall asleep, too excited for the race, and we grab the Uber to go to the NYC Library at 4.15am (I told you it was early…)

There was a great organization at the Library, with runners arranged into queues and what seems like a hundred buses ready to go. We went into the second bus it seems, leaving just minutes before 5am. That’s us in the queue:

The bus ride was supposed to take 90 minutes but as we’re that early we arrive at the start villages in less than 30 minutes, we just had finished our breakfast when they asked us to leave the warmth of the bus.

We were amongst the first ones to enter the villages, so no lines for coffee or Dunkin’ Beanie. We went around the Orange Village, then Pink Village, chatted with the nice volunteer for information about the start waves, looking to understand if I could start with Delphine (he did not help, but we learnt a lot about his personal life), and visited the bathrooms… several times!

At 9.05am we were asked to join our corrals and there were able to confirm we could start together, yeah 😁. I saw a RAP friend volunteering there at the last minute, it was a nice sign! We undressed, got ready… I was touched by the opening words, the hymn, and then the canon shot: we were gone!

The first 2 miles were surreal, running the NYC marathon with Delphine and 50,000+ people, starting on the Verrazano Bridge. Our watches got GPS wrong and we ran faster than our plan, we were keen to pass the slower runners.

Then we ran through Brooklyn together, amazed by the crowds, curious to read all signs, enchanted by the live music, the people shouting my name or the kids asking for hi fives! So many people. We stayed together until around 13.1 (half marathon distance), so this photo is special to me:

After running through the Queensboro bridge I have to slow down: my hamstrings are on fire 🔥 I remember having focused the application of the muscle cream on the calves… I should have also used some on my top legs… every mile after mile 16 is painful, but I have to continue, I have to end. I remind myself why I wanted to run this race, that I am in this race now and I should enjoy every moment! I cherish every supporter, I breath in the noise, the atmosphere, I can’t wait to spot Laure & Gael at mile 18 and then 21, I stop for water or Gatorade at each stop, refill and start again ready to enjoy the next mile, one mile at a time.

Seeing friendly faces along the last long miles really helped, I can’t say thank you enough!

Then it’s the turn on 5th Avenue, the long, long 5th avenue, and you get finally in Central Park. How can the crowd become even bigger? It does! RAP support team is there, Pritesh is there separately, and strangers are there to push us to the end. I would have liked to finish under 4 but my legs do not agree: I still finish running through the arrival, smiling, after 4:01 hours!

We then have to walk for 3 more miles to get our medal, warm poncho and food bag: I’m looking for Delphine but she must have arrived hours ago! I continue my zombie walk to get my post race bag, heading towards the agreed meeting point. Walking so slowly I run into Saba who helps me, and finally I reach the meeting point and find Laure & Gael. We’re looking for Delphine who was waiting for me at the post race bags… and we manage to get all together!

Les petits chaperons oranges…toutes fières 🥹 

We then go back to the hotel as fast as possible: quick shower and make up, we have a date with the top of the Empire State Building! We make it on time, even if every step up or down is real pain, and when sitting down or standing up is pure hell.

This was such an awesome race, amazing to share it with Delphine, so lucky with the weather and the good conditions! 

I ❤️ NYC

One month before the start of the next marathon training 🤪