You Can Cancel the Marathon But You Cannot Take It Away!

This is how we do it!
Amazing 2.5 hours cheering, giving out food and water and love with Mo, AleVit and tío G! Congratulations to all those who tenaciously ran for a charity, for any cause, for the love of running.

Marathon Nostalgia

If you are looking for some marathon action on this non-marathon Sunday, you can check this out. It was very special, despite the struggles, and I can say (notice the night around us) that we were among the LAST people to run this puppy. Looking forward to cheering next year!

NYC (Marathon)

Whoa. Who ever thought this would be canceled pre-Sandy? NYC history is now going to have another major separator, pre and post Sandy. While I am very sorry to see the marathon canceled, I understand the public's sentiment. I do feel sorry for the thousands of people who invested hundreds of hours training and for the thousands of people who traveled here to participate in this NYC gem. I know this comment makes some people (a friend almost strangled me over the phone) irate, but I do think you can be an empathetic New Yorker and still be sorry to see the race go. I commend Bloomberg for listening to the mounting opposition and for changing his mind, even if he insists (and I do not see why he would lie) that there was not going to be an issue of diverted personnel. After all, like one of my favorite people always says "only asses (donkeys) never change their minds." The greatest race ever will still be great a year from now. We all hope NYC will be fully recovered from the tragic events of the last week, but we all also know that it cannot ever fully be healed and fixed. We are, however, as New Yorkers, and the citizens of this nation in general, incredibly resourceful (both in means and creativity), generous, and most importantly, teeming with solidarity. This combination makes us stronger and better in times of crises than in regular times. May the power come back on for everyone this weekend, and let the recovery push forward.

Support My Brother!

Click here to donate to the MS Society! My brother will be running the NYC marathon for them and he  needs all of our help! Run tío run!

Marathon Report

I ambitiously thought I could write about it on Sunday, then Monday came and went, and here we are a full 2 days post marathon. It was amazing. Much better than I could have imagined. New Yorkers rule as marathon spectators. I literally interacted with hundreds of people who were cheering, dancing, holding up signs, and yelling my name (it is really clutch to write your name on your shirt to get the extra boost). My mother felt very ill but was wonderful and made it all 26.2 miles without ever having walked more than 14 before Sunday. Incredible. We got along wonderfully (not always the case on our training walks) and enjoyed all of the boroughs (Brooklyn especially). We had support in Bklyn, on first ave, and family thar came to the bronx to walk us back into Manhattan. More family in Harlem. As dark and cold set in at 5pm, we were lucky enough to have our spouses walk many miles with us before we turned into the park for the glorious finish line. The announcer, bleachers, and large screen were all still there, even 7 hours and 11 minutes after we started. The day was long (we met at 6 am and finished past 6pm) but indelible. Thank you to all of those who cared for my kids so I could do this. Congratulations to my brother (4 hours 5 minutes) and spouse (3 hours 49 minutes) who also rocked the marathon. I hope I can do it again. Everyone should do it at least once. Even if you walk it, for a charity. Incredible.

THANK YOU

to all of my family (from NYC, MIA, and PA) and to T&M, K&R (Brooklyn in the house!) as well as tías D and S who came out to show love. I am real real tired now and ate too much Indian and need to keep pumping milk but want to sleep. Will write more on the marathon extravaganza tomorrow. Glad that is done! Good job Mamá!

T'was The Night Before The Marathon...

Jitters have turned into "let's do it now!"- this used to happen to me before finals as well. I just want to get it over with at this point. Nice dinner with most of the family (my partner stayed home but we will have plenty of time together tomorrow!), all of our clothes laid out, instructions for the many children written, milk pumped. One of my only doubts is "what happens if I have too much milk?" When I ran in 2007 I was nursing J and he was about the same age but 1. I was only nursing one, 2. I ran it so my body was much more taxed and focused 3. I was out of the house for 4-5 hours less than I will be tomorrow. We are waking up at 5 (thank goodness for time change), leaving at 6 and catching a 6:12 subway to meet abuela at 96 St, shoot down to South Ferry and catch the 7:15am ferry. Too bad I will not start the actual race until 10:40am (maybe not even cross the start line until 11am?). One other potential downfall is having to finish in the dark. I mean, I am definitely finishing in the dark (sun sets at 4:42pm) but will there even be any cheerers around in the cold dark? Okay, no more doubts. Off to sleep, if I can, if the babies let me (A took almost 3 hours to fall asleep). I will have a report tomorrow night. If you want to track me, go to the ING NYC website- my bib is 66-762 (there are over 66,000 people lining up before me??). Here we come!

Marathon Countdown

in 48 hours I will be hauling ass in Brooklyn. I will have survived the night and morning leading up to the marathon (V woke up at 4:40 and A at 5:30- earlier and earlier) and I will be anxiously looking for familiar faces in the crowds. I do not know if I will walk/crawl the whole race with my mother or jog/walk on my own. I do not know if anybody will be at the finish line, at that point most people will be having dinner after all. I do know that I am lucky as hell to have a coveted spot in the race, to have raised almost 3K for Team For Kids (THANK YOU to all of you who donated any amount), to have full use of my body (4 babies and two back surgeries in 7 years could have taken its toll), and to have both the emotional and physical support of so many friends and family. I could not do it without you. NYC, here I come. I love you NYC Marathon. Let's do it!

PS Is it bad that my big toe is almost sticking out of my sneakers? WTF? I have the same problem with all of my socks.. big toe breaks out. Oh well, a little late to break a new pair in.

This Week

has included a night of Halloween, a baby revolution (they switched their bed time from 6:30pm tp 8:30pm), 5 in school celebrations of día de los muertos (me dragging my blender to school to make Mexican hot chocolate, running to bakery for special bread etc) hosted by moi, collecting several hundred Truck or Treat boxes for City Harvest (little paper piggy banks with which kids collect money while trick or treating), and oh yes, remembering that I have the marathon on Sunday. Went to the expo today with MoJo and felt sad that I am not running, that I am unsure how committed my partner is, that we did not train more. Well, at least once I finish that little 13 hour project (7:15am ferry to Staten Island Sun am for a 10:40 am start!) I can come home to babies who will be confused about the time, go to sleep, nurse, rinse repeat. Okay, I can do this. And if I can do this, then I can do almost anything (I think). Off to sleep. I hope.

Ode to My Brother

Amazing project to run a marathon unprepared
with a blind man
as a guide
in Boston!
Go G-Man Go!
We are all so proud of you and admire you.
Kick It!

You Know You Are Crazy When..

You decide that you are going to give up on so much pumping and bottle feeding and try to retrain AleVit to do mostly teta. Encouraged by the pediatrician (herself the mother of 5 month old twins) and the desire to not be hooked to a machine and so distanced from the intimacy of breast feeding, I am going to take on this challenge. March 17 they are due back for a weight check and 1 month check up and they will be able to assess if they get enough food from the source. Another sign of insanity is signing up for the ING NYC marathon 8 months and 3 days away. Forget the 26.2 miles that I need to cover somehow (in addition to dragging my mother the distance), I also need to raise $2,620 or cough it up myself. Well, what can I say? I find it hard to not have goals, challenges, to keep busy. I am limited in that way. So, let the madness begin/continue!

PT

Went back last Tuesday. He seemed surprised to see me. Dr. said 2 weeks and that is what I took. Back again this Tuesday. Feels great to go. To walk in park. Now if I could just run a marathon. Hmm,

Maternity & Marathoning

As obvious as many of these similarities are, I cannot help but point out...

1. Long term training/preparation for a difficult but pleasurable goal. I did the labor thing twice, the marathon thrice and I am appropriately going for a 4th time. 4 races. 4 kids. My goal was to do it within the year of the babies being born and it worked in 2005 and 2007. This year my mother and I will tackle walking/jogging the beast for charity.

2. You cannot wait for it to be over (labor) but then you miss the training (being pregnant).

3. The curiousness/dumb questions. "How long is that marathon?" "Did you try to have twins?" etc.

4. No pain no gain. This one is clear.

5. Breathe!

6. The weight- marathon training makes you hungry and lean and muscular. Baby making, well you are hungry and big but unfortunately flabby and deflated and stretch marked when you are done.

7. Spectators/supporters/commentators- Most of this is positive and I TRULY appreciate everyone's support in this pregnancy especially, which could have been hard... but ended up being great- the easiest physically (I still do not weigh as much as I did when M was born). When you are in the marathon, the cheering is of utmost importance as well, you do not want to let anyone down. The flip side of the commenting/inquiring/cheering, is when you cannot take it anymore. See below.

8. The end: When you have run 25 miles or 25.8 miles, you know where you are in the race. When you have gained 40 something pounds and your due date is approaching and EVERY person you see EVERY day asks you "When are/were you due?". "Are you still here?", "How much longer?"- as unfriendly as it is/I am, I feel like hurting them, just like the spectators drinking coffee or screwdrivers at mile 25 yelling "You are almost there." I know where the hell I am and it is not as close to the end as I need to be so ZIP it.

9. The reward: Obviously babies are better than medals. The feeling of accomplishment and awe at the human body is huge in both cases though. You get to keep your kids and love them and they are clearly 1000 times more important than your athletic feat. But, in my psychotic mind, there are some strong parallels that make these seemingly insurmountable tasks, a joy. The mental piece is clutch. The physical daunting. The emotional overwhelming. The whole thing: priceless.

Marathon Envy

The NYC marathon is tomorrow and I am beyond excited and jealous. It is truly, as cliche as it sounds, a testament to the human spirit. My brother is the only one in our family running this year (we usually have 2-3 runners) and we will spend most of Sunday spectating and trying to provide support for this amazing and grueling challenge that over 40,000!! people are taking on this year. If you have not seen this live, you MUST and if you have the slightest athletic ability, you should consider running in this beautiful race before you die. You will be hard pressed to find another day in which literally a million people lining the streets cheer for YOU, you get to run behind the best in the world and share the field with runners in wheelchairs, with one leg, old, fat, everyone pushing for a crazy goal. You get a nice running tour of the city and you ultimately prove to yourself that it is possible. I cannot help but cry when I watch the marathon. I may never do it again, but I had the privilege of running it twice. Go G-man RUN!