26.2 miles in 4 hours, 6 minutes and 36 seconds

On Sunday, November 7th, 2010 at 10:40 a.m. I began my journey that lasted 4 hours, 6 minutes and 36 seconds starting on Staten Island and ending in Central Park after running 26.2 miles. I trained for 4 and 1/2 months or 18 weeks or 126 days or however you want to look at it in terms of time it took to prepare to get there. I had days of feeling invincible and days of never feeling lonelier. I dealt with shin splints 3 weeks before and a fever of 103 with just a week and a half left to go. Importantly I had the support of family, friends and even strangers to get to the finish. My biggest pride at the end of the day, I raised $3700 for the American Heart Association in the honor of both my Grandmothers Adrienne and Milli Vanilli as well as my beloved Uncles Tom and Joe. How did it feel? ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Here's how one of the best, if not the best weekends of my life went....

The Saturday before, my family mostly based in the Boston area, began trickling into the city. We met for a pasta feast at 5pm that lasted a whole 3 hours...pretty impressive for a group of 18 Irish folks. Dinner was the beginning of my amazing weekend. Having my parents, sister and brother-in-law, aunts, uncles and cousins all come together to cheer me on the next day made my heart swell and smile. Shortly after dinner, I had to leave them so that I could get home and some rest for the next day.

Sunday morning. My alarm went off at 5:30am but I was awake before then. Nerves of excitement, nervousness and the unknown jolted my body out of my bed. I grabbed my snacks, water and gatorade then bolted out the door. I was late to meet my friend at the ferry but managed to make some friends along the journey to get there. Its astounding to see how many people are just as "crazy" as you are being herded along to a starting line. I finally got to Staten Island around 9am and had to hang out for about an hour before being "corralled" to the start line. I managed to keep warm, have a PB and J sandwich, a mini snickers, banana and drank more water. Before I knew it I was being moved closer and closer to the starting line with the sun shining down making it the perfect day to run 26.2 miles. While waiting for the gun to go off, there was a lil' bit of a pep rally and there were people even at the start to cheer on thousands of strangers about to run a marathon.

BOOM! The gun went off and I have no idea how many of us started our run crossing the Verrazano bridge at that moment (total was 44,829 runners). What a beautiful view of the city as well as Brooklyn! Once over the bridge, the stories proved true, guys ran off to the side to pee...how luvlay! A woman ran by at mile 2 cheering "only 24.2 to go!" I couldn't help but laugh. I'm pretty sure that for the first 10 miles all I did was smile. All the people along the roads in Brooklyn were so amazing, cheering, holding up signs, some saying "Beer this way" with an arrow pointing onward or signs for their loved ones. Those signs caused me to start my own countdown to when I would first see my "fans" at mile 16. I honestly don't remember a whole lot of the mile markers but I did remember the half way point because there was a slight hill and then 14 because it was right before the Triboro bridge bringing us to Manhattan and me to my family and friends. The bridge I do remember really well because I just wanted to fly over the thing but that is where a lot of people began walking and slowing down. I felt like a down hill skier maneuvering from side to side down the slalom. As I approached the end heading to 59th street I was so pumped. I knew my sister was at 61st street and couldn't wait to see her. Sure enough, I found her along with my cousin and other family members holding up signs and screaming. Passing by she gave my mini snickers and I shouted "I love you" as I moved on. Only two more miles until my parents, the rest of the fam and my friends!

First Avenue in NYC is supposed to be kind of hard because of the gradual uphill but also really motivating because of all the people out cheering. The hill wasn't too bad but there weren't many people cheering. It was more like people just staring, intently, waiting to see someone they knew. I couldn't help but start waving my arms up and down pleading "Come on people, please cheer!!!" That got a rise and I'm not the only person who did that along the race. I passed along by 88th street where there were a lot of people gathered outside the bars. I ran and high-fived my beloved day drinkers and even cheered THEM on! Then began to approach "my" crowd that I knew was waiting around 90th street. They were all tucked in a corner that I couldn't see as I approached the street but as soon as they saw me, I found them because of the awesome cheering. I saw signs, my best friend Liz jumping up and down screaming then my parents tucked right in front. I stopped to give them each a kiss, blew everyone else a kiss then as my friends described, "hopped back along." That moment was what I was most excited for all day and gave me a lift. My friend Amy jumped in shortly after there to help me along the last "leg" and then it was time to power up and through the Bronx.

I thought I had passed mile 19 with Amy and was looking for the 20 mile mark but I was mistaken and that deflated my bubble a little bit. Approaching the Bronx became tough because a lot of the crowd ignored the fences and were in the street. It was about a 5 to 7 people width wise for about a mile which was really tough when trying to pass people walking or moving slower. Luckily after mile 19 things opened up more and I was able to get back on pace. I had forgotten about the two advil I had in my pouch and took those because I could feel my hips and legs beginning to tighten up. It was a genius move. Between the advil, some water and a power gel at mile 20, I had a renewed sense of energy. Having a buddy to talk to and croon with as we passed the hot NYPD and FDNY out cheering made things a bit more fun as well. The bands and fans up in the Bronx were also pretty great. I had heard that there weren't many people up in that part of the race but I thought it was well represented.

Back into Manhattan....YESSS!!! So close. We passed along the 22 mile mark and around 125th street, there was a group of people out on a door stoop and a woman cheered out "looking strong CK." That made me smile and reach for more to keep going. Powering along 5th Ave which is a sneaky gradual hill that no one seems to mention really sucks, was tough, especially when a guy cheered on "Only 2 more miles to go!" only for me to hit the 23 mile mark after....BASTARD! Shaking it off, I grabbed some gatorade for some more energy and before I knew it, Amy and I were in the Park. Home stretch! I was shocked by how many people were in the park to cheer. They were packed up against each other like sardines....Love it! Mile 25, I skipped the water station when I realized how close I was to finishing in 4 hours. "Reilly, screw it, lets finish this thing!" At 59th St where the race momentarily exited the park, Amy gave me a high five, wished me luck and I was on my own to finish this sucker. I wasn't sure how my legs were still moving at that point. There were a lot of other racers walking by then and I wanted to cheer THEM on because they, excuse me, WE, were so close to finishing!

Mile 26, as seen to the right here, is where some of my family was able to see me again. I didn't think they would be able to make it to see me so I had no idea but I did hear them cheering for me and raised my arms because I was just another point 2 miles to the finish. Believe it or not, there is a slight hill up to the finish line which my cousin feels "is so cruel!" I powered myself up that bad boy and I was finished. "Holy smokes, did I really just do that?" Yup, Yup I did!

Once across, I was looking for that water that I skipped at mile 25 but they give out medals before water...what is this nonsense? People are posing with their medals and I was just like, "get me some water, ASAP!" Sure enough, the foil blankets were passed out then the "recovery packs" filled with H2O (yes!!!), gatorade, powerbar, apple, pretzels and a few other things I didn't chose to have. Then it was the annoying part, being herded along the checked bag trucks and trying to get the heck out of the park. All I wanted was a nice dry, cozy sweatshirt but I didn't check a bag. After what felt like an eternity, I was out of the park at 79th street and my legs began to say "Uhhhh...what just happened here?" I slowly made my way down to 72nd St to meet up with my family but as I turned the corner I saw my two best friends from high school first. "Hey, I think I know you..." They began SCREAMING and then a herd of my family and friends gathered around.

What a day! Pretty much amazingly awesome.

For the first few days after, going down stairs and I were not friends. In fact I dreaded it until about that Wednesday which is when I felt like myself again. Did that mean I was heading back out to run again? Negative ghostrider. I took a whole week and a half off from the gym and running to enjoy my freedom. What was my first run after like? Pretty much like riding a bike....My legs were kind of like, "okay, so we're doing this again." Would I do it again? YES!!! I already looked into running with the American Heart Association in Boston but the Boston Marathon is more full than a canoli! So, I'll take the time to relax, go back to my normal work out routine and dream of when my next marathon will be.

At this time, I would like to thank EVERYONE for reading my blog and for supporting me every step of the way. To see people I haven't seen in awhile say that they've been reading my blog was an eye opener as well as extremely motivating and touching. I've loved every minute of this journey, good and bad. THANK YOU!!!