It was a little touch and go as to whether this race was going on as planned due to the weather forecast for New York City today. A text from NYRR yesterday suggested we stay tuned for status and I didn’t sleep a lick last night worrying about whether I was prepared if the race went on, and whether the race would. With no text message when I woke, I checked FB to see all systems go and I… hit snooze. With the rain I knew I was going to Via to the start anyway, so I wasn’t in a huge rush. I also wasn’t in a rush to stand in the damp for the suggested 30-45m, so I was willing to wing it. I'd picked up my shirt and bib earlier in the week, so there was nothing I needed to do on arrival.

I was glad I had a second look at the race info last night because the course was slightly different to the prior 5 mile NYRR run I’d done in that it finished on West Drive instead of the 72nd St. transverse. As a result, those of us toward the back crossed the finish before we crossed the start. I was amazed how quickly they put up the finish line once we were all off. While waiting for the opening ceremonies to wrap, I enjoyed the fussier than normal festivities due to marathon prep. The pavilion is deceptively large and was a nice place to dry off after our miles were done. Luckily the rain held off while we were waiting and the experience was wonderful, as always.

For a while it felt as if we’d never get to run, but we actually crossed the start faster than in the NYRR races earlier this summer. I was watching my footing due to the wet leaves, which they did well to caution us about. I felt as if I was darting around people a lot, but just like June I ran close to the prescribed distance (5.14 to June’s 5.13 miles). I seem to be better at that than I am when running 10K. The water stations were either much better stocked than normal, or I was sticking with the pack amazingly well.

We had a version of a reverse expo, spending time in the marathon pavilion after we were done to warm up, dry out and just people watch.