13.1 Through 20 miles!!

Still feeling very good at this point and we were getting very close to the Queensboro bridge into Manhattan at this point. My wife, family, friends and Team Fox would be waiting for me on the other side of the bridge. Oh, and Ryan e mailed me on Saturday night to let me know that he would be at 63rd and 1st Ave. I was looking forward to a mountain of cheers from everyone as we stepped into Manhattan for the first time in the race.

As we approached mile 14, I could sense that I was getting a little tired. Vero, the little train that could, kept up the pace and we still motored along at an 8:00 to 8:15 pace. The Queensboro bridge was right in front of us getting closer with every step. Once we got on the other side, it would only be about 10 miles to the finish.

When we hit the base of the bridge, I kept my gaze right in front of my feet so as to not look up at the hill we were about to run. Up the bridge, it is a little over 3/4 of a mile and it feels every bit of it. Once you get to the top, it is a sharp decline and you can once again let gravity take over. As you near the bottom, you can hear the roar of the Manhattan crowd as they see all of the marathoners run into the city. You make a sharp left turn and head towards 1st Ave. It was at this point that I decided to lose the beatingryanreynolds.com t-shirt and go straight up TEAM FOX for the rest of the race!! I pulled the shirt over my head, rolled it into a ball and whipped it into the crowd. Some random, tall guy caught it and realized he was holding a soaked singlet with Ryan Reynolds on it. I could see the disgust in his eyes...was it the sweat or Ryan's image??? Strangely, this was comedic to me and it gave me a lift.

As we rounded the corner onto 1st ave at 60th street, I started looking for Ryan. He said he would be on the right side. I had a hat on so it covered the glorious baldness of my head. As we got to 64th street, I figured that we missed him. What I didn't know was that my wife and friends had decided to go to 63rd and 1st on the left side to see if they could see Ryan too. So, in the end, I missed everyone there. Not a big deal as I would see them later in the race.

At 73rd and 1st along the left side, I saw a good friend. Michelle Trilli. It was nice to see her cheering. I asked her to bring a banana but I didn't stop. I wondered to myself how long she held that banana and if she just decided to eat it at one point or throw it....hopefully she didn't throw the peel on the race course...Since I didn't hear of any race accidents involving said banana, I'm sure she disposed of it properly.

The crowd gave me a lift as we continued up 1st ave. We also knew that there was a TEAM FOX cheering station at 97th and 1st. Vero was a little ahead of me but that only motivated me to catch up before we hit the cheering area.

That was around mile 18 to 18.5. Now I was started to get tired but at mile 19, I was at 2:33:36 and had 76 minutes to run the last 7.2 to beat Ryan's time. I felt that if I didn't completely crash and burn that I would do it. This for me is where the true race started.

Vero was still keeping her pace. So I had to let her run her race as she had a PR on the line. Didn't want to hold her back. The last thing she did was give me her energy jellybeans. This was very gracious of her and I must have looked shitty. I definitely got a lift from the them. Not sure if it were the actual jellybeans or the fact that Vero gave them up that did that. Either way I was happy.

Note to self though...eat the jellybeans or GU or pretty much anything ONLY when you are close to the Water/Gatorade stops. Otherwise, they turn to paste.

My pace was still pretty good between 19 and 20. I ran that mile at 8:43 which was still right under Ryan's total marathon pace. So, I didn't lose anything that mile...felt really good about that.

With 6.2 miles left, the race was getting more difficult with each step. This is where I had to rely on the advice and words of encouragement from everyone who supported me over the last 6 months...