The day before

We all woke up for a 25 minute run the day before the race. Ramon whistled from the second floor balcony to get our attention in the lobby. We got to run through a bit of the city, pretty much taking over the wide side walks, as NYCers like to dominate. Then we went over the race plan again, Ramon detailed every hill, how to prepare, deal with the weather at hand, and basically rock.

We stretched and then had the day to ourselves.

I had lunch with my cousin and got to see the Embarqudero Farmers Market.

At three oçlock we met for a dedication and singlet decorating ceremony. Very moving. After that we headed to the pasta party to hear speeches of surviors and families. In order to avoid the pasta being served to 8,000 people, we headed up to North Beach to test out Sand Fran's Little Italy. We found a restuarant with los of character and had a relaxing meal, and then headed in early to rest up. We had to be up by 4:30!

So I get back to the hotel, get all my thing in perfect order for the morning. Fill my race ready shorts with nutrition, pack my race bag, take my ibuprofen, prepare my Tylenol and salt packets for the next day, drink gallons of water, schedule the 4 am wake up call, yadda yadda yadda.

At 8:50 there is a lot of noise going on outside our room. I put in ear plugs and try to ignore it. Umm does anyone else have a marathon tomorrow? From the smell of the elevator, I am pretty sure that answer is yes.

So at 9:30, I go into the hall way, expected to find a frat party going on, and there are 50 people from another chapter being exceedingly rude. Umm, please reserve a private space to have your prep party, not the hotel hallways! I know that NYC is way more serious, well-trained and focused than other teams, but this is crazy folks. Feeling like a 50 year old school teacher, I asked them to settle down. 15 minutes later I called hotel security. 5 minutes later...silence!

To be continued.