3:59:10

Yesterday I ran in my 5th New York City marathon. It's amazing to think I've run that many of them. Things have changed since the 1st one I ran back I'm 2006. For one thing, I paid $80 the 1st time around. Now it goes for over $200. This year alone there were big changes due to the cancellation of the marathon due to Hurricane Sandy and then the bombings at the Boston Marathon several months ago. Lots of security. I heard that there were close to 50,000 runners in the race. I can believe it. It was crowded throughout. Plenty o people lined the streets to cheer us on. My main goal was to finish under 4 hours. I did that once at this race in 2010. I was so disappointed with my finish in 2011, that I spent last year qualifying for yesterday's race. I felt pretty good but there were times when I could feel my pace falling off. Each time I responded with a push. My splits were pretty even. When I hit the halfway mark, I was just under 2 hours. This was a concern since I knew my pace would have to be strong from there on in. The turning point of the race came at the 20-Mile mark, when I decided to pick up the pace and go for broke. I felt strong for the next 4 miles. But with 2 miles to go, I hit the wall hard and did everything I could to stay strong. When I crossed the Finish Line, I didn't know what my time was due to the fact that my watch stopped counting. I found out several hours later my finishing time was 3:59:10. I was so happy. I felt like I won with just seconds to go. It was a great weekend for me and I have another metal to the collection.