It's been over 7 years since this race, so my memory is pretty spotty. Here are some of the things I still remember:
Warm Day It was too hot a day for a marathon. The temperature got up to 72 degrees. They said that over 300 runners were hospitalized due to the heat.
Ankle Injury When the race began, there were two things bothering me. First of all, my ankle was slightly sprained. 6 days earlier I did my last long run; 13 miles. For some reason, I was unusually tired and was running in poor form. As a result, my ankle was bothering me. Actually, during the race, I didn't notice it. But afterwards, I was limping for days.
Lack of Training The second problem I had was that I had not trained enough. The longest run I did was 13 miles. Somehow I needed to double that distance that day. No problem, right?. About mile 18, I ran out of steam. I had to do a lot of walking after that.
Almost Had to Drop Out at the Start The most interesting event in the race happened in the first minute. I started in the Green area which runs on the lower deck of the Verrazano. The start was of course very crowded. I tried to run around the mass of people but got too close to a barrier. There was a bolt sticking out from the barrier and it caught me. As I'm running, I feel it hit me and grab my shorts. My first thought is that I'm cut and bleeding and will have to drop out. If not, then my shorts must be torn and I'll have to either drop out or run naked. So, with much apprehension, I check myself. Just a scratch on my leg. My shorts are torn but useable. Whew! I could just see it trying to explain to people that I had to drop out of the race in the first minute.
Hostility to the Crowd On the main page, I tell the spectators that they're great and they should keep it up. Well, to be honest, there were times during that first marathon, when I was feeling some hostility to the crowd. During the last third, I was very tired and not in a great mood. And, expecially when some well meaning individual tells me to pick it up or stop walking, all I can think is, "Why don't you get up off your fat ass and show me."
High Five to Fred Lebow As I approached the finish line, I saw Fred Lebow standing in the middle of the path watching. I assume he was looking for unregistered runners. Anyway, I gave him a high five as I passed. Fred started the NYC Marathon. He died four years later of brain cancer; about one month before the 1994 marathon.
Here is the finish line picture from the 1990 marathon.