The problems started at about mile 18. I started feeling very sleepy. I felt I needed to pull to the side and take a 5 minute nap. But I worried that if I did that, they wouldn't let me finish. So I plodded along. Believe it or not, I tried closing my eyes (while running) to get some rest. Well that was stupid. At about mile 20, I started to walk so I could close my eyes. But walking caused me to lose a lot of time and now it looked like I wouldn't break 4 hours.
When I saw the finish line, it was about 3:58. I knew I would have to turn it up a little to get to the finish line before 4. So I did. My time was 3:59:58. But it took a long time to recover. After the finish, an intense agonizing pain came across my legs. I had experienced it before (fortunately, it doesn't happen anymore). There's nothing I can do to relieve it except wait. It's just as bad sitting as standing; moving or being still. But this time, it took a lot longer than the usual 20 minutes for it to go away. It ended up taking me an hour to get to the reunion area instead of 30 minutes.
Later, when I described my experiences to my running friend, Danny Yamamoto, he said I was close to fainting. The sleepiness is a sign of exhaustion.
The Wedding
There was one bright spot about this race. A couple got married at mile 8; Pam Kezlos and Tom Young. They stopped at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the ceremony attended by their families. Then they went off to finish the race. I saw them as I was running up First Avenue. They’re both pretty fast. I heard a cheering from the crowd and wondered what was going on. Then I saw them past. His running outfile was decorated like a tuxedo and hers was all white (and she wore a short veil). They each wore a sign on his/her back; hers said “Just” and his said “Married”.
Here is the finish line picture
from the 1993 marathon. One look at the picture and you see
I was not in good shape when I finished.