I finally purchased one of the professional photos from NYC, so I figured I’d post it. It also cost me $30, so I’m making the most use out of it as I can.
After you cross the finish line, you are herded down a 1.5 mile narrow path towards freedom. Along this road of misery, the race volunteers hand you ‘free’ things so you can try to pretend that you haven’t been running for 5 straight hours. They give you ‘complementary’ waters, Gatorades, NYC bagels, chips, granola bars, etc. Before you reach the bag pick-up area, they hand out the medals.
The medals are the sole reason I run these things! To many, these medals are small, cheap pieces of fake gold hanging from a ribbon. To me, this is a reward representing 5 hours of pure agony on top of 4 months of dieting, training, 20-mile runs, no sleeping in on Saturdays, protein shakes, 6 a.m. Spin classes, hard-boiled eggs, blisters, running with a herniated disc, hours of stretching and most importantly, over $5,000 donated to Children’s Hospital Boston.
I can’t wait to do it again.
After they hand out the medals, the next station was a ‘red carpet’ area with dozens of photographers set up like paparazzi. So, we walked the red carpet and got our picture taken like celebrities. It was actually pretty cool. At this point I was absolutely freezing, could barely stand and was dry heaving every few seconds, but it was a nice way to end the race.
Also, if you’re looking at this picture thinking ‘wow, they look like horrid hell!’, well this is what you look like after running 32 miles! It ain’t pretty! We’re not about to win a beauty pageant or a hygiene contest by any means! If you want to look good at a finish line, go run/walk a 5k.
Mike's Marathon Blog 
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