NYC Marathon Expo

Between my tardiness and a delayed arrival by my friend David, we didn't wind up getting into the expo until about 4:45pm. Good enough for my time frame for getting in. (There was no telling how anal they were going to be about people arriving outside their reserved timeframe.)

Most of the time, I blow through expos. There's generally very little I want to buy there, and little that is of sufficient interest. That said, I do appreciate a good expo that has a lot of variety. I vaguely have a memory of the 2003 and 2004 expos for NYC Marathon being HUGE and chaotic. (Maybe because those were my first two marathons ever and I didn't have a clue?) Well, such is no longer the case. It was truly sad to see just how small the space was.

Apart from the packet and t-shirt pickup, and the New Balance merchandise area, there was very little available. Small stalls for their other sponsors and a few others beyond that. The only one that was of any interest to me is the Abbott World Marathon Majors area, where they have the Wall of Fame (with the names of everyone who has finished the six World Marathon Majors).

While I have a 6-star medal (having completed the quest in London in April 2019), I am still trying to qualify for the Age Championships. I didn't realize previously that they had a medal for that on display in their booth. This is what I'm chasing:

While I wasn't planning on trying for a time in New York that would shoot me back up in the standings for my age group to qualify (the race is too difficult for that), my plan is to use Little Rock to get the points sufficient enough when added to my Chicago result to have me qualify. Fingers crossed.

David and I took our leisurely time through the small expo, but the time was growing short, and I was down to 2% battery life on my phone. With no "brick" to recharge the phone at all, not knowing my other friend's phone number off-hand (to call from David's phone), and therefore wanting to make sure I catch my planned LIRR train out of NY on time, I make a hasty exit. (No, we never took a photo together.)

10 minutes. To go from Javits Center onto a train (on an as-yet unknown track) in Penn Station. Is that really doable?

RUN!!!

Light after light, I managed to catch all of the green lights going crosstown. Doing a moderate pace (since I was still very much feeling my lunch in my side), I kept looking at my watch as the time ticked ever closer. Top of the escalator, and I have about two minutes left, according to my watch. But not necessarily matching the time that LIRR is using. HURRY!

I figuratively flew down the stairs, found the display board with the track assignments on in. Track 18... got it.

I got to the top of the staircase and hear the dreaded announcement "Final call for hte train to Hempstead. Final call, Track 18."

"SHIT! I need to get down these stairs without killing myself." (Those who have taken these stairs before know that it would be far too easy to take a tumble when rushing down them.)

I reached the bottom unscathed, heard the chimes of the closing doors, and made a sharp turn to get to the closest door. A guy standing on the inside of the train at the door made a half-hearted attempt to keep the door from shutting to at least save face.

The doors seem to have shut. "Damn! No you don't!"

I get my hand on the edge of the door (which seems like it had maybe an inch of an opening remaining) and push as hard as possible. "You are not leaving without me!"

The doors "hiccup" open for about 1-2 seconds. Enough time and enough of a space for me to slip inside, expo bag in hand. Exhausted, immensely overheated, and highly relieved to have caught the train.

Talk about stress! One cascading set of delays from an otherwise well-scheduled and enjoyable day. I'm so glad this was all on Friday, so that I could take Saturday to relax. It would have been detrimental to have that much stress the night before the marathon.