The Show (or marathon) MUST go ON!

The ING New York City Marathon will be held as scheduled this Sunday despite the “controversy” surrounding it.  Lots of articles about it HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

There are still a TON of unanswered questions, specifically relating to the logistics of getting to the start and any course modifications.  But the show MUST go ON!  The marathon MUST be RUN (according to the Mayor and the NYRR)!

With that being said, as long as I can get to New York City, I will be running on Sunday. 

As of today (Thursday afternoon), my flight is not cancelled.  But things could very well change tomorrow.  I fly into LaGuardia and that was the airport hit the worst and is just opening up today for a few flights.  Even if my flight isn’t cancelled, it will be overbooked or delayed at the very least. 

Here is where I stand:

• Ideally, I will get on my 4:50 PM Friday flight as planned.  Go to my hotel in Brooklyn late Friday night, sleep in Saturday, go to the expo to get my race stuff and other important into, and head back to the hotel for dinner and sleep before the race.  Based on the transportation tie-ups, there will be little time for anything else Saturday.
• If I get bumped from my Friday flight, I will fly out first thing Saturday morning, head straight to the expo, then to my hotel for the night.
• But if my airline can’t get me out until after noon Saturday, I will most likely just cancel the trip altogether.
• I don’t want to arrive in NYC late Saturday, rush to get to the expo before it closes and then to my hotel late for little sleep.  Too many unknowns with transportation and other travel logistics (not to mention, when would I eat?!?).

Even if I can make it to NYC, I still have questions concerning the race itself:

• Will there be course modifications?  Will it make the race harder, easier, or no change?
• How will I get to the start?  Will the start still be the same?
• Will Jeff be able to navigate the city to be able to see me run?  Will he be able to make it to the finish to meet me there?
• Will I be able to run my best race based on all of these unknowns?
• Will New Yorkers be disgruntled that the race was held and harass the runners?  Actually, I hope this is the case because it will make me run faster ;)

More waiting, more unknowns for me personally.  Who knows if I will be running a marathon on Sunday….

And if you were wondering, I have a backup plan if I don’t run a marathon Sunday.  I have put in so much time for training, I don’t want it to go to waste!  I already have a trip planned to run a half marathon in Las Vegas on Dec. 2, I will just switch and run the full marathon there (assuming it is not already full).