the NYC marathon-- my story

I was nervous as I sat in a patch of moist grass in Staten Island, luckily I had my phone on me-- a blackberry look-a-like and communicated with my friends through Facebook. I was tagged in so many posts that morning: "Good luck Mendoza! I hope that God gives u strength 2 finish the race. And that u feel the love from ur friends & family there cheering u on & those doing so in spirit.", "Would like to wish my friend Mendoza the best of luck on running the Marathon today. She will be running for the American Cancer society. May God guide her through her journey and give her the strength she needs to go all the way!! Im very proud of you girl!!", "Run hard Mendoza!!"... in between my facebook sessions I called my mom and then my dad to tell them I was nervous. They both said I would do great and if I feel like I'm going to die, then stop. <-- like all parents would say, ha.

Then the announcement came, in about four different languages. "WAVE THREE RUNNERS, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE START LINE", "ONDA tres corredores, por favor haga su camino a la línea de salida", "WAVE trois coureurs, S'IL VOUS PLAÎT faire votre chemin vers la ligne de départ", "WAVE GUIDE TRE, SI PREGA DI EFFETTUARE IL VOSTROMODO alla linea di partenza"-- or something like that. so I got up, and quickly walked over.

The sun was bright. I felt warm, I starting doing light stretching-- but it was difficult to move because there were so many runners surrounding me, we were packed in tight. After about 30 minutes of waiting, a beautiful voice began singing the star spangled banner... OH SAY CAN YOU SEE... I got a lump in my throat... BOOM... the cannon was fired and Frank Sinatras' "New York, New York" came on. Tears rolled out of my eyes, the lump just stood there, in my throat, making it hard to swallow.

And thats how I began the New York City Marathon, 2011.

The rest of the experience went by really quick, even though I was running for almost five hours, it felt like one hour. I saw lots of people I knew along the way. There were signs with my name on them along the route-- my friends came from Queens and Long Island to see me. It was amazing. I definitely felt the love and support.

The last six miles, I was in excruciating pain. My legs felt horrible, I hadn't trained well (the longest I had run in the past few weeks was ten miles, and I was already at mile 20 without stopping). It was surreal. Although I experienced this pain, I was on top of the world! I felt like, "If I could accomplish this without training, imagine what else I could do with my life". My mind was strong, guiding me, and so was my body.

I had soul.

I felt it. I felt my spirit throughout that whole course, beginning with Staten Island, then in Brooklyn, then running through Queens, into Manhattan, then to the Bronx, then back to Manhattan to finish strong. My spirit was with me that whole time-- and I'm sure that the people I was running in memory of were too.

Unforgettable experience.

Now what?