10:00pm PST - 11.10.10: Wow, to think just a few days ago I was thinking what this exact moment would feel like - post marathon relief. Well, I can confidently state it is a very relieving, but an exciting moment in that I really do look forward to doing another marathon soon. I never would have thought it to be the case, but yes, I want to do more of these crazy races. Without a doubt I am not built or best at running long distance… either way I am stoked for the next one. Check out my photo gallery from the marathon!

So, before I go into my future plans let me tell you about the most scared and excited I have ever been at one time, it was November 7th, 2010.My alarm went off at 5am sharp, and I needed to be up earlier enough to shake out the butterflies, go to the bathroom, shower, stretch, get my gear on, make my gel mixes on my fuel belt and then double check everything one last time.

Then it was 6:30am, time to head down to the Staten Island Ferry across the street from Ryan and Lindsey’s place in Battery Park. Man was I surprised to see the sea of people when I entered the station, good thing I had done a trial run the day before with my folks.

Jumped on the 6:45am shuttle out to Staten Island and went to the top of the ferry to chill out and take a photo of the sunrise. It was incredibly cold outside so, I listened to my Jayceeoh mix and tuned out the world one last time. The ferry arrived sooner than I wanted; with a reluctant shrug I de-boarded and walked out into the freezing temperatures to ride a bus to the starting area of Fort Wadsworth.

Once at Fort Wadsworth things became a blur as I tried everything to stay warm, it was 32 degrees outside and the sun was battling to get above the horizon. I was supposed to meet up with my friend Michael to give him a pair of limited edition Radar sunglasses for the race. Unfortunately due to bad cell phone coverage and the chaos of 55,000 people trying to get ready it just was not going to happen. So, I checked my UPS bag in and headed to my corral for the official start.

Jumping in place and listening to my music I blocked everyone out one last time as the sun hit my face and people pushed pass me to use the port-a-potties. It’s tough to focus when 1,000 people in a very small roped off area are pushing to pass in all three fashions in a not so private manner. From there our number was called and like cattle we moved to the tollbooths and the start line. After some singing, the nation anthem, and a speech from Mayor Bloomberg it was game time, my body was ready and my mind although flirting with many thoughts was as focused as ever. I was able to crack a smile as the guy next to me pointed out the cutie wearing leopard print tights in front of us – not sure it was appropriate attire for running a marathon, but who were we say otherwise – she was incredibly hot in the outfit.

As the gun sounded my heart rate picked up and we all began running, the funniest part was realizing I would be doing this for the next four plus hours. The first mile is running the bridge into Brooklyn, which is primarily up-hill so my pace was a little slow. Either way, I entered Brooklyn on a high like no other; there were choppers in the air filming us, thousands of people running with me and a crisp clear air to inhale. I was on a new high and with that my pace improved through most of Brooklyn. At times I was a little bothered by the fact I was far from 100% going into this race, but I thought about how far it was to the finish and focused on my present pace.

Next I rolled into Queens, to which I thought to myself, damn I thought I had hit Queens a few miles back. Turns out my Nike + GPS was reading my pace differently then the Marathon’s official markers. Actually my Nike + GPS would later congratulate me on a great marathon at mile marker 25, according to it I ran almost 28 miles, not 26.2… interesting to say the very least.

Anyway, back to my story. Queens went by pretty fast, I hit the halfway point in pretty good time considering I had never run a marathon ever in my life. My time was exactly two hours, so I was stoked that I could finish in a decent time for my parents to see me cross the finish line.

Next up was running the Queensboro bridge… now all I am going to say about this is “F&$%” the Queensboro bridge!

That thing sucks, it is over a two mile run to finish it, the first 2/3 of it is up hill and grueling, lots of people started walking at this point, but I kept on pushing. I needed to look strong coming off that bridge as my family and friends were waiting to cheer me on at 59th Street and 1st Avenue. Funny part is the last part of the bridge is extremely down hill with a hard left hand u-turn. So, to avoid the madness and keep my knees in check I swung wide off the bridge and then cut to the inside as I ran through the underpass up 1st Avenue towards the Bronx. I never saw my family, but they saw me – which was awesome!

Then things got hairy, I started to fall off in my pace… the streets were crazy, but 1st Avenue was grueling as I tried to focus on the next phase I could begin to feel a twinge in my left leg, but I kicked through it not wanting to believe my body. One thing was for sure, those streets were alive with thousands upon thousands of cheering fans, I was blown away, no time to feel down.

Next up was the Bronx and at mile marker 20 it happened… my left knee popped and I mean load, my eyes filled with water, throat was sticky from my Hammer Gel making swallowing and breathing very difficult. Not wanting to give up I just slowed my pace way down, it was evident to me that I could finish, but just not in the time I had hoped.

This was the first time I grabbed water from the Poland Springs station and not my special mix of Hammer Gel and water from my fuel belt. Not part of the game plan, but my mouth was all clammed up and I needed to try and get a better passage way for breathing as my nose could not take anymore whipping from my right sleeve.

It’s funny, when you run in something like this everything slows down enough that you take all of it in on a new and different level… so I was able to think very clearly even if my body was battered. Turns out the past four weeks leading up to the marathon with zero training due to the stitches in my right foot I had not realized that my left leg had obviously been taking on the load of two legs getting around from point A to point B. Thus my left knee was never ready to take on a marathon with no training and dragging my right leg around for a month before the big day.

Now it had finally given up on me with the IT band going pop and my eyes welling with water, I swallowed hard, pounded a glass of water and started running again. But this time it was different I could tell this would be a struggle until the finish. Things became a full on blur from this point on as I only thought about my mother and father waiting for me at the finish line in the VIP area, and knowing it closed at 2:30pm and I had to make it there in time for them to see me cross.

As I rolled through Harlem, I finally went to a walking pace. To which my body responded by seizing up thinking, “oh it’s finally over, the lunatic is finally done.” Problem being I was still over three miles from the finish line. Noticing my body did not respond well to walking I started running again. People were stopping everywhere, it was incredibly dangerous as Harlem was narrowed by the size of the crowds cheering, making it no more than four people wide in the streets.

Thus you were committed to the person in front of you and behind you when it came to your running pace. And with the people stopping to stretch it turned into a war zone of sorts, a true survival of the fittest. I made sure to grab water at every station and got a shout out from the guy in Harlem on the mic as the Green Lantern, which motivated me to push on.

Next you run parallel with Central Park before entering it, the dark shadows of 5th Avenue rained down on my beaten body, but I pushed on slowing to a walking pace once again.

Then we entered Central Park where we were met with sunlight and throngs of people cheering our names – yelling out “For Momma, you can do it!” I started crying and pushed to the finish line, there was no way I was not finishing now. My pace had completely fallen off, my iPhone had died and now all I could do was look ahead for that finish line.

When I approached the finish line I mustered enough strength to raise my arms and take in this moment that I will never soon forget. They make walk some 20 plus blocks before you can get out of the park upon finishing the marathon, and by the time I got out I was at 85th street. Thus I headed west away from the park to grab a cab, nothing like running a marathon to walk another three to four miles to grab a cab and hang with your friends and family at 48 Lounge in your running gear.

My sister and her family, my mother and father, my cousin and several of my best friends all greeted me at 48 Lounge where I enjoyed my first Kettle One and Soda in over six weeks. It was truly awesome to share such a great day with family and friends. Even my favorite person on planet earth, my nephew Isaac was there in his new Nike sneakers to tell me how fast I was in the marathon. Nothing like a two year old to make you feel the coolest

- Matthew