Athlete runs NYC marathon

Immediately after her final soccer game on Nov. 1, junior Rachel Maguire flew to New York City to run in the New York City Marathon. If you ask Maguire to tell you about running on Nov. 2, she'll tell you that the physical pain and fatigue she felt, and the determination it took to run all 26 miles, were all a minor part of her story.

She will tell you about the mishap that almost had her competing against the elite group of the top 200 runners registered. She will tell you about the person who ran wearing a rhinosaurus costume, to represent awareness for the animal that apparently might go extinct. She will tell you about the 30,000 people she ran with and the 500,000 people in the City who cheered them on. Of course, she was tired - but there was so much else going on.

It was just an accident that Maguire was thrown in with the elite group of runners. Before the race she was ranked as the 57th fastest female runner, and given tag number F57 to show it. It was just an accident that the race staff told her, "You could start on the front line if you want to," and that the media was given her name so it could follow her with a camera.

But the staff had no way of knowing that Maguire, who was studying away last semester, had her sister fill out the preliminary registration form back in January. The form asked for a race time of the runner, so Maguire's sister filled in a number she knew would be good enough. The number turned out to be too good.

Maguire was worried, but what was she to do? She remembers thinking, in denial, "No one knows who the hell I am... Number 58 probably hates me..."

It was not until right before the race started that Maguire decided action had to be taken. On Sunday morning, the day of the marathon, Maguire lined up on Varrezan-Narrows Bridge with her fellow elite runners. Fear immediately set in. Maguire, dressed in soccer shorts and a T-shirt, was surrounded by serious looking runners who wore serious looking gear, and wore it well. "That's when I sort of realized how out of place I really was," she said.

Maguire found a staff worker and explained her situation. His response: "You've got to get off this bridge. [The elite] will be really mad at you if you slow them down."

So Maguire's brush with fame and humiliation ended at that -just a brush.

She lined up, this time at the back of the pack. What Maguire soon realized was a marathon was not something people did just to make a time on a clock. Some also made a point. It was here that she saw the person in the rhinosaurus costume, not to mention the handicapped crew. "It was pretty important that you get out of their way," said Maguire.

The huge pack of runners slowly started to move at 10:30 AM. It was so packed that Maguire had to walk for the first two miles. At mile four, she felt as though she had hit a wall. "The novelty sort of wore off, and I was like, 'Oh my god, I have to do this for another 22 miles,'" she said.

Eventually she got used to the idea, and spent the next fifteen miles catching up with her goal of 8 minutes and thirty seconds per mile.

The crowd of 500,000 spread out through the city, sometimes encouraging, sometimes harassing the runners. Some handed the runners water, some relaxed in restaurants drinking beer, waiting for the runners to come by. They made their presence felt through 12 miles in Brooklyn. They were there when runners passed by Queens. They were in the Bronx, and in Midtown. After a five mile stretch in Midtown, the course finished with the last three miles in Central Park.

Maguire crossed the finish line at 4:02 in thunder and rain feeling wet, exhausted, and pretty damned good. She was about two hours behind the top male runner, and about an hour and a half behind the top female runner. Nine months of training, including running at least eight miles a day before soccer practice since September had culminated in this one event.

"Every time I went out for a run in the past nine months I would think about the marathon," she said. "It was so crazy because I'd spent so much time on this. But at the same time, I thought, 'Hmm, now what do I do?'"