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I took the bus down to NYC on Friday afternoon and picked up my Marathon number for the Sunday Marathon from the ING 2005 Marathon Expo (left). It was huge! I running for Achilles as a guide for a disabled athlete. The next day, Saturday, I went with some friends, Di and Mal, to take part in the International Friendship Run. Its about a 5 mile (8km) fun run from the UN (far left) to Central Park, and thousands from all over the world turned out to take part in it the day before the marathon. With around 40 Aussies, all wearing our Aussie singlets, we carried a blow-up kangaroo and a sign reading 'G'day New York love Australia'. The adrenaline and excitement in the crowd was so cool! Heaps of people wore outfits, the orange guys were from teh Netherlands. Bottom right was the view from the penthouse suite where we stayed in NYC, really nice!
Staten Island Bridge, the start... 10:10am
Marathon day arrived. I'd been training for around 2 months (not really as long as one would have liked) and running between 8 and 30km most days. At an Achilles dinner 2 days before I had met my athlete Michael, a partially blind runner from Trinidad and Tobago. I also caught up with fellow guide Tom (from New Jersey) and met the Australian disabled athlete, Todd, who won the crank (a 3 wheeled hand-powered bike) section of the NYC Marathon in 2004 (he is 48 but has a torso like a truck, the crank fellas absolutely fly through the course in around an hour and a 20 mins). Tom and I met Michael about 6 in the morning and took the shuttle to the start which was packed! The race is popular to say the least. 85,000 people apply to run it each year, but only 30,000 are selected via lottery to participate. Those 30,000 from all over the world converge at the southern end of the Staten Island bridge to run. Everyone was over-hydrating for the race and needing to pee. Portaloos were packed, people went in the bushes, and the longest trough in the world (around 200 meters of open piping) runs down a large paddock and the pee continuously flows from the thousands (including myself) who take a moment of relief. We stashed our stuff in the van and made our way to the start. And there we stood in our position for around 30 mins waiting for officials to aline the other 30,000 people (they reckon that once the gun goes, it takes around another 30 mins before the person at the back of the starting pack actually crosses the starting line). Most are aware of the long wait and keep their tracksuits on and as the last few minutes count down everone is discarding and throwing clothes everywhere. There was some pretty nice stuff going around I would have liked to have picked up but wasn't prepared to carry it 42 kms. Officials collect all the clothes and donate them to charity. Everyone was hooting and hollering with excitement and then the gun went.
We were off and racing. Tom had run the marathon several times previous and found us good positioning that meant we crossed the start less than 5 minutes after the gun blast. Tom and I had our work cut out for us protecting Michael from the onslaught of runners who attempted to dart and weave around us. Michael is partially blind and whilst we didn't run with a tether between us, we kept our shoulders almost rubbing; we didn't want him taking a tumble in the opening minutes that might cost him the race. Whilst it was hard, at least we were running on top of the bridge. The bridge has two levels and many of the runners were relieving themselves over the side of the upper level and those running on the second level were copping the yellow spray on the wind. By the time we crossed into Brooklyn even the women were squatting behind parked trucks, and urine flowed across the road - peeing was becoming a big issue and I hadn't even thought about it prior to the race. We kept a good pace with Michael and it all got a little easier over the following kilometers as the pack thinned out. The entire marathon route is packed with onlookers. People come out of their houses offering sweets, bananas, Gatorade and most of all support. When people saw our red Achilles shirts they screamed 'Go Achilles' and Tom and I revved them up for Michael and they yelled, 'C'mon Michael you can do it!'. We were slapping hive fives with complete strangers all the way up entire blocks. Michael had been hoping to do the marathon in 4hrs 30 mins but a number of miles in he slowed and became sore. As people passed, I got to witness some of the slower but colourful characters in the race. I saw people in huge wigs, painted faces, 3 firemen in full kit and oxygen tanks, 8 British soldiers in uniform with backpacks and even a Star Wars Storm Trooper carrying his helmet under his arm (the heat for these guys must have been amazing). We made our way through the five boroughs of New York, now walking a large portion of the way. The day was going twice as long as I had anticipated and I grabbed doses of Gue (a sweet energy sugar) and Gatorade from water stops to keep me going. Now at the back of the race I realised that anyone could do a marathon. I saw people who were unfit and obese and people with disabilities and injuries. It just depended what time you wanted to do. One girl on crutches started the race at 6am that morning and wouldn't cross the line until 7.30am the following day, completing the course on the footpath once the roads were opened. We had started our race at 10.10am and now the sun had set as we entered Central Park for the finish. We encouraged Michael into a run over the last hundred meters as we crossed the line. Officials took our photos, wrapped us in heat sheets and hung medals around our necks. Michael's face beamed. He had traveled all the way from Trinidad and Tobago and under much duress completed the New York Marathon. Todd (the Aussie crank champion) brushed past me on his way home and said hi, he had taken out first place again by only a few seconds. I made my way out of Central Park and home. It had been a great day of pushing limits. I vowed to do another marathon soon.
