New York, 1st - 5th November 2001
Thursday
We arrived at JFK at 5pm local time. We caught the subway to John Burke's apartment in Manhattan. Pete and Veronica just beat us there. After a beer at John's place it was on to a local bar for some more beer! The World Series baseball game was showing in the bar, and everybody was watching and cheering the Yankees along. It was the Yankees verses Arizona. The Yankees won, making the drinkers ecstatic.
Friday
7.00 am we (except John who had to work) went for a run around Central Park, which was completely packed with runners. Graham and I went to the Marathon Expo. to pick up my race number. We then took a boat trip around Manhattan Island. I noticed a temperature sign reading 76 degrees! Not bad for November. We could see from the East River some of the devastation from September 11th terrorist attacks. In the evening we went on the New York Hash House Harriers' pub-crawl. It was in the Downtown area close to disaster area. In the subway you could smell the smoke and dust that still lingers from the disaster.
Saturday
After brunch at a local diner, I spent the day with my feet up drinking lots of water. Graham went on the New York Hashers' pre marathon hash. Graham, Veronica and Pete all got "visitors" down downs. In the evening we headed back Downtown for a meal. The New Yorkers are quite keen to get people back in to the area to start spending money again. I did my pre-marathon carbo-loading with a huge bowl of pasta. We had dinner with a couple of friends of John's who lived close to the twin towers and had to move out of their apartment for 2 weeks after the attack. They went to stay with a friend who had lost his wife in the tragedy. In the restaurant the next round of the baseball was on. The Yankee's lost badly, which meant there would be a deciding match Sunday evening.
Sunday - The New York City Marathon (4th November 2001)
I got up at 5am to get one of the buses provided to get the runners to the start on Staten Island by 5.30am to 7.30am. I arrived at the start at about 6.30am, so it meant quite a wait to the start at 10.50am. At least breakfast was provided. I had a couple of bagels, orange juice, coffee, water and a power bar and went to my start corral. I was glad I brought a bin liner to sit on, and a space blanket to wrap around me, as it was freezing that early in the morning. I wore an old running top and bottoms, to throw away at the start. (They pick up all the discarded items of clothing and give them to charity.) There was a great atmosphere at the start and it was interesting talking to other runners. By 9am it was beginning to feel quite warm, the sun was out and I was beginning to worry that it might get too warm for a marathon. I was in a good start corral, so it only took me a few seconds to cross the start line. The start was well organised getting the runners away quickly. Both levels of the Verrazano-Narrows bridge are used at the start. Fortunately the bridge is wide enough so it can cope with the 30,000 runners.
The marathon was dedicated to the victims and the courageous rescue workers of the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th. The marathon was run under the theme "United We Run", with ribbons printed with the title "United We Run" distributed to all runners, volunteers and marshals, in honour of the victims.
The marathon course is a point-to-point, traversing the five Boroughs of New York City-Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Bronx (and then back to Manhattan for the finish). Fortunately the course was unchanged by the events on the 11th September. The first 2 miles of the course are over the Verrazano-Narrows bridge (the first mile being up hill to the apex of the bridge and the second mile downhill). The view of Manhattan is magnificent from the bridge. My aim was to break 3 hours. (I did the London Marathon last year (2000) in 3 hours and 6 minutes, so felt it was with in my reach.) I started off at a sub 3-hour pace; I made the 10km mark in 41 minutes 49 seconds, which was on target. My legs were beginning to feel heavy which isn't a good sign at 10km in a marathon. Things got progressively worse with my time per mile slipping from 6 minutes 45 seconds, to 7 minutes 45 seconds and then 8 minute 45 seconds (I stopped taking my splits after this). By 15 miles I felt I was hardly moving and everybody was overtaking me. I really suffered from 15 miles onwards but somehow managed to stick it out. The 2 million spectators along the route were fantastic. Coming off the Queensborough Bridge, where all you can hear are the pattering of runner's feet, to the wild cheers of Manhattan spectators was quite an experience. Most of the last three miles are run in Central Park. Graham emerged from the crowd to run the last 3 miles with me. (Graham had just done the New York Hashers' marathon day hash, which finished with a beer stop at mile 23.) I came over the finish about 40 minutes slower than I had hoped for, but I had finished which was the main thing. My final time was 3 hours 35 minutes (a personal worst for me). Although I had a bad run, I learnt a lot from it. It was a hot day and it is a quite a tough course (there didn't seem to be any flat bits in it at all) and I suppose getting up at 5am, sitting around for hours and not running until 11am doesn't help much either, plus jet lag plays a part too. I felt my training had gone really well, and that I'd adjusted to the time difference ok. I'd rested well the day before and drank lots of water and felt I had eaten ok, so I think I can only put it down to a bad day for me and perhaps starting off at too fast. I don't think I will ever run a marathon again with a pace in mind. Next time think I will run at what feels comfortable, holding back for the first half, as there's plenty of time to pick things up after that point. Marathons are the more interesting because you can never really predict what is going to happen.
I am not put off. I am determined to break that 3-hour marathon one day. When you think that the first lady to break 3 hours was only 30 years ago (in 1971), it does highlight the fact it isn't an easy task, but I hope I'll be capable of it, one day!
After the race I suffered bad cramps and Graham had to carry me to the medical tent. The doctor made chew on some pretzels and drink lots of Gatorade; I slowly warmed up under a blanket and had a leg massage, which at least got me walking again. We managed to walk back to John's apartment. Rejuvenated we went to a bar to meet the other hashers. Then a curry and on to a bar to watch the baseball final, which the Yankee lost!
Monday
After the customary trip up the Empire State building and a bit of shopping we headed home. We were sorry to leave Manhattan's fantastic atmosphere. Everybody was so friendly, which is maybe a bit surprising for such a big city. It was also surprising how up beat the city feels, despite the recent tragic events; there wasn't the slightest hint of resentment after what they had been though less than a month earlier. An unforgettable trip!
