The Big Apple!
November 8, 2009
It was 10am on the 1st November and I was standing on the Verezano bridge in Staten Island New York. I had been up since 5am but was alert due to nervous energy as it was the start of the New York City marathon. I could see the 1st tower of the bridge beckoning 42,000 runners on the start of 26.2 miles through the 5 boroughs of New York City and the world’s biggest marathon. Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York New York’ was booming out of speakers as we started officials and police cheering us on!
The bridge was 2 miles long and quickly led the way to Brooklyn were thousands were waiting. Fourth Avenue was wide and stretched for 4 miles before the runners in the green and blue starts met. This signalled the first of many spots were runners ran slowly in convoy before speeding up again to race pace when the road became less congested! Bands greeted us into Queens and crowds kepts the spirits high on this hilly section of the course. At several points I glanced to the left to see the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. Another long bridge, the Queensborough Bridge was the gateway into Manhattan but the last 5 miles had been slow and I didn’t think I’d break 4 hours.
Crowds lined the full length of First Avenue, bands played and the wall of noise lifted me to run faster. Then we crossed into the Bronx, home of the New York Yankees. After a couple of miles it was back onto Manhattan and Harlem. I had to dig deep at this stage as there was a steep hill lasting a mile waiting at Central Park for tired runners. The crowd rose to the occaision and another wall of noise helped me race up the hill and turn into Central Park for the last 2 miles. This undulating stretch seemed to last forever but I kept up my pace before crossing the finish line in 3 hours 58 minutes.
The statistics were 5 boroughs, 26.2 miles, 100 bands, 42,000 runners, 2,000,000 spectators and £1,500 raised for Breast Cancer Care!
I ran through the 5 boroughs of New York City raising £1,500 for Breast Cancer Care in the process!