Peter's Team Diabetes Triathlon (and formerly Marathon) Blog

Chapter 4 – Race Day

As mentioned in the last chapter, my day began at 4 a.m. The Team Diabetes group met in the lobby of the hotel at 4:50 so that we could walk over together to get to the buses. As we headed out into the dark of the New York morning we could see people coming from all directions. Within one block of the hotel we met the first of many NYPD members that we would see over the course of the day and he cheerfully wished us good luck. There were also large numbers of volunteers lining the streets to keep us moving in the right direction. Without fail they were cheerful and offered best wishes for the day ahead and encouraged us to enjoy the experience. As we arrived at the NY Public Library on 5th Ave there were buses lined up, being quickly loaded and then dispatched. We were early enough that there were no significant delays and so by 5:15 we were on the road heading to Staten Island. The driver was incredibly cheerful, a Brit who inquired as to what countries were represented on the bus. There were Canucks and Americans plus some Brits, some French, an Aussie and my seat mate was an Israeli. I suspect there were other nations represented but they didn’t speak up. As we moved through the streets of the dark and quiet city the driver kept up a bit of a patter on the PA system pointing out some landmarks. Of course the landmark that we were most interested to see was the Verrazano Narrows bridge, which would be the start of the marathon.

Once we arrived on Staten Island we disembarked and headed for our start corral. I was in the Orange start (the others were Blue and Green). In the start corral there was a huge grassed area that would be “home” for the next 4 hours. There was coffee/donuts/bagels available (compliments of Dunkin Donuts), Gatorade, water (compliments of Poland Springs), Powerbars and PowerGels. All this was free and there seemed to be an endless supply. There were also tents sent up for free massages, for first aid, etc. There were a huge number of porta potties and while the lines were short at first, as race time drew near the lines got incredibly long. There was also entertainment in the various start corrals and there were even non-denominational religious services going on. I wandered around a bit and was really impressed with a group of double-dutch skippers that were performing in our corral. They were called the Pepper Steppers and they were predominantly African-american kids ranging in age from 10 to 18 I would guess.

The place that I found to sit down was near the back of the corral and I was with a lady from Little Rock, Arkansas. She was having trouble staying warm in spite of wearing several layers of clothes and being wrapped in a space blanket. Me, the hearty Canadian was finding the temps to be quite bearable. Also with us was a lady from Edmonton (GeriLyn) who it turned out had been the Canadian flag bearer at the fun run. She was a 4-time finisher of the NYC marathon including in 2005 when she ran it with her husband and son. For 2006 she was with a group from the Running Room in Edmonton.

I mentioned to GeriLyn that I had met my RunningMania penpal, Angela (girlygrl) for lunch the day before. GeriLyn laughed and said to look over my shoulder. Turned out Angela had sat down right behind me but we were back to back so we hadn’t noticed each other. I elbowed her, she turned around and she let out a big scream. What are the odds that in a crowd of 13,000 people we would end up seated beside each other?

I also mentioned to the ladies that one day I would love to serve as a guide for a disabled runner. Several minutes later as I was walking around sightseeing in the corrals a lady saw my flag tattoos and asked me where I was from. She was with an older lady who was carrying a white cane. Turned out they were from Toronto and were power walking the course. I told them of the coincidence in meeting them since had just expressed to some others my interest in being a guide. The blind lady said. “What about next year for the half marathon in Fredericton. I am turning 65 and plan to celebrate by doing a Half in every province.” I couldn’t believe it. I quickly said that I would be honoured to do so and got some contact info that I could follow up with her. Then I mentioned that my wife worked for the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) and the lady said, “I believe I know her because I am on the national board of CNIB”. So, in a crown of 40,000 another “small world” incident.

Over the course of the morning I tried to eat a little at a time to keep my blood sugars up (I am diabetic) without pushing them too high. I also sipped water and Gatorade throughout to stay hydrated.

With an hour to go I decided that it was time to turn in my baggage. UPS trucks were lined up side by side and were all clearly numbered. I was assigned to baggage truck #43. The driver took my bag, wished me well and I headed off for a last “nature call”. As at most marathons, the line ups for porta potties was by then very long so every available tree, fence, wall, etc, had been pressed into action. My goodness – modesty sure disappears in the face of the need to go!! Kudos to the women who found inventive ways to deal with their needs including the “circle the wagons” approach with 5 or more friends forming a human shield facing outwards whilst one of their number occupied the middle. The other popular woman’s technique was the blanket/garbage bag/jacket screen.

My own bodily functions taken care thanks to a large tree placed strategically by a fence, I headed off to line up for the actual start. I was planning to run the first half (at least) with the 4:45 pace group so I found the team leader and hung around with her. Her name was Patti and she was from the NY area, had run numerous NYC marathons and had in fact run several marathons in the 6 weeks preceding NY. Met a number of other folks including a chap from Holland and a young lady from Long Island both of whom were running their first ever marathon. I encouraged them to really soak in the experience. With about 10 minutes to go I finally removed all the extra clothing that I had worn – sweat pants, wind pants, a sweater and a jacket and tossed them to the side of the road. All the discarded clothing is picked up by the race organizers and donated to charity so I hope whoever ends up with my vestments gets some good use out of them.

The whole time we had been waiting in the start corrals there had been a NYPD helicopter hovering overhead. As the race was about to start it moved off and then there was a flypast by a big Coast Guard aircraft. It swooped down low as it came overhead and then climbed steeply and made a sharp turn to the left. The crowd roared its support, the cannon fired to signal the start of the race and the crowd whooped again. Then we started to shuffle forward like a herd of cattle.

Within a few minutes we were able to break into a shuffle and then into a slow jog. We went under a big archway of balloons and then down a corridor formed by the 18-wheeler trailers that I presume had carried supplies over. There were volunteers everywhere along the route, on top of the trailers and so on. They were cheering like crazy which was really uplifting. Then, all of a sudden, I heard someone say, “Way to go Peter”. I was caught off guard and wondered how they knew my name. Then I remembered, I had pinned a bib with my name on it right above my race bib and the Team Diabetes logo. At that point the emotions started to overcome me again and the tears started to stream down my face. Thank God that I had sunglasses on so that the people around me couldn’t see me bawling!

Up ahead I could see the mass of humanity heading up the bridge. I remember crossing the actual start line and being amazed at the noise generated by the ChampionChip start mat. With 38,000 runners it was a continuous high pitched wail. Pressed start on my watch and noted that it had taken me about minutes from the gun time to get to the start. Not bad considering how many people there were.

The bridge was fairly steep but of course at that point we all had energy to burn and so it seemed effortless. I made my way over to the left side so that I could get a good look into the water where I could see fire tugs shooting off their water cannons. It was an incredible sight. I snapped a picture with my disposable camera. From there I got back into the flow of runners. It felt like my head was on a swivel as I tried to take in the view and the scene unfolding around me. I recall seeing a large group of women running without jerseys – pink, decorated bra tops were their uniform. Believe they were from England and they were obviously running to support the breast cancer foundation. I thought of my colleague Helene who is in treatment at the moment and shed a few tears.

Another character I saw was “Larry the Lighthouse” who was running the whole race with a replica lighthouse covering him from waist to about 7’ high. It even had a working light on the top. My pace team leader said that he runs lots of marathons like this and is the mascot for a marathon that takes place somewhere on the US east coast.

After crossing the bridge we arrived in Brooklyn where the spectator support was incomparable. I thought I knew what to expect but nothing prepared me for what I saw. The people were lined many deep very step of the way through Brooklyn. There were tons of signs – some supporting a specific runner and some more general. As we ran by the spectators would see the names on our jerseys and they would call out support, “Looking good Peter” “Go Team Diabetes” “Yah Canada”. It was incredibly powerful to hear this. I figured out early on that running on the far outside of the road was a great strategy for two reasons. First, there was a bit more room to maneuver and second, the fans would be particularly supportive.

As we moved through Brooklyn the fan support seemed only to build. At every street corner there were numerous NYPD officers and even they were clapping and calling out support. Trucks from the FDNY were parked on both sides of many intersections with the firefighters standing there in their turnout gear. Many were sitting on top of their trucks and the trucks often had the ladders deployed or the buckets extended and they had signs of encouragement hanging off them. I tried to catch their attention as often as I could and would give them a proper military salute (I am ex-Army) out of respect for the job that they do and for the sacrifices made by so many of their brother officers (and some sisters I expect) on 9/11. I suspect that they didn’t know what I was trying to signal but it sure made me emotional!!

As I said earlier, the people of Brooklyn were amazing. They were constantly calling out support and giving high fives and so on. People had noise makers of every description. I recall seeing a guy with two pot lids banging them together like cymbals in a marching band. They were giving out candy and orange slices and water. The thing I appreciated the most were the paper towels and Kleenexes.

There was all kinds of music in Brooklyn. I heard a steel drum band, some rappers, rock music, a polka playing accordion player and so on. The best was a group of conga drummers. Just as I went by I noticed that they had an extra drum sitting out so I stopped and started wailing away on it. By God, I was having fun!!

The run through Brooklyn was about 10 miles so just as we were leaving that borough we would be reaching the halfway mark. I couldn’t get over how good I felt. I was bang on my 4:45 pace (in fact I was 2 minutes ahead of pace) and felt like I was really holding back not pushing hard. Just before I started up the bridge from Brooklyn into Queens I saw two signs that made me laugh. One said “Lance who?” and the other said, “Race over. The Brazilian won.”

In the middle of the bridge to Queens I passed a guy running in a rhino suit. I was only slightly surprised because I had seen the rhino earlier at perhaps mike 5 or 6. What surprised me was that unnoticed, I had been PASSED by a rhino and that the rhino had stayed in front of me for 7 or 8 miles. Yikes, am I that slow? To my relief, I found out later that they were not one and the same but rather that there was a herd of the damn things running to draw attention to the plight of this animal. I think they have a website at www.savetherhino.com or something like that.

The route through Queens was relatively short, about 3 miles. The fans were slightly fewer in number but then again a bunch of the route was through an industrial area.

We left Queens via the famous Queensboro bridge. We were running on the middle deck and could hear trains/cars/trucks rumbling overhead. At one point I thought the bridge was going to collapse judging by the noise. It was also REALLY dark and at one point so black that you couldn’t see where you were planting your feet. The bridge seemed to go up and up and up for the longest time but then you could start to hear noise ahead and knew that we were getting close to Manhattan. While on the bridge I passed one of my fellow Team D members. I asked him how he was doing and he said that he was finding it tough. I told him he looked great and to keep chugging. I saw a couple of interesting characters on that bridge including a pair dressed as the Blues Brothers and a fellow running in a graduation gown and mortar board. He had on signs that said he was running to encourage kids not to quit school just like he wouldn’t quit running when the going got tough. I assume he was a teacher.

As you exited the bridge you took a sharp downhill ramp that curved very tightly to the left. The crowds were absolutely roaring as we came down that ramp, curled under the bridge and headed for 1st Avenue. That was a truly remarkable sight. 1st Ave goes straight north up Manhattan Island and it is a long gradual uphill. That meant that you could see 2 or 3 miles ahead and it was nothing but runners, 6-8 traffic lanes wide and tens of thousands of spectators.

The pre-race information I had heard was to be careful about getting too jacked up when you hit 1st avenue. I tried really hard to heed that advice. I did however try very hard to soak in the sight of so many people running and so many more people watching. A little ways up 1st avenue I saw a guy holding a sign that said “Free Hugs >>”. There were two pretty ladies standing to his left. He saw me and called out to me to come over so I of course obliged. I gave both girls a big sweaty hug and a polite kiss on the cheek. LIFE IS GOOD !!!!

As we continued up 1st Avenue I remember seeing a hospital on the right where the patients and staff were out front cheering for all they were worth. How cool.

As we proceeded up 1st Avenue we passed through midtown and uptown Manhattan and into East Harlem. The crowds thinned out a bit but not all that much. Then we crossed the Willis Avenue bridge into the Bronx at about Mile 19.

As we were crossing the bridge I was beside a black guy who had written on the back of his shirt that he was running “In Memory of Julio”. I said hi and asked him to tell me about Julio. He said that he was a guy that he had worked with at a garage in Brooklyn and that he had been murdered a few weeks early in a botched holdup attempt at the garage. I said how sorry I was to hear but that I was sure Julio would be helping him finish his race today. He said thanks we shook hands and we parted ways.

The route through the Bronx was very short but I recall that I heard a great rock band playing a Stones tune. I have yet to recall the name of the song but it had to do with running (and it wasn’t Start Me Up). I am going to figure it out though. I also recall stopping for a minute to listen and take pictures of a pair of rappers that were really great. They gave me a “shout out” for stopping to take THEIR picture.

From the Bronx we crossed back into Manhattan via the Madison Avenue bridge. We were now traveling south on 5th Avenue heading for Central Park. I hit mile 20 and looked at my pace band confirming that I was still on 4:45 finish pace. I felt really strong so thought that with only 10k to go I could pick it up a bit and perhaps finish in 4:40 or less. I managed to increase my pace for about a mile or so but I quickly realized that there wasn’t enough in the tank to sustain it to the end. Reluctantly, I started to ease off a bit but I was determined to stay with the 4:45 pace leader. I recall that in this section of the course the Gatorade being discarded onto the road was causing your shoes to literally stick to the asphalt and that there were times that crushed cups were so numerous that you were running on the cups and not on the pavement.

The next two miles were a series of leapfrogs where I would catch up to the 4:45 pacer and then they would move ahead and then I would catch up. That was working OK but this entire section, from about mile 21.5 through mile 24.5 was basically an uphill grade. It was really proving to be a grind and I could feel my stride shortening and slowing. I also realized at that point that I was STARVING hungry. In the last 5 hours all I had taken on was gel and Gatorade which was fine for keeping my blood sugars up but did nothing to satisfy my appetite. I swear that if there had been a Subway or McD’s I would have gone via the drive through to get something to eat!

Through this section of the course I noticed the 4:45 pace leader slowly starting to get away from me and there was clearly no chance that I could catch up by the finish due to the crowded conditions and due to my declining energy level. Resigned to this fact I refocused on finishing as strongly as I could and at least better than my Dublin time of 4:46:46.

The last turn into Central Park was a short downhill but was of very little relief because it only made apparent how sore my quads, calves and hamstrings were. After this short downhill it was another gradual uphill all the way to the finish but at least we could see the mileage signs counting down. One mile to go – just 4 laps of a track. I can do this in 11 minutes. The 800m to go – 2 laps of the track. I can do this in 5 minutes can’t I? Then 200m to go – don’t I do 200m intervals in 2:40 or less?

As I approached the finish line I looked for which of the three finish chutes was least crowded so that I would be sure to have a good photo. Just like I practiced on my long runs, I raised my arms overhead and smiled. I passed over the timing mat, pressed stop on my watch and started to walk for the first time (other than at water stations) in close to 5 hours. I looked at my watch and it confirmed that I had achieved a PB – 4:45:50. Although it was only 1 minute better than my time in Dublin in 2002, a PB is a PB and besides, I had been told that nobody PB’s in New York. Make that nobody but Freddy Beach Pete !!!

A medal was placed over my neck and I was wrapped up in a space blanket. There seemed to be thousands of volunteers. They even had people to apply a sticker on the blanket to help hold it closed. There were people walking towards us handing out bottled water so I grabbed one of those and started to sip on it. I started to realize at that point that my stomach muscles were incredibly sore. I stood in a short line and had my picture taken and then I shuffled onwards to find the baggage truck that had transported my things. As luck would have it, truck #43 was way down the line so I had a long walk but I had been told that staying in motion was physically good.

Once I picked up my bag and the bag of food that they were giving out with I decided to get out of my race shirt and to pull on a clean one. I had specifically chosen the shirt for this occasion. It was the shirt that my tremendous coach, Mike Booth, had sent me when we first started our training relationship. It says on it “Endurance Matters” and at that moment I knew that it was true in spades. I tried to pull on a pair of warm up pants but could barely bend my legs to do it so I had to sit down. I was honestly afraid that I wouldn’t be able to stand up again but I managed. Then it was off to the family reunion area to try and find my wife Jill.

To get to the family reunion area I had to exit Central Park and make my way south on Central Park West. It was totally blocked off to traffic but the crowd of runners and their families made it seem like rush hour. When I finally met up with Jill I got a big kiss and congratulations. She said that she had seen me around mile 25 and that I had looked strong. I told her that was an illusion !! I asked her if she had seem me per our plan at mile 8 and mile 18 because I hadn’t been able to spot her or the signs that I had made up. She said that she hadn’t seen me either place. When I looked at the pictures she had taken I realized why that was. I had suggested she be on the left side of the road and she thought I said to be on the side of the road where the runners would be to the left. In other words, I ran 26.2 miles looking one way and she was on the other side. Drat !!!! Oh well, that just gives me an excuse to do NY again, this time running on the right side of the course. We had our picture taken by a young fellow who was standing nearby and then we headed for the subway to return to the hotel. Getting down the stairs into the subway station was a bit of a challenge but I did my best not to limp too much. Everywhere I looked there were runners proudly displaying their medal and receiving/extending congratulations to those around them whether friends or strangers.

Once back to the hotel I spent a few minutes icing my knees which I find really helps in my recovery. Then a nice warm shower because I was starting to feel really chilled. The day ended with a fantastic Victory Dinner with the Team Diabetes group.