Friday, November 10, 2006
Race Report - Part 2 and 3
Chapter Two – International Friendship Run
This fun run took place on Saturday morning and was open to participants from outside the US. At registration we had been given a separate bag with a race bib, a cotton tee and some other small items like a commemorative pin. The run started at 8 a.m. at a plaza that is part of the United Nations complex on the east side of Manhattan. The Team Diabetes group had met up in the lobby of our hotel (6th Ave 2 40th St) and we walked together across town to get to the start. The further we walked, the more people joined the procession, most decked out in their national colours or costumes so that by the time we arrived at the UN we were a veritable army. We were shown into the plaza and the crowd continued to grow and grow and grow. There were flags from everywhere, people were singing and dancing and laughing and having a tremendous time being together. At the front of the plaza a stage had been set up and we endured a series of speeches from a variety of officials including one from the fun run’s title sponsor, Continental Airlines, from ING the title sponsor of the marathon, from UN folks, from the New York Road Runners (the organizers of the marathon, etc.). Then they introduced the “head table guests” so to speak. There were 5 or 6 and all were former champions or the like. The Canadian was a woman from Edmonton, GerriLynn (sp?) who was a 4-time NYC marathoner. We of course gave her a huge roar and ovation. Interestingly, I ended up sitting with GerriLynn in the holding area for 4 hours on race day. She is really nice and I learned she had come with the Running Room group from Alberta. After all the introductions they got to the main event which was presentation of an award to honour a runner who has contributed in a significant way to the sport. The recipient was Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain and to present the award was Greta Waitz of Norway.
When all that was done with we headed back out onto the road to start the run. The sea of humanity was totally impressive. The streets of Manhattan were blocked off for us as we ran down past Grand Central Station and then turned up 4th Avenue towards Central Park. As I ran I took plenty of pictures of folks who had “dressed for the occasion”. There were folks from Holland wearing sponge covers on their shoes to make them look like wooden clogs. I saw a guy dressed in a full samurai outfit. Lots of people with faces painted in their national colors. I chatted with as many folks as I could, including a trio of young ladies from Ireland who had raised the equivalent of $20,000 (cdn) for the Alzeheimer Association, some folks from Berlin, England, Germany, Mexico and Peru.
To represent the RM Nation I had worn my Running Mania shirt. Note to self – at an international run, wear an orange short and be prepared that EVERYONE will assume you are from Holland !!!
The run (it was probably about 4K total) finished in Central Park where we were met by volunteers handing out breakfast in a bag – juice, Gatorade, water, bagel, cream cheese, fruit, etc. The volunteers were up on the deck of a series of flatbed trucks and were passing the goodies out from there. The flatbed that I ended up receiving from was staffed by a group of beautiful young African-american girls wearing tiaras and sashes – they were the “royal court” from a beauty pageant.
As the crowd dispersed I managed to connect with some people interested in t-shirt trading. I managed to swap 3 tee’s from local races I had done for tee’s from Japan, Brazil and Mexico. I also gave away a ton of Canada flag pins to anyone who looked like they might like one.
I had really hoped to connect with Mander at the fun run but not sure if she was there. Sadly I never did get to meet her. I was however fortunate to meet up with another member of the RM Nation – girlygrl – after the fun run. She and I had pre-arranged to meet for lunch and as others who have attended RM M&G’s have said, it was great to finally meet someone with whom you have corresponded over an extended period of time.
That’s all for Chapter Two. Next installment will be about the carbo dinner and my actual race report so stay tuned faithful readers.
Chapter Three - Saturday Preparations
After the Friendship Run I made a bee-line to the subway and headed back to the Runners Expo. I had found out on Friday night that there had been some confusion with respect to the bus transportation and that I needed to get my bib stamped “BUS” to be able to get onto the coaches that would take us over to the start at Staten Island. Once again, the process was quick and efficient which left me with some time to browse the displays again. I picked up a couple of free posters, a whole bunch of free stuff from Nike in support of Lance and I bought a really nice Saucony LS shirt that says “Triumph in NYC 06”. The way the letters are coloured in gold and black what stands out is RUN NY 06.
Then it was off to meet fellow maniac girlygrl. She and I have been corresponding every day since she first posted a notice looking for a training partner for NY. We live on opposite sides of the country (Edmonton/Fredericton) but by the time we met in New York it was like we were old friends. We had lunch together, gabbed for a couple of hours then wished each other well and headed off in our separate directions fully expecting not to see each other again. As you might guess by this comment, there is however a twist of fate to come in a future chapter.
The pre race pasta dinner was at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. It was set up with numerous tents adjoining the building and it was amazing how fast they were able to cycle people through. There were three types of past plus salad plus Gatorade water and beer. Only at a pre race banquet would the beer be the slowest moving free beverage. I enjoyed dinner with runners from NY and from away. Most were first timers like me but one chap had run it several times so he was able to give us lots of information about the day to come.
After dinner we were given a small bag with a box of pasta from the sponsor Barilla and some apples and some other small items. We also were given a small cup of gelato which was great but nearly gave me frostbite trying to hold the plastic cup as I walked through central park and ate it. Although there were fireworks scheduled for 7:30 I was done eating by 6:00 so decided to head back to my hotel rather than wait around.
The rest of Saturday evening I spent getting all my stuff ready for Sunday. This included food for the morning, diabetes supplies, my running clothes, the extra clothes to wear in the holding area, clothes for after the race, etc. Just as important was getting some of my motivational material together. I checked to be sure that I had my three special coins – a Terry Fox Loonie, a Pink Ribbon Quarter and a Poppy Quarter. I put on Canada flag temporary tattoos, I wrote CSP on each shoe (for Chris Steve and Peter – my son, my brother and me who all live with diabetes) and I put 26 small cards (one for each mile) with motivational sayings from the Maniacs and others that my admin assistant had received in the weeks leading up to the race. I also put on a wrist band with the names of all my donors (total raised now just over $6200 for NY and almost $20,000 between NY 06 and Dublin 02) since it was because of them that I was able to run NY. The wrist band also had 4 special intentions on it. They were for my aunt who had died in May but who knew that I was doing NY, my colleague Helene who is in treatment for breast cancer at this time, my dad and hero who died at age 48 from leukemia and for a couple Kendra and Johnson in Ottawa who I have never met but who I “know” through their blog. Johnson is awaiting a kidney transplant (complications from diabetes) and his wife Kendra is testing to become a living donor. They are Team Diabetes participants aiming to do Honolulu in December. The final items were my watch, a 4:45 pace band and temporary tattoos on the back of my hands, one a pink ribbon and one a poppy.
I managed to get to bed at a decent hour – around 9:30 I believe – and slept mych better than expected until the alarm went off at 4 a.m. followed by the hotel wake up call. I looked out the window and could see that the area where we were staying was already blocked off by the NYPD and that there were already volunteers lining the streets that led to the NY Public Library where we were to meet our transport. Clearly, it was time for the show to begin. Stay tuned for Chapter 4 to be posted this weekend
This fun run took place on Saturday morning and was open to participants from outside the US. At registration we had been given a separate bag with a race bib, a cotton tee and some other small items like a commemorative pin. The run started at 8 a.m. at a plaza that is part of the United Nations complex on the east side of Manhattan. The Team Diabetes group had met up in the lobby of our hotel (6th Ave 2 40th St) and we walked together across town to get to the start. The further we walked, the more people joined the procession, most decked out in their national colours or costumes so that by the time we arrived at the UN we were a veritable army. We were shown into the plaza and the crowd continued to grow and grow and grow. There were flags from everywhere, people were singing and dancing and laughing and having a tremendous time being together. At the front of the plaza a stage had been set up and we endured a series of speeches from a variety of officials including one from the fun run’s title sponsor, Continental Airlines, from ING the title sponsor of the marathon, from UN folks, from the New York Road Runners (the organizers of the marathon, etc.). Then they introduced the “head table guests” so to speak. There were 5 or 6 and all were former champions or the like. The Canadian was a woman from Edmonton, GerriLynn (sp?) who was a 4-time NYC marathoner. We of course gave her a huge roar and ovation. Interestingly, I ended up sitting with GerriLynn in the holding area for 4 hours on race day. She is really nice and I learned she had come with the Running Room group from Alberta. After all the introductions they got to the main event which was presentation of an award to honour a runner who has contributed in a significant way to the sport. The recipient was Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain and to present the award was Greta Waitz of Norway.
When all that was done with we headed back out onto the road to start the run. The sea of humanity was totally impressive. The streets of Manhattan were blocked off for us as we ran down past Grand Central Station and then turned up 4th Avenue towards Central Park. As I ran I took plenty of pictures of folks who had “dressed for the occasion”. There were folks from Holland wearing sponge covers on their shoes to make them look like wooden clogs. I saw a guy dressed in a full samurai outfit. Lots of people with faces painted in their national colors. I chatted with as many folks as I could, including a trio of young ladies from Ireland who had raised the equivalent of $20,000 (cdn) for the Alzeheimer Association, some folks from Berlin, England, Germany, Mexico and Peru.
To represent the RM Nation I had worn my Running Mania shirt. Note to self – at an international run, wear an orange short and be prepared that EVERYONE will assume you are from Holland !!!
The run (it was probably about 4K total) finished in Central Park where we were met by volunteers handing out breakfast in a bag – juice, Gatorade, water, bagel, cream cheese, fruit, etc. The volunteers were up on the deck of a series of flatbed trucks and were passing the goodies out from there. The flatbed that I ended up receiving from was staffed by a group of beautiful young African-american girls wearing tiaras and sashes – they were the “royal court” from a beauty pageant.
As the crowd dispersed I managed to connect with some people interested in t-shirt trading. I managed to swap 3 tee’s from local races I had done for tee’s from Japan, Brazil and Mexico. I also gave away a ton of Canada flag pins to anyone who looked like they might like one.
I had really hoped to connect with Mander at the fun run but not sure if she was there. Sadly I never did get to meet her. I was however fortunate to meet up with another member of the RM Nation – girlygrl – after the fun run. She and I had pre-arranged to meet for lunch and as others who have attended RM M&G’s have said, it was great to finally meet someone with whom you have corresponded over an extended period of time.
That’s all for Chapter Two. Next installment will be about the carbo dinner and my actual race report so stay tuned faithful readers.
Chapter Three - Saturday Preparations
After the Friendship Run I made a bee-line to the subway and headed back to the Runners Expo. I had found out on Friday night that there had been some confusion with respect to the bus transportation and that I needed to get my bib stamped “BUS” to be able to get onto the coaches that would take us over to the start at Staten Island. Once again, the process was quick and efficient which left me with some time to browse the displays again. I picked up a couple of free posters, a whole bunch of free stuff from Nike in support of Lance and I bought a really nice Saucony LS shirt that says “Triumph in NYC 06”. The way the letters are coloured in gold and black what stands out is RUN NY 06.
Then it was off to meet fellow maniac girlygrl. She and I have been corresponding every day since she first posted a notice looking for a training partner for NY. We live on opposite sides of the country (Edmonton/Fredericton) but by the time we met in New York it was like we were old friends. We had lunch together, gabbed for a couple of hours then wished each other well and headed off in our separate directions fully expecting not to see each other again. As you might guess by this comment, there is however a twist of fate to come in a future chapter.
The pre race pasta dinner was at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. It was set up with numerous tents adjoining the building and it was amazing how fast they were able to cycle people through. There were three types of past plus salad plus Gatorade water and beer. Only at a pre race banquet would the beer be the slowest moving free beverage. I enjoyed dinner with runners from NY and from away. Most were first timers like me but one chap had run it several times so he was able to give us lots of information about the day to come.
After dinner we were given a small bag with a box of pasta from the sponsor Barilla and some apples and some other small items. We also were given a small cup of gelato which was great but nearly gave me frostbite trying to hold the plastic cup as I walked through central park and ate it. Although there were fireworks scheduled for 7:30 I was done eating by 6:00 so decided to head back to my hotel rather than wait around.
The rest of Saturday evening I spent getting all my stuff ready for Sunday. This included food for the morning, diabetes supplies, my running clothes, the extra clothes to wear in the holding area, clothes for after the race, etc. Just as important was getting some of my motivational material together. I checked to be sure that I had my three special coins – a Terry Fox Loonie, a Pink Ribbon Quarter and a Poppy Quarter. I put on Canada flag temporary tattoos, I wrote CSP on each shoe (for Chris Steve and Peter – my son, my brother and me who all live with diabetes) and I put 26 small cards (one for each mile) with motivational sayings from the Maniacs and others that my admin assistant had received in the weeks leading up to the race. I also put on a wrist band with the names of all my donors (total raised now just over $6200 for NY and almost $20,000 between NY 06 and Dublin 02) since it was because of them that I was able to run NY. The wrist band also had 4 special intentions on it. They were for my aunt who had died in May but who knew that I was doing NY, my colleague Helene who is in treatment for breast cancer at this time, my dad and hero who died at age 48 from leukemia and for a couple Kendra and Johnson in Ottawa who I have never met but who I “know” through their blog. Johnson is awaiting a kidney transplant (complications from diabetes) and his wife Kendra is testing to become a living donor. They are Team Diabetes participants aiming to do Honolulu in December. The final items were my watch, a 4:45 pace band and temporary tattoos on the back of my hands, one a pink ribbon and one a poppy.
I managed to get to bed at a decent hour – around 9:30 I believe – and slept mych better than expected until the alarm went off at 4 a.m. followed by the hotel wake up call. I looked out the window and could see that the area where we were staying was already blocked off by the NYPD and that there were already volunteers lining the streets that led to the NY Public Library where we were to meet our transport. Clearly, it was time for the show to begin. Stay tuned for Chapter 4 to be posted this weekend
# posted by FreddyBeachPete @ 6:42 PM 
