Best Day Ever - Part 4, RACE DAY!!

With 61 blog posts published and lord knows how many hours of training completed me and my 3 pints of Guinness were ready to take to the New York City streets. I did not have a great nights sleep although I manage a 62/100 Fair sleep score with my Samsung smart watch. Waking at about 2-45am with no alarm I headed to the toilet to sort out my needs. I then head back to the bed to get dressed, I manage not to wake Yvonne until just before I leave. As I leave she kisses me and wishes me good luck. In my lap I have my helmet, gloves, phone and water bottle. When I get down to the hotel reception they tell me no packed breakfast has been prepared for me and that I need to come back at 5am. I tell them I need to be on my bus at 4am. I head out into the streets heading for 5th Avenue between 37th and 38th Streets, the quickest route is to head to Time Square and then south along Broadway. 

As I push up 38th Street the fleet of disability buses join me at 5th Avenue. I jump on the first bus that has a ramp and a door open and then start the wait for when the buses actually leave. Scheduled departure time is 4-45am. In the bus I am joined by a group of Black American wheelchair athletes and their able bodied helper who I talk to briefly. I then start chatting to a couple of older blokes who get on the bus a bit later. They both have bright yellow Achilles shirts, part of my team but with different disabilities. One is the "judge", he has athletic crutches to help him stay up right and Mr. Crazy Hair has guides meeting him at the gathering area. The judge is an interest character, a Federal Superior Court judge who can not talk about Donald J Trump because of a future court appearance coming up. He has a rare disease that is slowly impairing his ability to walk, exercise is one of the few things he can do to slow the process down. Both guys are expecting to take about 6 or 7 hours to finish, my three hours sounds a lot easier. The bus eventually pulls away and we move quite swiftly down Manhattan to a tunnel that takes us to Brooklyn and then on and over the Verrazzano Narrows bridge. The bus drops us at the AWD athletes area (Athletes With Disabilities). There I find my racing chair and eventually a bucket load of other athletes.

Team Australasia Push-Rim Athletes - Terry & Sharnie 

While I am checking over my racing chair and attaching my action camera I hear a familiar accent. Immediately next to me is an Australian women also with a racing wheelchair. I find out her name is Sharnie and she has a chair with feet forward rather than tucked under her as with my chair. She is aiming to completed all the major marathons which includes 6 or 7 races around the world. I head over to the marquee where there is drinks and food. I grab a coffee and of course a bagel and then I see my bus buddies and chat to them. I also fill up my drink bottle which I had almost drained on the bus. After some more waiting we eventually started to head to the start line, our start time was 8:23am. By now I have worked out the format is different from 2015 when I started with the elite racers. This year I am with other "recreational athletes" like Sharnie and handcycles. For the uninitiated a handcycle is a bicycle in which you lie in with a hand crank above with steering and gears.

Start line for some of the AWD competitors

We have another 10 minute wait at the start line and then the canon goes off and we are away. As I struggle to get going we hear Frank Sinantra singing "New York, New York". With no elite racers to worry about I could look at getting up the bridge ahead of a few other racers. The Verrazzano Bridge is a tough way to start the race with the climb length of 1200 metres and it seems to last for ever. The athletes racing in their day chairs with a freewheel end up going in front. I manage to pass another pushrim athlete, the 68 year old from Japan. Once at the top of the climb I fly down as quickly as I feel safe with and head into Brooklyn. I feel like I am leading our wave but Brooklyn seems to be a lot more difficult than I can recall. The Brooklyn people on the sidewalk though are fantastic. They are cheering right from the start, including somebody yelling out "Go Terry!!". Who this is I have no idea. As we get deeper into Brooklyn the crowds get bigger and bigger and the noise is epic. 

It is strange how the memory from 2015 is not really complete. Brooklyn is a series of hard grafting uphills and speedy downhills. On one particular corner after a downhill I have a bit too much pace on and end up on 2 wheels. Luckily no harm was done. My memory from 2015 has Brooklyn being quite flat. I push as hard as I dare and eventually get to the quiet part of Brooklyn through the Jewish 1/4. The quiet is quite good to start thinking about how things are progressing and how hard I should push. The bridges like the Pulaski into Queens are tougher than I can remember. When we start lining up for the Queensboro Bridge we are taken a different route and then we are on the upstream side of the bridge and pushing up the footpath. This is quite different to 2015 when we were on the road bridge on the downstream side. Like 10 years ago from the noise on the streets the bridge has no crowd noise. 

The haul up the bridge is difficult, not as remembered in 2015. Eventually the climb ends and I get down as quickly as possible. The haybales greet us and I almost over do it but manage to get around the hairpin corner with no problems. I realise that if my supporters are at the Queensboro bridge off ramp they will probably be on the wrong side after my description of where I came down last time. The long haul up 1st Avenue then starts and after feeling pretty spent on the Queensboro, I get a second wind and keep pushing as hard as I can. I am aware that the Hendersons will be on 1sth Avenue supporting me but with the effort of getting up the hills I sail past them without any idea pf the support they have given me. The climb up first avenue is topped off with another bridge to climb into the Bronx. The Bronx only lasts a few kms, I am them back on Manhattan Island. 

Pushing Up 1st Avenue - Filmed by Karen Henderson

Memories of my flat tyre in 2015 on 5th Avenue flood back. No flat today but I do have another issue, the rubber on my left wheel pushrim has partially detached. When this became apparent on 1st Avenue I make the decision not to stop and hope that it doesn't get worse. 5th Avenue seems just as tough with 3 good tyres as it did with a flat. By now I am fatigued but I push on as hard as I can. I really enjoy some speedy downhills when I get into the park.  But then there is the enviable uphill stretches including when you pop out of the park and head up to Columbus Circle and the very final hill to the finish line. I have no idea what my time is, somebody puts my finishers medal around my neck and I head to the Achilles finishing area.

Harry greets me after the finish

At the Achilles finish area I am greeted by some wonderful people including Karen who I have been emailing since my confirmation as a starter. Harry eventually gets to the Achilles area after cheering me on and getting no response. I am very happy to see a familiar face, he is soon joined by Yvonne who is held up with security. I am so happy, the race day was perfect with clear blue skies and not too hot. The crowd was amazing, I felt like a rockstar having the time of my life. I took a bit longer than I hoped but I reckon it wasn't too bad an effort for an old bloke like me. We meet up with the Hendersons at a pub and have some lunch. The pub just happened to be Irish so I start my recovery with a Guinness. Harry, Yvonne and myself then make our way slowly back to the hotel. It is mainly downhill thank goodness!!