August 8, 2007
Last weekend the family and I went to New York City to catch a play, a meal at Carmine's in Times Square, to sight-see, and visit a museum or two. We accomplished the first two goals on Saturday, and the rest was scheduled for Sunday. I had planned to get up early and be out the door by 6:00 AM to catch a run around Central Park while the rest of the family slept in, but my departure was nearly an hour delayed because of a late night visit to Mustang Harry's for wheat beer and wings. I did still manage to make it out the door before the clock struck seven.
I ran up 7th Avenue from our hotel on 24th street taking care not to step on any sleeping street people. When I reached Times Square I was surprised to see the streets all fenced off. My initial thought was that there must be some type of street concert scheduled by one of the morning TV shows. As I continued up 7th Avenue it was obvious that the street was closed all the way to Central Park. Then I saw it: A mile marker (eight miles) and an electronic timing clock (not yet running). I knew that the New York Marathon was in November, but had no idea when the New York City Half-Martathon ws held. Could it be today? I entered Central Park and headed left to run the perimeter road clockwise. My suspician that this was half-Marathon weekend was soon confirmed by the banners hanging on the poles and fences throughout the park.
Over the loudspeaker I heard an announcemnt that the race was underway. I didn't see any runners except for a few recreational joggers. My guess was that the race had begun at the opposite end of the Park and would be coming toward me from the north. My plan was to stop and watch the racers go by and then continue my run.
Suddenly, a Police Harley rumbled past me from behind with its lights flashing. It was followed by a news truck with cameras facing rearward. In cose persuit was a pack of elite runners including Haile Gebrselassie (eventual winner), Abdi Abdirahman, and Robert Cheruiyot, who passed me as if I were standing still. Around the next corner was the 5K marker with the fourteenth minute ticking off. Not only was I running on the New York City Half-Martathon course, I was going in the correct direction, and this was the very beginning of the race.
I kept to the edge of the course and enjoyed watching all the faster runners pass me by. I had my own water with me so I didn't use race aid stations, wich are for registered runners. But as the miles clicked by I found myself being more and more absorbed into the thickenisng mass of 10,000 runners. In the middle of mile seven, after completely circumnavigating Central Park, the course turned south on 7th Avenue and headed towards Times Square. With thousands of cheering spectors lining the streets I was hooked. I was in this to the finish. Of course, I had no idea where the finish was, but I assumed that it would wind back up to Central Park so I wouldn't be very far from my Hotel. I assumed wrong.
The race turned west on 42nd Street and then south on the West Side Highway. The course went past the piers, the tunnels, and Ground Zero, and ended just above Battery Park in sight of the Statue of Liberty. At the finish line I turned down a medal. Having worked on the Chips and Medals Team at the Boston Marathon, and being a real stickler at that task, there was no way that I, as a bandit runner, could accept a finisher's medal. Remarkably, I found a finisher's medal on the ground at Battery Park. I turned it over to a race official without thinking twice.
The hardest part of the morning was walking 50+ blocks back up to the hotel. When I arrived Mary-Jo was out filing a missing person's report (not a joke). I didn't have my cell phone or any money with me when I went for my morning run, so I couldn't tell her of my slight change of plans (as they evolved). Her reaction was much better than expected - maybe being a live inconsiderate jerk is better than whatever she was imagining my fate to be.
I didn't set out to be a bandit, I don't condone bandits, but with aplogies to the New York Road Runners Club, I couldn't resist. I'll be back next summer to New York City as a registered runner and will properly earn my finisher's medal.
Epilogue, July 27, 2008: Officially ran the NYC Half Marathon and earned my finisher medal!
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