It was in my final year at University that I completed my first marathon (all 26.2 miles!). Whilst working during the summer holidays I saw an advert to run the New York Marathon for charity and if you raised a certain amount (I think it was £1,500) then you got your flights paid for and hotel accommodation for 5 days. I had always been sporty and kept in good shape but I was never a keen runner and perhaps the furthest I had ever run was about 5 miles. But the idea of going to New York for free and setting myself such a challenge appealed... so without much hesitation I signed up with a friend (who was a good runner!).
The marathon was taking place in early November and I had signed up in early September.... so I had a full 2 months to train! Being very naive to marathon running I was fairly optimistic that I could manage to run 26.2 miles with some decent training so I set off on a run of about 5 miles.... I just about survived but it was much harder than I had imagined and also my knees started hurting. A couple of days later I did another run which was no better.... very hard and the pain in my knees got worse. Perhaps this marathon idea wasn't such a good plan after all!
I worked part-time at a local gym so started training on a bike instead as it was much less painful than running... and I stopped doing weights which I thought would help as I had bulked up (with muscles!) quite a bit in the previous couple of years. Over the next few weeks I did quite a lot of bike work and lost at least half a stone from stoppingthe weights, but I had done no running. Time was running out and although I felt 'fit' I certainly didn't feel confident about the running. I did manage one longish run of about 10 miles a few days before we left for New York... and then it was time to leave for my first Marathon experience at the age of 21!
The friend I was going with was a good runner and had not suffered with injuries and was becoming annoyingly confident about it all! The charity we were raising money for to get our free places was called 'Tusk Force' and we were raising money to save Siberian Tigers! So what seemed like a genius plan emerged.... my friend was going to run in a 'Tiger' outfit so that we would be much more evenly matched physically during the race!
I had never been on a plane before so it was my first experience of a big plane... and obviously I hadn't been to New York before... so it was very exciting even though I was concerned about the marathon. We had a couple of days to see New York before race day... and then it was time! We took an early bus to Statten Island where all the 30,000+ competitors would start... armed with bananas, Gatorade drinks and Power Bars! The most notable thing apart from the sheer number of people and dozens of helicopters that circled above us.... was the weather.... it was absolutely freezing!
I was wearing some old clothes and a tracksuit to try to keep warm before the start but I was genuinely shivering with cold, whereas my friend in his 'Tiger' outfit seemed quite content.... The plan that the tiger outfit was going to be a hinderance was starting to look doubtful and in fact it was looking increasingly like he had made the perfect choice of outfit given the conditions!
We eventually set off on what was to become the hardest physical thing I had ever done... although the first twenty minutes or so was extremely slow as we shuffled towards the starting line and then only after about a mile could we start to run normally. It was still freezing cold but after about 3 miles I decided to take my tracksuit off as surely it would soon get warmer and therefore I should be running in shorts and a vest... right? WRONG!!
If anything it got colder.... at one point I couldn't feel my left arm... it had gone completely numb through cold and I had to shake it loads just to get some feeling back. It was miserable... not only was there the pain of the running but the cold was unbearable. And to make matters worse... my friend inthe Tiger outfit was cruising along and nice and warm.... plus he was attracting huge encouragment and applause from the crowds because in New York very few people dress up in silly costumes unlike the London Marathon!
The next few hours were torture.... my knees were killing me... every muscle hurt... and I was freezing to death! Why would anyone want to do this? At each drink station I would take on board the free Gatorade drink but because it was so cold, I wasn't sweating like you would expect to in a marathon.... so needless to say I need the toilet quite a few times! It's not every day you find yourself running through the Bronx, Harlem and Queen's and urinating on the side roads or on someone's house.... I expect on any other occasion than Marathon day... you may not get out of there alive!
The last few miles of the New York marathon is run through Central Park... a beautiful but surprisingly hilly area... and all I can remember is telling myself to just keep going and not stop. I don't really know how... because I had hardly trained, had bad knees, was freezing to death, etc..... but I somehow managed to cross the finish line without stopping once (except for the toilet breaks!).... in a time of 4hrs 26 mins which was more like 4hrs 15mins (as they didn't have chip pin timing in those days and it took at least 10 minutes to cross the start line).
I did hobble back to the hotel and into a warm bath... and just managed to avoid hyperthermia... but couldn't walk for the next week! The New York Times Newspaper had my name in it the next day... with my finishing time... and on the front cover was the headline 'Coldest New York City Marathon Ever!... temperatures were -6 degrees and as a result the Marathon was moved forward a week the following year and ever since!
However, depsite all the pain... I had a fantastic medal and had achieved something very special. I had battled against myself and had kept going when it would have been so much easier to quit and give up. It gave me confidence and proved I was strong and determined.... the image of the final few hundred yards in Central Park coming up to the finish line with the hundreds of people in the crowd cheering and clapping is an image that will always stay with me and one which I have often used when I needed to dig deep and give me strength to know I can do something.
I would love to go back again one day to run New York...... with a little bit more training and when its a little warmer!
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