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Ed's Sk8toronto Website
CENTRAL PARK MARATHON (NYC) -AUG 2002 I wrote the following account of a road trip to New York on behalf of the group. This was my first trip to New York and I have to admit that I was amazed. One way or another, I have to go back. I'm already planning next year's trip to New York City. This one was just way too fun. On Friday morning, Herb, Ian, Rhonda, Meaghan and I met Kevin (and the Ford Winstar), in Burlington and began a road trip that I will not soon forget. It is a wicked drive to Manhattan from this neck of the woods but the time passed quickly with Kevin and Rhonda's manic behavior and Herbs jokes entertaining the quieter members of the contingent. Kevin drove the entire way and didn't get lost once. It was getting dark when we finally found the hotel but we dropped the bags in our rooms and headed out for our first night in the Big Apple. Can you believe that Herb actually new the drummer in the band where we ate? I wish that I could report on the crazy night that Kevin, Herb and Rhonda had but I missed it because, like Meaghan and Ian, I was more into the skating race than self abuse. The "quiet ones" hit the hay before 2am. The "others" were out all night. For the sensible people, the reward for going to bed early was that we had the clear heads and the energy to do a loop in Central Park the next morning before things got too crazy with joggers, cyclists skaters, dog walkers and horse drawn carriages. The racecourse was to be the ring road inside Central Park. It is posted as being 6.1 miles, which makes is almost exactly 10 kilometers. It was pretty clear that the "marathon" would be 4 loops. I was surprised how hilly the course was and pleased that the road was wide and asphalt quality was reasonable. I was glad to have skated the route before I had to race on it. The rest of Saturday was devoted to sightseeing and shopping (Rhonda). Among other things, and in smaller groups, we went to Ground Zero, Battery Park, Staten Island, Wall Street, the Empire State Building and Little Italy. We only scratched the surface. Rhonda and Kevin's behavior was much better on Saturday night and they both got several hours sleep if reports from that room can be believed. The race started with waves of skaters going out at 30-second intervals. Pro Men (Peter), Pro Women (Beth and Meaghan), Pro Masters Men (Ian and Herb), Pro Masters Women, the 10k people and finally the Advanced Marathon skaters of both sexes together (Kevin, Rhonda, Stephan from Ottawa and me). Our race results were mixed. Peter had a disaster and Beth skated very well. Meaghan had some leg problems and then took a wrong turn so she dropped out. Ian stuck like glue to the lead pack and was there at the end for the mad dash to the finish line where he managed a very respectable 7th place. Herb also had some skate problems but he stuck it out and did the 40k in 1 hour and 15 min (which is a good time for 40k). Kevin had a great time in his first marathon and learned a lot (as you always do). Rhonda was ticked with Kevin because just as she was about to close the gap on the pack in front of her Kevin started pulling it away and she missed her ride. Other than that, she was happy. I managed to stick with the lead pack in the Advanced category as we picked our way through all of the 10k skaters, the Pro Master Women, some of the Pro Master Men and, in the end, almost caught the Pro Women. Since the course was not measured and there were no official times, placement was everything, and more than ever before, I saw skaters fighting for position in the pack, trying breakaways and trying to avoid taking the lead. It was cool because Peter has trained me to cope with these things. At one point, I closed a 60-meter gap on a 4-man breakaway. I felt like such a hero. At the end, thanks to Herb, I had really good pack position and after the sprint I managed a 5th place overall finish and came first in my age category. I was happy with that. The trip home was a little more subdued but Herb "treated" (subjected) us to a few more jokes and Kevin and Rhonda continued their verbal battles (most entertaining). We agreed, however, that if there is a race next year and we can fly for $100 US return it's probably the way to go. Since I wrote this report, the distance skated has come into question. When Lanny went to New York for the 100k race in September he measured one loop to be only 8.6k with his GPS device. Personally, I do not think races should be called "marathons" unless they have been accurately measured and are certified to be the same length as a running marathon (42.195k). For posterity I will record my time as 1:14:05 for this race of around 34.4k.
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