Who is in the NYC Lottery???

[hockeygirl]

Lou--glad to hear you decided against wearing the Phillies shirt on Sunday! GO Yankees! Just kidding....good luck! I will keep my eye out for you!

 

[Hey Mickey]

Got all the bib numbers jotted down! I will be on the Queens side of the bridge -- Mile 14, water stop 13! I'll have my Wish shirt on, but probably have my volunteer shirt on over it, so look for the bright green sleeves (unless its raining and i havbe my volunteer jacket/poncho on too.)

Can't wait to cheer you all on. I know you will all do fabulously!!!!

 

[grstink]

I just wanted to wish everyone good luck.
I was hoping to be there to cheer everyone on but my plans have been redirected and I need to be home.
Cheers to all of you!!!!

 

[Maherae]

Kirstie's done with an AWESOME finish!! I watched the women's race on the internet and was looking for Kirstie as the women were passing wheelchair athletes. But Kirsti never got into the feed, cause she was ahead of them!! Fantastic!!

Drats!! The server keeps crashing and I lose my trackings..Everyone is still going strong, though!!

If I'm tracking the right Lou, he finished in under 4 hours!!
Jodi is across the finish line in 4:38!!
Colleen is across in 5:14!!
Jeanne is across in 6:31!!

Way to go
New York City
Marathoners!!!
​

 

[escape]

OMG, Kirstie! Way to go!

Just watched Meb win it for the USA! Woohoo!

 

[wdwprncess77]

Just returned from Water stop 15 (mile 16) water stop. This was my first volunteer experience and my first time watching the marathon in the 7 years I've lived in NYC. It was beyond amazing!!!

Saw Kirstie go flying by like a champ. And saw Jeanne looking so happy and sporting her wish shirt!

It truly is an amazing accomplishment. I hope one day to run it. But for next year I will definately volunteer again. You get to see everything unobstructed right on the course. Really awesome!

Way to Go Wishers!!!

 

[Hey Mickey]

and i am just back from waterstop 13 (mile 14). Saw Syko wheeling by, looking strong and with WISH on her back, whiz by, and Jeanne going strong in her WISH shirt and smiling the whole way! WTG!

Off to wash away the smell of gatorade, but it was a blast and if I don;t run it next year, I will definitely be at mile 14 again for any wishers who do it!

 

[goofyinohio]

Wtg wishers and volunteers!!!

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

Congratulations NYC Marathoners! You rock!

Thank you NYC volunteers. I know you were appreciated.

 

[fashionista311]

congrats to all!! my dad walked/ran it for his 23rd marathon, and my mom walked it for her 3rd marathon and i spent my day as an "active spectator" or them. such an inspiring race. thinking about doing it in 2011 as my first marathon, but i really want to wait until i know i can run all 26.2 miles

 

[syko]

Congrulations to everyone.

I finished 3rd out of 24.

Race repot to come!!!!

 

[wdwprncess77]

I finished 3rd out of 24.

Race repot to come!!!!

That is amazing!!!! What an accomplishment! I knew you were wizzing by super fast!

 

[jeanneg]

NEW YORK ROCKS!!!!!

OMG, that was so awesome......I am still on a high. Stay tuned for a l-o-n-g race report that I hope to write later on today. I told myself I was going to enjoy it, and by golly, I did! I didn't even know for sure what mile I was at until well into the second half of the race because I was just having too much fun to even think about it. I swear I could feel all the good WISH vibes the entire race. And my family just went above and beyond what I ever could have imagined. But all the details later......

Congrats to Kirstie....3rd place is amazing!. (I had my best time ever and was 42,000th-something! )

Kudos to Jodi, Colleen and Lou: What fabulous times! :thumbsup:

Erica and Jane: A huge THANK-YOU to you all the wonderful volunteers. Having water stations at every mile was so appreciated!
I know I saw you both because only a handful of people shouted "Go WISH" during the entire race and 2 of them were at water stops! I know I was grinning from ear to ear because I was loving every moment.

Fashionista311: by any chance is your mom Sherry? I know she is not a WISHer but she has been my FB buddy and virtual training partner since I first learned I made the lottery. I know out of over 43,000 people the chances are slim, but i just had to ask.

 

[suzannews]

Congrats everyone!!!! Can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[syko]

It seems that I am the only one who did not like NYC!!!!!!

NYC Marathon: Been there, done that, got the bling, don’t want to do it again!!!!

It took us 26 hours to drive to NY and we checked in to the hotel just after 3, by the time we got to our room, we only had an hour to get to the expo, so we decided that the quickest way would be for my DH to run pushing me!!! The only problem with this is that the hotel has a dress code and my DH was wearing a suite and not running shoes!!!!
At the expo we went straight to the Achilles booth and were escorted to the official sign in area, I had been joking to my DH that there was going to be a problem……and there was!!!! (Why can’t I know the lotto numbers?) The guy that took my paperwork told me to wait and he went over to a lady who then came over to us. It turned out that the lady was the person in the Achilles office that I had been emailing so after a hug she told me the bad news….NYC Running would not allow me to have Tinkerbell at the start line as they said that she would bite someone!!!!!! Achilles had tried to explain that she is a service dog that would never bite, but they would not budge, despite it being a violation of the ADA. I could have her at the end though as the Achilles tent is outside of NYCRR control. There was no way around this and I said that I would have to see how I felt in the morning to see if I would crank or not. I was also changed to the last bus, so that I could have a test done as late as possible.

We set the alarm for 4am and I was not feeling to good, but we got ready, Tinkerbell did the test and did not give me the all clear, but she did not give the sign for a seizure so we were a bit confused. I decided to go as I thought that she was just upset that I was leaving her behind!!

We tried to leave the hotel and found that the accessible door was locked; we would have to wait for security to come and open it!!! With only 15 mins to get to the bus, we decided to go over to the other hotel and get out through the garage exit. My DH was pushing me and pulling my crank chair as fast as he could while I called one of the team organizes to ask what to do as it looked like we were going to miss the bus. She told us that she did not know, but that they had already filled the bus I was supposed to be on and that there were athletes left behind!!!! I swapped into my crank chair and we sped off down the road, we got to the libery and tried to cross the road, an NYC official told a bus to move, blocking the walkway and we could not get onto the sidewalk!!! So we ended up cranking up the road with the police officers watching!!! At the traffic lights we were able to get on to the side walk and explained what had happened and they moved the barricade to get to the buses, as we went to find our bus we were stopped by a different official who told us that the disabled busses were not here and that we had to go up 2 blocks!!! The barricades were moved again and off we went. When we got to the right place there were a lot of athletes left including push rims, which had the earliest start. We were met by the team manager and she asked were Tinkerbell was, we explained what we were told and she could not believe it. Eventually a bus pulled in and she told them that I was to be allowed on first, the bus had no ramp so they lifted a ramp on and it was so steep it took 4 guys to push / pull our chairs up, once I was on they loaded my crank chair, I was lucky mine got a seat to hang over by itself, others had to share and our wheelchairs were hung over the seat behind us!!!! An athlete who could not transfer to a seat was not tied down and had to hang on to the seat I was sat on!!!!! My bus had only 4 athletes, 4 guides and 2 carers on, and push rims were still left behind!!! The traffic was terrible and we got to the village just in time for me to visit the Princess room and change chairs, then it was straight to the start line!!! We were told to go and line up and as we set off we were given a round of applause from the runners in the waiting area, they lined us up and then told us that we were in the wrong place and that we all had to go backwards, behind the start line!!!!! Why they put us in front of it in the first place I don’t know. People were not happy as they had lost their starting place, personally I don’t care so I went to the back and was the last person to cross the start line, that way I knew I would not get bumped in the push for the lead. We where also in the blue start, even though on line it said orange!! I was glad though as blue was an easier course.

We finally got on our way and off we went up the bridge, I’m terrible at hills so I just took it at my own pace and over took a few people with one shouting out “where do you think your going girly” I just carried on and had no problems, over took a few people and was hoping that the course would be nice.

Sorry to any NY’s here but the course was terrible the condition of the roads is appalling and crowd support was almost non existent for most of it, and nothing nice to look at either. Not what I had expected at all.

All was ok until I got around the half way mark when I had a TIA. I really thought about stopping at the medical tent or asking a guide to join me (Achilles had guides at the half way point in case anyone had problems) but I thought that if I went to either I would be made to stop and that I would be seen as being unreliable as an athlete and would not be offered other team spots, so I decide to carry on and she how I was at the next medical stop. I carried on like this to the end of the race.

Some of the turns were so sharp they had hay bales on them!!!! I was fine except on one where I touched a bale with my right rear wheel. I was so sick of bridges…why could we not go through a tunnel??? One had a grate for its service and they laid a thin carpet over it. My wheels span all over the place and you could feel every hole in the grate too, all I could do was cut my speed and plod through, but this time I hated the NYC marathon and could not wait for it to be over.

I did look for Wish shirts at the water stops as I knew Erica and Jane where out there for us, but I was not lucky enough to see them, but thanks for being there, it was nice to know that you where.

On my way in to CP someone told me that I was the last women back and the clock said 3:08 I really was not happy, I got my medal and it’s so light I thought that it must have been made of plastic. I carried on through and had to point to a merlr blanket as I had not been offered one and I was unable to talk properly due to the TIA the same thing for the food bag!!! I left this area and was told to go up a hill!!!!!! I had blown my left elbow…..I do this every race as it has not healed properly from the crash, the lady who told me were to go saw that I was in trouble and ask if I need a push, I shook my head and she pushed me all the way. When I got there I was expecting to see my DH, my Mum and DD with Tinkerbell, but no one was there. I waited and finally my DH turned up, the bus from the start had been stuck in traffic for so long that in the end they demanded that the driver let them off and they ran the rest of the way!!! As soon as my DH saw me he knew something was wrong. I’ve had TIA’s before and he can understand me when I talk I told him that I just wanted to go, I did not even realise that a lady had come to my side and was talking to me, the lady I had been emailing!!! My DH called my Mum and told her where we were and that we needed Tinkerbell, she should have been there but an official sent her the wrong way!!! As soon as she got there we left, and a gentleman asked us if we wanted to get the bus back to our hotel but we said no so he walked back with us, he pushed my wheelchair, my DH pushed me in my crank and my Mum had DD asleep in her stroller and Tinkerbell. It took us forever to get to our hotel and as soon as we got there I had a bath while everyone else packed as we had to be out by 2.

We left the hotel and could not get the sat nav to work, we were driving around trying to get signal or a sign out of town when we found whole foods, we decide to stop and get some lunch, wow what a whole foods, and I thought that our local one was big. By the time we came out the sat nav had found a signal and we had a way out, now all we had was the traffic!!!!

In the end it took us 30 hours to get home and my DD missed her ballet class, luckily they are going to let her do a make up on Saturday.

In both my last races I felt that something was wrong with my left rear wheel, it turns out that there is something wrong with the pin that connects it to my axle, my DH is going to call Hed to see if it’s something that they can fix or if it’s a job for Phil. I just want to get it fixed for Space Coast.

I told my DH that I never want to do NYC again, as I thought it was the worst race I have ever done, and he told me that the team organizers had already said to him that I would be coming next year!!!

 

[jeanneg]

OMG, Kirstie, I'm so sorry the race did not live up to your expectations. It sounds like you kept hitting brick walls every step of the way and it seems to me this is one race that doesn't know how to handle disabled athletes properly. I know you started quite a bit before the regular runners so that is why the crowd support may have been so light.
My experience was quite the opposite and I found the race to be very well organized in almost every aspect. I'm sorry you missed out on the joy of this wonderful experience. I have about half my race report up on the RR thread and hope to finish it later on today.

Did you get a special medal for coming in third? I agree the medal itself is not as nice as some of the WDW ones, but for me, what it represents is the most important thing.

 

[syko]

I get nothing for comming in 3rd as NYRR do not give anything to handcranks......if i had been a push rim i would have got a crystal tray from Tiffanys!!!!! and $5,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The problem with NYC is that they do not want the Disabled there and we are only there because they where taken to court a few years ago!!!!

I'm really glad you enjoyed the race so much, and i'm looking forward to the rest of your RR.
I was spoiled by MCM the week before!!

 

[wdwprncess77]

Kirstie - As a native New Yorker, let me offer my sincere apologies for the experience you had. We would never want to leave that impression on someone! And I'm sorry for all the inconveniences.

I will say that as a volunteer, while I enjoyed the experience and will continue to do it, I did feel that they were unorganized and really we handed out water and gatorade (not a tough job) so why they couldn't get it together was beyond me. I also found it terribly rude that they were not fully set up in time for your group to come through as we were in the cheering mood then. By the time you came flying by us at mile 16 we were ready, but those before you just saw people looking dazed and confused. I do remember though looking and thinking I didn't see many women before you. Congrats to you again!

I felt my friends medal and you are sooooo right. It's lightweight and I thought a little flimsy for such a prestigious marathon. But i'm new to this so what do I know. Glad to hear I wasn't the only one.

Lastly, yes, our roads here are awful. And they don't really take you through the awesome/pretty parts of the city. I mean I live off first avenue, but it's a road. No sights to be seen. (although we do have some characters here - there's a guy who runs daily in a thong, bra and panty hose - nothing else)

I wish NY could have been a better experience for you. If you come next year I'll be yelling louder and louder for you!!!!

 

[escape]

CONGRATS to all the NYC marathoners! Woohoo!

Kirstie - I'm sooooooo sorry you had a bad experience with the race. You deserve a better! You might consider sending a note about your experience to the NYRR in hopes that they can learn from this and try to make improvements. (Worth a shot!) On another note.... CONGRATULATIONS on coming in 3rd in your division. WOW! You rock!

 

[syko]

Thanks everyone.

I know that a complaint will be going in throuh the team regarding my SD, and I konw that they where not happy with the lack of buses, but as for the rest nothing much could be done about it.
Condition of the roads and bridges is something that will not change just because of the marathon, and prize money / adwards will not change until race directors see us as athletes and not cheaters.

NYC is just not for me, both the city and the marathon. I know some people love it, each to there own.

I'm sure that I will be back next year as I placed. The team start looking for athletes in june, if i'm offered it I will go, but I'm not putting my name in the open lotto like I did this year. Perhaps if I don't have an TIA next year I might enjoy the race more.

The medal was a shock after MCM, but that one is so heavy it makes Disneys a little on the lite side.

I have been warned that Boston is very much like NYC so if I ever manage to make the time it will be interesting to see!!! but they only allow 8 cranks, so I don't think I will be going any year soon.