SEITSE - NEW YORK — Run for Fun Club

7 NEW YORK

NOVEMBER 2019

Baby I’m in New York!

TCS New York City Marathon, passing through all the five boroughs of New York, is the biggest marathon in the world. A live stream of the marathon is put up online and more than two million people cheer on the runners in the city streets. This running fest has been pun intended already since the 1970s, and it has always taken place on the first Sunday of November since 1986. Only once has it been cancelled which was back when Hurricane Sandy visited the coast of New York.

The journey to the Big Apple started in the morning of November 1 from Tallinn as we were flying to Helsinki on the board of Finnair's steel bird and then onwards to JFK Airport, New York. We spent the first night acclimatising, but on the next day already, I found myself in the embrace of the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

We also visited the EXPO on Saturday. Having fetched my competition number, I searched for my name among the other 53,000 runners on the wall.

The EXPO of the New York Marathon was huge. There were lots of traders and people shopped like there was no tomorrow. My shopping cart carried cute running gloves for the cold weather in my homeland, as there's no getting past collecting my training kilometres also during the winter time.

The preparation for the marathon does not only involve training, but there is also quite a lot of organising to be done, especially when the marathon takes place on another continent. When I was doing my running on a cruise ship in March, there was a Mexican who came to talk to me. We were running side by side and so we shared our impressions of the marathons we had run in the past as well as of those still ahead. He suggested that I definitely spend the night in Staten Island before New York Marathon in order to get to the start in as little time as possible. I took his advice and booked a room via Booking.com. Just a few days before take-off, the accommodation provider notified me of the flood in the apartment and thus of being unable to receive me. There were other different options available on Booking.com, but all of these places were a lot more expensive and much farther away. So I had to turn to plan B. I even booked myself a boat trip from Manhattan to Staten Island, just in case. All of this called for the earliest wake-up time in the morning of the marathon day, however, since I hadn't gotten used to the time difference even by the next night, it wasn't a problem at all to wake up at 6 o'clock. I took a 7 o'clock metro from my NYC home in Sunnyside neighbourhood in Queens down to Manhattan in order to catch the 8 o'clock ferry. I missed it, but I did manage to catch the one that left at 8.15. I usually get a little bit nervous in a foreign place, thinking whether I'll get to the start in time, but right then and there I was as cool as a cucumber, because surrounding me, both in metro and the streets, were the runners, who in resolute uniformity moved towards the same direction, so there wasn't really a chance to get lost. Even though there was a lot of people, all the runners were very polite and supportive of each other.

The ferry also passed by the symbol of freedom, the Statue of Liberty. This famous sculpture is a gift to the people of the US from the people of France. In her right hand, the Goddess of Liberty is holding a torch and in her left hand, there is a small board on which the date of the Declaration of Indepence of the US is inscribed.

I find myself slightly anxious as we arrive to Staten Island and take the bus to the start. The whole process though had been incredibly well-organised for not a single halt took place. I arrived to the start area at 9.40, without even noticing that it took 2 hours and 40 minutes to get there from my New York home. At 10.30, the start corridor was opened, so that I could face another marathon at 11 o'clock.

Whether you can finish a marathon is not only a question of your physical shape, but it's also largely dependant on your psychological preparation. For example, I have lots of athletic acquaintances, who love to run, but haven't dared to take up the challenge to run more than the distance of a half-marathon. Even I sometimes feel, when I'm training, that completing 10 km is painfully difficult and I've had many moments when I've doubted in my ability to run a marathon. But when I'm back at the start again then I know that I can run. I'm just going to go ahead and run the bloody 42 kilometres!

So here I am – at the start of my seventh marathon. I've already developed my own little ritual. About 10-15 minutes before the start, I take a few quiet minutes with my thoughts. I did it this time as well. I close my eyes and imagine how I begin the race from Staten Island, run through Brooklyn, Queens and Bronx, and finish in my favourite park – the Central Park.

Every city has its smell. I keep my eyes closed for one more moment and take in the air through my nostrils. To me, the smell of New York is that of metro and food. You stand in the street and you can hear how the metro swishes by beneath your feet, the streets are steaming and the smell of fresh pastry or food from some cafe lingers into your nose. In my head, I'm humming the lyrics of the song by Alicia Keys: „If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere...“

It is a dream to a lot of marathon runners to run the New York Marathon. There are several ways to make it happen. If you've run at least 15 New York Marathons, you'll get a spot. Next option is to present a very good personal best (I will probably never run that fast) and the third is charity.

Us, healthy people, take life for granted. Our arms and legs are intact, health is good, but when there's a power cut that lasts for a day or a mobile phone doesn't work for a few hours, then it feels like it's the end of the world. We've got everything, but still we're not happy with our lives. But what about those people who have lost their loved one to a tough illness or are themselves fighting for their lives? Big city marathons help raise money through charity organisations for those who aren't able to help themselves anymore. One can secure a spot in the marathon by doing charity, but what matters the most is that we can help somebody and by way of this, give something back to the community.

From 2009 to 2018, the charity group Miles for Paws raised money to save the homeless pets of New York. In that time period, more than 320,000 lives were saved. Animal lovers were out there with their posters by the side of the track this year as well, with the purpose to draw attention to the issue of homeless animals.

It is also possible to purchase a spot through different mediators which is pretty costly. Now, if you don't fit under the first three criteria and don't want to give away all your money then you've got one more chance – participate in a lottery. For those who chose to try their luck, the registration for the marathon was open from the middle of January to the middle of February. Even though I didn't have much faith in winning the lottery, I still did send the application on its way, mumbling under my breath. On the last day of February, the wonderful news arrived in my mail box. I've got a chance to run a marathon at the most famous marathon in the world with all the other thousands of runners from all over the world.

I've already got a small fan club. Besides my partner, for whom it's the third marathon travelling with me, there were also Pets, Pisar, Silvia and Liisi greeting me on the course. Those who wanted could download the marathon app so that it would be easier to track their friends and acquaintances running the race. What gives a lot of strength to successfully complete this difficult challenge is your friends cheering you on.

New York City Marathon Enely Jaager..jpg

And those bridges!

After the starting pistol fired, you immediately had to cross the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island, which connects the NYC boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn.

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge NYC Marathon.jpg

It is only once a year, when the New York Marathon takes place, that the pedestrians are allowed there, otherwise it's meant for cars only. The total length of the bridge is a bit over four kilometres, and when I got to Brooklyn, I had already run a tenth of the distance. Then the track takes you a long way on the 4th Avenue, going through different parts of the city, such as Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Park Slope, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

I crossed the Pulaski Bridge and entered Queens while I was half-way through the distance (21.1 km). Trudging up the bridges makes the pulse go up, but fortunately soon the ascent is followed by the descent of the same length. Four kilometres later I was already running on the Queensboro Bridge towards Manhattan.

During the ascent on the bridge, I felt how my step started to weaken and my legs didn't obey me as well anymore. It's no surprise because it is known that climbing this bridge is indeed one of the most difficult points of the marathon. When I got to Manhattan, I had already conquered 26 kilometres and moved towards Bronx on the 1st Avenue. In order to get to Bronx, you must cross Willis Avenue Bridge, and a few more kilometres and I'm already on the last one, the Madisson Avenue Bridge.

In Europe you've got kilometres, but in America you've got miles. So I had to keep account of the marathon on the basis of miles. Luckily, after every 10 kilometres, there was a sign that indicated the distance in kilometres as well. In the last part of the distance, one mile seemed endlessly long and when I got to Harlem, I was up to 21 miles. Feet were pretty tired already. I did try to convert miles into kilometres (1 mile equals 1.609 kilometres), but I gave it up at one point because I wanted to harness all the energy I had to run the last part of the distance as fast as possible. And I was already on the famous 5th Avenue. Last kilometres took me through Central Park.

Running in Central Park

The track hopped on East Street 90 for a moment, but the race finished in the beautiful greenery of the park. 53,627 runners in total crossed the finish line, which makes it a new world record regarding the number of marathon finishers.

And then you had to take an endless walk in order to exit the marathon area. You couldn't stop because new finishers arrived one after the other. Before the marathon, the runners could opt whether for a baggage service (before the start you could hand over your warm clothes and get them back in the finish) or a warm poncho. I opted for the poncho and it was definitely a right choice for me. Those who took baggage service had to walk another extra kilometres. After an hour of walking, I met my friends. Then we celebrated my conquest in a cozy restaurant. Finally I could sit! It was a very very very long day on foot – 58 kilometres in total!

When you decide to travel to the other side of the earth, you should make the most of the sightseeings as well. And again, we cannot get past the bridges. There are a total of 2,000 bridges and tunnels in New York. My favourite one is the Brooklyn Bridge.

NEW YORK Brooklyn Bridge Enely Jaager.jpg

Completed in 1883, a masterpiece ranging 1,883 metres, it's one of the oldest roadway bridges in the USA. Williamsburg was completed in 1903, and with its 2,227 metres it was the longest suspension bridge in the world till 1924. The third of the famous three, Manhattan Bridge, was opened for traffic on the last day of the year in 1909. Manhattan Bridge is the last of the three bridges, and in the blueprints this is what it was supposed to be called at first, Bridge No 3.

On the riverside of Hudson in New York, there is a cool new construction called Vessel. This interactive artwork has been created so that people could enjoy both the city and themselves from different heights. The author of this amazing spiral staircase is an English designer Thomas Heatherwick and it was opened to the public 15 March 2019.

You should definitely make a booking online before you go there. Vessel is indeed free of charge for the public to visit, but if you don't have a booking, then it might happen that you're not allowed to enter.

A nice walk in High Line Park after visiting Vessel. High Line is a 2,33 km long linear park in Manhattan which has been founded on the former New York Central Railway. An incredible masterpiece that unites landscape architecture, urban design and ecology.

We were walking there when the evening started to fall. The alley of the park meanders between the houses and slowly the lights were turned on in the homes. It's not nice to peek into other people's windows, but it was inevitable as we passed by the houses that closely, that we could see people, having come home from work, making dinner or just relaxing.

A lot of things appear quite large for a European in America. Starting from cars and ending with food portions. When you go out to eat, it's a good idea to order one portion to share for two. In our last evening in New York, we decided to try out the city's most famous and one of the oldest restaurants called Katz's Delicatessen in East Village.

Their pastrami sandwiches are popular among the locals as well as the tourists. When you enter the restaurant, each person gets a small numbered ticket, even if your partner is paying for you, which you cannot throw away, but must give back to the cashier as you leave. You must pay a 50 dollar fine for a lost ticket!

Interior design is, as is characteristic to American dineries, a little bit dated but still cozy and amicable. It's true that lots of moviemakers have noticed the attractive aura of the place. I might mention, among a long list of others, that it is just this place where the scenes from When Harry Met Sally, starring Meg Ryan, and the scene from Donnie Brasco, starring Johnny Depp, were shot.

As we had been walking around Manhattan the whole day and were hungry as wolves, I neglected our usual one-meal-for-two routine when ordering food.

I ordered myself Katz's Delicatessen's famous pastrami sandwich with fries (they looked so appetising in the next table). When the sandwich hit the table, I realised at once that I had obviously pushed it. Luckily the waiter forgot my fries, but still I managed to eat less than half of that sandwich. I've usually got a good appetite, but I still don't get it, why must the portions be that large?

Walking in New York, you can't not notice the fire escape ladders that have been built on the sides of the older buildings. By the middle of the 19th century, New York was rather overpopulated and the buildings grew higher and higher. In the beginning of the 1860s, the requirements were put in place concerning the need for additional exits in case of fire. The easiest and cheapest way was to build staircases on the outer sides of the buildings. Today, these fire escape ladders on the oldest buildings of New York have reached the iconic status of the city.

The music video „Tonight“ from the world famous musical West Side Story has been filmed on the fire escape ladders in New York. It is a contemporary love story of Romeo and Juliet, taking place in the 1950s New York, where Tony and Maria have ended up in the middle of a conflict between two rivalrous youth gangs.

And a few last views from the top of the Empire State Building and it's time to say goodbye to the city that never sleeps.