Posts from — February 2009

So today’s plan to run the Bronx Half Marathon and then run back home to Brooklyn didn’t work out so well.   I was really looking forward to this run for several reasons; it would give me another qualifier for next year’s NYC Marathon, I’d get a really cool and interesting run it and I would hopefully finally get in all 5 of the NYRR Half Marathons run in the boroughs of NYC.

My plan was to run the BHM with a fellow member of my triathlon club, who answered an email I had posted looking for a running partner to do the BHM and then run back into Manhattan. I really didn’t want to run all of that distance by myself (about 35 planned miles) so I was very happy for a response. I exchanged cell numbers with M and we arranged to meet the morning of the race.

We started out the race and a nice and easy pace, but at about two miles into the event, M started to slow down and needed to stop.  She started to develop chest pains and needed to sit down.  She refused medical care and said that she just needed to rest for a while.  It took about 10 minutes or so, but after that she seemed ok and wanted to go on.  By now we were very back of the pack and saw the leader of the race coming back the opposite direction on the course.  We then continued on for another mile or so when M started to slow down again.  The pace became just a fast walk for me and I wasn’t sure what I should do.  I didn’t want to leave her to run a faster pace, but I couldn’t run this slowly for long.

Turns out that she was developing chest pains again and this time she wanted an ambulance.  I flagged down a police officer who called in an ambulance for us.  The ambulance took her to the hospital and I got a lift back to the baggage check location by the police officer so I could get M’s jacket which contained her identification, money and cell phone.  She didn’t know anyone’s number without her phone so I couldn’t give them a head’s up as to what was going on until I went to retrieve it.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know what her jacket looked like.  In fact, I thought I was looking for a backpack and not a jacket.  I got a couple of volunteers and we started to look for her jacket (which I didn’t know what it looked like), among 5000 other bags.  The only clue as to the location of the bag was based on the last number of her race number. There were numbers from 1 – 10 and you were supposed to put your belongings based on the last number of your bib.  Again unfortunately, she placed her bag (jacket) based on the first number of her bib, so I was on a wild goose chase for a while.  Eventually I found it and I ran with it to the hospital where and found her resting in the ER.

Once we had her phone, I called her sister to tell her what happened.  I was hoping she would take charge and come to the hospital right away, but it sounded like I was inconveniencing her.  I would leave the ER every 20 minutes or so to give her an update and each time I did M’s sister and her mother were no closer to leaving for the hospital than when I first called.

Eventually it got to be around noon and I had to leave.  I still wanted to run and my internal clock for running was expiring at 3pm.  I left as M was being taken for X-rays and began my long run back to Brooklyn.  I felt bad about leaving.  I felt like I should have stayed but I had commitments in the afternoon.  I was feeling really guilty when I left, but I couldn’t figure out what my obligation was to someone I had just met.

To be honest, I wasn’t really in the mood to run at this point.  I felt like I should have stayed with M and all the standing around all morning kind of took my desire away to run.  I really just wanted to be home to play with my children in the warm weather.  However, I knew I needed to run, so I just decided to keep going and see how far I could get before it was time to bail out and take the subway home.  I managed to get from 210^th Street and Gun Hill Road in the Bronx to 96^th and Lexington before I finally called it a day – a run of 8.3 miles, plus a little over 4 from the start of the BHM for a total of 12 miles on the day.

Once I got home it was time for errands.  I took my son to a birthday party, picked him up later, picked up my father’s urn from the funeral home, made dinner for my kids, took out the trash and cleaned up the house.  I stopped short of doing laundry as I just wanted to kick back and relax for a while.  Now I am going to post this entry and think about what type of run I’ll do next week.

P.S.  M called a little while ago and says she is doing ok.  They checked her into the hospital for observation, but she is resting comfortably and is with her family.