As mentioned in my Marathon pages under www.chefwilli.com, I went to New York a few years ago to run the marathon! Previously I was in Bahrain, 2010 in fact, and went out for one of my usual evening runs, as you do when you are on holiday, and there and then decided to stop smoking! The stopping part lasted only a couple of years and it still grips me in its clutches, but after I stopped, I wanted to do something to celebrate, so, what to do, I know, run a marathon! Next was to decide which one, so I decided on New York and lo and behold, I received an entry ticket, probably because I was India based and this was to allow diversity from various countries in the run. Now, I had never run a marathon before, had finished some half marathons and so went for it! Treadmill training it was, 10 kilometers at a time and then booked the Whangarei half marathon as my training run. At this stage I had torn a muscle in my leg, had two hernias’, an inflamed gall bladder but lots of gumption! The Whangarei half was in the rain, over some hills and I finished the run without stopping, so well done! Off to New York, I had never been there before, had never run over 21 kilometers, knew nobody there, but why let this hold you back!

In the meantime, Marika had been looking at the route and saw Tiffany’s on the route, so onto the phone and ringing up the store to book her engagement ring, as I could pick it up as I ran past the store! All arranged! Immigration at NY was a good moment as my passport check guy called out to another that I was a Marathon runner and stamped the passport! Good stuff! Next was to drop into Tiffany the day prior to the run and resize of the ring, then pasta and some red wine for dinner. The next day was the marathon and 46,500 people or so lined up at some ungodly hour, like 4.30 am from the hotel, all in different sections and I think I was G or H or something with the elites in A section. A great atmosphere, the bands, the national anthem playing with clear skies and off we went! We crossed Staten Island bridge where before I got to the top I felt already done for, so I made the excuse and stopped for a couple of photos of the city from the top of the bridge then off again I went.

What a tremendous feeling and totally soaking up the atmosphere, with the bands along the route, all the people cheering, running through different suburbs of New York and I made the 21-kilometer mark before taking the first main stop, and then it was a case of walk, jog, walk, jog down 5^th Ave and through Central Park. Even at that slow speed I was still passing slower joggers! A finishers medal, 5.3 hours, mid pack actually and so sore muscles, but back to the Brooklyn hotel afterwards where I was staying at and cold baths to try and loosen up a bit! Such a great experience and all part of my Willi’s life, it is me, and it is what I do! The next day I cannot walk! But off to Tiffany’s on the subway to collect Marika’s ring and another great experience. Now I only had a few thousand to spend on the ring, but Tiffany’s treated me as if I was spending a few hundreds of thousands, I had my champagne and all the courtesy. Time to leave and they did not like the idea of a brown paper bag to hold the Tiffany boxes, for if someone grabbed the boxes on the subway, there was no way I could run after them! Anyway, a taxi did the trick and once back in Chennai, the last box in the bottom of the bag was finally given to my darling Marika to celebrate our engagement! She really is a Tiffany girl and a lover of all things Audrey Hepburn! So, with a little bit of sightseeing thrown in, walks across the Brooklyn Bridge and around Manhattan, the hot dog eaten as you do, and some strolls around Brooklyn itself, and that was my New York adventure done. Next it was onto Winnipeg next to catch up with my good friends Megs & David.