Of return among us, OUR MARATHON-RUNNER Sebastien PETIT you comments on this extraordinary day of Sunday November 03, 2002 :
5 hours 30 : After a shower and a last checking of the indispensable equipment to the race, it's time to go the room of the breakfast for a last plate of pastes. Contrary at the amusing and noisy pasta-party of the day before, the ambiance is now at the concentration for many participants.
6 hours 00 : Of the center of Manhattan, a ceaseless ballet of bus starts to transport the 32000 runners towards the departure. The queue for embarking is in rapport with the height of the event.
7 hours 40 : Arrived at Staten Island, the departure is planned in... 3 hours 35. Time is announcing sunny, but a cold wind descended from Canada, breath on the edges of Hudson. It makes 32°Fahrenheit (approximately 2°C).
10 hours 15 : It is necessary to adopt the behaviour of final race, the doors of departure open in 15 minutes. It is then the snarl-up towards the 3 principal doors of departure : approximately 10 000 people take position in each one of them. The 4th, is reserved to the Elite, she comprises only a few hundreds of runners.
11 hours 15 : The starter ringing at last. I pass the real starting line 45 seconds after, but the pass of famous, Pont Verrazano is not a formality; walking, race and periods of total stop followed each other. that does not advance ! The runners take photographs, the helicopters of television and safety turns around the bridge, Coast Guards and the warships block the access to any boat to the upstream and downstream to the bridge. The situation is completely unreal to live, but the stopwatch, to continued him.
11 hours 38 : Finally, I exit of the bridge with already some minutes of being late on my plan of race. At the entry in Brooklyn, the rhythm of race remains irregular and, while zigzaging in the medium of the participants, I have "only" 12 minutes of delay to the 5th km. Of side of the spectators, the ambiance is fabulous. Thousands of people applaud, encourage, howl, of the groups and of the fanfares playing every 500 meters. Of the 5th at the 27th kilometer, I run without feeling the least difficulty. Perhaps pushed by these unusual encouragements, I passed 5000 runners in 20 km.
13 hours 25 : With the approach of the 2/3 of the route, I reduced to 9 minutes of difference with my forecasts. While approaching Queensboro Bridge, 3rd from the five bridges to be passed, its long rise comes to recall me that, in spite of my enthusiasm, the Marathon is never a exercise gained in advance. In the 1st Avenue of Manhattan, a long straight line of 6 km towards Bronx, my stride is again acceptable, but I start to lose a little speed.
14 hours 00 : By leaving Bronx : it is necessary to join Central Park by the 5th Avenue. To 7 km of the arrival, it is always possible for me to arrive in 3 hours 15'. But it is there that I have appointment with famous "the wall" of the marathonian. The physical potential then seems to disappear into a few hundreds from meters. Fortunately, I still have sufficient motivation and of a little clearness to manage the race end.
14 hours 45 : These last kilometers resembled miles! I reach finally the arrival in 3019ème position and in 3 hours 30 minutes and 32 seconds. The pains are numerous, but the joy this time again, to go at the run out of his limites is immense, especially on this mythical race which is New York.
20 hours : It is time to go to dine. This evening, all gastronomical excesses are allowed. The muscles of the legs do not have almost any more elasticity and it will take a few days to find a normal gait. But already, it is indiscutable that this marathon is exceptional to living, for its route and its user-friendliness. One day or the other, I would return to run to New York.
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