Fifth Avenue Mile/Westchester Triathlon

Fifth Avenue Mile

When I moved to New York about 8 years ago and started running with Achilles, one of the first races I remember doing was the Fifth Avenue Mile.  A nice short distance for a beginner, it starts at 79th Street, just south of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and runs down the side of Central Park to finish at 59th Street on the corner of the park.

As I was new to running, I remember being very self-conscious about how my leg and gait looked AND also that I was so slow.   As this is a fast race with a relatively few number of runners, all staggered and grouped according to age and gender, I faced the intimidating possibility that I would be dead last in my heat.   This was something I'd been sensitive to for a long time.  At school, I knew I would be pretty good at sports, if it wasn't for the annoying fact that I had a leg missing, and used to dread being picked last for any team.  For this race, I ended up jumping in about a quarter of the way in, timing it so I could finish about the same time as all the other runners (they must have been surprised when they caught up with me how I eluded them at the start).

Are we nearly there yet?

And then watching a later wave I saw another Achilles athlete, Danny Trush, who as a teenager had suffered 5 brain aneurysms and been in a coma for 30 days.  I watched him come over the finish line at a much slower pace than I had, but I can still remember that there was something about how determined he was to cross the finish line that moved me to tears.  It made me realise: people don't really care who comes last.  But they are impressed by people who put themselves out there and fight to overcome obstacles to cross the finish line.  That was the last time I ever snuck into a race past the start line.

Team Ben

Fast forward a few years, and I found myself lining up for my second Fifth Avenue Mile.  I was lucky enough to have two guides this time: May, who I met on the morning of the race, and Reshma, who I often run with at Achilles Tuesday evening workouts.  Reshma has this great quality of running about two paces in front of me towards the end of our runs, encouraging and prodding me to go just that little bit faster, so she was an ideal partner for this one.

After a few stretches and jogs round the block, we were off!  Even though a mile is a short distance, it calls for completely different strategies than the longer distance races I'm used to, so I basically went out as fast as possible, got out of breath, and tried to maintain the speed as fast as my lungs would let me.  It all passed by in a bit of a blur, with lots of people shouting support, but in the end, I passed over the finish line feeling pretty strong and pleased with my performance.  My final time was 7 mins 42 seconds, much faster than I'd even hoped for.  Oh, and one other thing..I wasn't last!

The next day, I took part in my last tri of the season, the Westchester triathlon.  I did this as part of a Challenged Athletes Foundation relay team.  CAF is a great organization based in San Diego that amongst other things, gives grants to people with disabilities to help them get into sport.  The swimmer on the team was John Young, one of the only LP (dwarf) athletes in the sport of triathlon, and an inspiring athlete - he'll also be running the NY marathon this November.  You can read his great blog here.   I was biking, and the runner was Jolie Sutter, a below-the-knee amputee who lives two blocks away from me in Manhattan, who'd just got a new running leg with a CAF grant (though sadly not in time for this race).

7.00 am, triathletes on Rye beach

The race started at 7.00 am on Rye beach, on a bright and chilly September morning.  John completed his 1500 metre swim in the Long Island Sound in 49 minutes, then handed over the timing chip to me.  I set off on the course into a strong headwind, glad to start moving after a cold wait in transition, and had some tough hills that got me sweating in the first ten or so miles of the course.  The second half was much easier, so my average speed went up from 15.48 mph in the first 13 miles to 19.43 mph in the last 12.  One other thing about the route - there were lots of potholes and cracks in the roads to watch out for.  I passed a nasty crash near the Westchester Country Airport, where a cyclist was lying prone next to a crash barrier, covered in blood.  A couple of other cyclists had stopped and had already called an ambulance for him.

I thought I'd finished unscathed, until I reached the bike finish and entry to the transition zone.  As I approached the line to dismount, I was surrounded by about 10 other cyclists, and realised too late that I was going a little bit too fast to stop safely.  I ended up jamming on the breaks and quickly unclipped my shoe, but when I tried to put my foot down, I skidded and ended up doing the splits with my bike on top of me.  Luckily, I emerged unscathed apart from a scratched knee, a sore thigh from doing the kind of splits you normally only see 15 year old Olympic gymnasts do, and a slightly bruised ego.

Billy Lister

Evelyn Rodriguez

After changing out of the biking leg I headed over to the finish line to watch Jolie and other friends from Achilles and CAF cross the finish line.  Among them was Evelyn Rodriguez, doing her first ever 10k run with Achilles, and Billy Lister, running with CAF, who has also set up his own tri organization to help get people with disabilities in the New York area into triathlons.

After the award ceremony, we headed back into the city, and I rewarded myself with an hour long afternoon nap, and slept about 10 hours that night. I hadn't done the whole triathlon but doing a hard bike course, combined with the mile run the day before, lots of fresh air, and the 4.30 am start, must have been starting to catch up with me.

As the season winds to an end, I've started setting goals for next year.  In my sights is a half ironman.  I'm going to keep biking through winter as much as possible (cold doesn't put me off, ice does), and also try to make it to the pool at least once a week.  Swimming is still my weak point that needs a lot of work.    I also need to work on my core strength, as my lower back still gets sore after runs and is normally stiff first thing in the morning.  I already have stretches from a chiropracter, but I'm also thinking about a personal trainer to show me some good core exercises.  I hope if I can do all these things I can build on my achievements of this season, and go even further and faster next year.

Sailing on the Hudson

Even though Achilles is mainly about the running and triathlons, it also lays on lots of other cool activities for its members - kayaking, white-water rafting, bowling, to name a few.

Being born in a coastal town (Weymouth, Dorset, in the UK), and having been brought up within a mile of the sea until the age of 18, I've always felt that the blood that courses through my veins consists of at least 50% salt water.  To me, there's no better feeling than unfurling a sail, gazing out over a beautiful blue sea with a well practiced nautical squint, and feeling a fresh sea breeze blow through your hair - until, that is, when the wind really picks up, the water gets too choppy, and I start feeling slightly nauseous and anxious that the boat's bobbing around too much.

Some comically bad marine photography - Lady Liberty

Last Sunday, my friend Lisa Bowers, a volunteer at Achilles, arranged for Achilles to come down and sail on the Hudson in some yachts run by the Manhattan Sailing Club.  My only other experience with the M.S.C. was when Lisa had taken me out to their boat-bar, right in the middle of the Hudson, overlooking Ellis island, on a beautiful summer evening, so I was keen to keep up my association with the club.

On the waves

In all about 15 boats went out, sailing for about 2 hours.  We left from just to the south of the World Financial Center plaza downtown, and had to motor out a bit to pick up some wind, but eventually found a good breeze.  It was great having a unique perspective of the Statue of Liberty, but I just wish the boat could have kept more still while I was trying to take a photo of it.

At the helm

It was a fun afternoon.  It was great to get out on the water and we were looked after very well by our skipper of Lori, and first mate Christina.  Thanks Lisa for organising!