NY Report
Wednesday 31st October day one of our adventure a will they wont they kind of day! Myself my wife Jeannie and daughter Hannah were due to travel to JFK airport the next day. We had looked forward to our trip for a year now but were really worried by the news coverage of the hurricane and were unsure if we could even fly.
I called our travel insurers as we had heard through friends in NY that things their were very grim and we really were not confident about flying into a disaster zone. We were beginning our trip away with friends in Greenwich village but they emailed to say their apartment had no power or water! We were in such a dilemma should we fly to somewhere else or risk the situation! We wanted to enjoy our time away not endure it. Unfortunately our travel insurance did not cover us as NY had not been declared by the Foreign Office as a destination that was unsafe to travel to, but we knew for sure that we couldn't stay with our friends in downtown manhattan.
We tried and failed to email the hotel that we were staying in later on in the week ( later we discovered that their phone lines were down) and were begging to lose hope when a friend from church who knew we were coming for the marathon put his USA phone number on Facebook for us to call him. Finally we had news that we could rely on. Our friend Ben explained that the city was partially in darkness and was very cold and a bit desolate but offered to walk to the hotel to check what kind of situation we were flying into. It was great to hear that they had power and spare beds for the nights we wanted.
During a brief conversation on a borrowed mobile credit card details were exchanged and the extra nights stay were booked! As the NY road runners had declared the marathon was going ahead we decided to travel, there seemed no question that it would all go ahead!
We arrived at JFK tired but relived it was there but it was here that things all started feeling a little strange! We took 3 hours to clear customs due to the lack of staff and waited what seemed ages for a cab. When the yellow taxi came we had to share with stranger as the governor had declared that all vehicles crossing Brooklyn bridge had to contain at least three people in order to conserve gas or fuel ! As we travelled into the city we passed endless lines of cars just waiting for fuel , police were everywhere monitoring the situation and abandoned taxis were on every street corner having run out of gas. The only taxis to be had were hybrid electric cars that could continue to run! Our hotel however was brilliant warm dry and welcoming although not full of the usual numbers of attentive staff!
Day two Friday 2nd we got up early because of the time difference and prepared to go and pick up my number at the expo building a short walk away. The conference centre was full of the usual excited runners all collecting numbers and moving around the advertising stands. The buzz was great , people from all of the world looking forward to the marathon.
Jeannie and I picked up the brochure detailing the route and began to plan a strategy for her and hannah to cheer me on at various points. We then walked to the hotel where I would pick up the coach to the start of the race at Staten Island.
We decided to call into our hotel to drop of my number for safe keeping and happened to turn on the television and there it was the announcement that changed everything the 2012 New York marathon had been cancelled. What? I looked for a while and couldn't quite believe it, cancelled ? Are you sure? GUTTED was the only word I really had!
Looking at the footage of the devastation hurricane sandy had caused I really understood why the mayor had reversed his decision, but it seemed unreal as only a few hours ago I had picked up my number! I under
