At the end of April, after it was announced that my hometown race, which is also my favorite, would not be taking place, I thought to myself: if not the P-Weg in Plettenberg in the fall, then at least a marathon in New York City in November.

My better half, Wibke, had experienced the 26.2m/42,195km in the Ruhr three years ago and spontaneously endorsed my change of heart. We decided to do something completely different.

Thanks to the info from our PIRATE cohorts Svenny and Captain Klotz, the realization of our idea ended up being child's play.

When you decide to get in line with the 85,000 horde of applicants in the middle of May, actually getting one of the 38,000 starter tickets borders on a miracle.

We got that miracle and after just a half a year of preparation, we arrived in the Big Apple four days before the big event.

Well, I guess I don't have to try and explain how huge and awesome this city and everything on and around Times Square is. Those who've been there, know it, and those who haven't, definitely should - especially with this good exchange week.

The marathon was the icing on the cake: Here it is, in three episodes:

1. Before the Race
Get up at 4am. Wait for the race to start for three hours with coffee, bagels, water and 38,000 people. Get into position by a carpet for the used clothes collection in front of the Verazano Bridge. Get a chill down our spines, when Franky-Boy's "New York, New York" blasts from the speakers and then we're off.

2. During the Race
We had dreamt up sometime around five hours and, in the end, it actually got pretty close. After the flight and the whole tourist thing, our legs were not in the mood for running and thanks to the local cuisine, which is very poor in vitamins, the cramps came on pretty quickly. Oh well, the 2,000,000 person - that's two million in words - honor guard managed to herd us to the finish line.

3. After the Race
Made it - what a relief - finisher medal - large enthusiasm and waves of congratulations, from the bus driver and the people in the line at Starbucks, to the elevator operator. They cheered in ardor, the way only New Yorkers can. A lot of soreness, even days later, but then we were in the ranking list in the New York Times. Flight back and: that was that.

After the Urban Jungle of New York, I will be getting ready for the real one at the CAPE EPIC 2008.

See you soon and keep the chain to the right

Stefan "ZIMBO"