NYC TRIATHLON RACE REPORT 2015

THE PANASONIC NYC TRIATHLON RACE REPORT

Yes, yes, yes...a million times YES! If you can do this race, by all means do it! I absolutely LOVED this race, even with the dead fish floating in the Hudson. So here we go:

PACKET PICKUP:

Was at the New York Hilton Midtown located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas. Everyone was required to attend the mandatory meeting after which you got your hand stamped as proof for packet pickup.  No stamp, no packet.  We arrived early so that we could do the 10:00 am meeting but what we didn't realize that transition didn't open until 2:00 pm, so we had to wait around a few hours before my brother (and team-mate) could rack his bike in transition. Everyone was required to rack their bicycles in transition the day before.

Since we had a few hours to kill, we walked around the expo and I bought myself a swanky looking NYC Tri-Kit.  Can't wait to wear it :)  After that, my niece (the runner) took the subway home while my brother and I went to the Hard Rock Café in Times Square for lunch.  Transition opened at 2:00 pm sharp.  He racked his bike and we both headed home.

RACE DAY:
I prepared all of my gear the night before and hit the sack early.  I got up at 2:30 am and left my house by 3:00 pm.  It sucked hard knowing that Tom couldn't be there. I had been looking forward to doing this race with him, so leaving him at home felt horrible.  I arrived in Manhattan at 4:10 and my brother and I found street parking not far from the transition area.

RACE DAY TRANSITION:
The transition area looked amazing and was buzzing with nervous yet anxious triathletes.  The relay teams had a special area designated just for them.  Everyone got their own personal racking area and each one had a motivational saying.  This was ours: THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE TRANSITION...

We met a lot of nice people in transition and hung out with them until it was time to leave.  When transition closed, everyone had to leave except for the relay members NOT doing the swim.  All of us swimmers left transition and made the 1 mile walk up to the swim start.

JUMPING INTO THE HUDSON:
I got to the swim start with a lot of time to spare.  I had my wetsuit, goggles, swim cap and ear plugs in hand.  I had a cheap pair of flip flops that I threw away when I got to the swim start. The water temp was 73.9 degrees, so it was wetsuit legal.

The corrals were set up and clearly marked.  I waited near the Relay Team corral and chatted with a group of really nice folks. We all stared at the river and couldn't help but notice how many dead fish were floating on the surface, along with debris.  There were a lot sticks, Styrofoam cups, plastic plates, an empty bottle of Sprite, all heading down stream.  Everyone felt a little panicked about this, but it is the Hudson and we knew what we were getting in to. Suck it up folks!

After the professionals took off, it was our turn to go. I was in the last wave of swimmers.  Once they started getting the age-groupers into the water, everything moved VERY quickly. There was really no time to reconsider what was about to happen.

I lined up with my Relay Team Swim Wave (silver caps) and followed the line onto the plank.  Just before you walk the plank onto the dock, there are showers to get you acclimated to the cold water. We walked down the plank and there was a group of about 15 swimmers sitting on the edge of the dock.  The whistle blew and they all jumped in.  Next we stepped up and sat on the edge of the dock.  Everything was happening so darn fast. I sat down in the middle and the whistle blew. I jumped in and held my goggles and nose.  I popped back up to the surface and felt as if my goggles were too far down.  The river began carrying me downstream, however my goggles felt really wonky.  At first I tried swimming with them as they were, but I had to flip onto my back so that I could re-adjust them.  I couldn't swim that far with them feeling so uncomfortable.  Once I had them re-adjust, I flipped back over, stuck my face in the water and simply began to swim.  I didn't really "feel" the current pushing me, although I knew it was.  Very quickly I started catching up with other swimmers. I did feel a bit panicky at first, but within about 5 minutes the feeling started to subside and I was able to focus on just swimming.

The swim was going well at first and then I realized I had swam into a debris field.  Suddenly I felt something on my arm and on my forehead.  I stopped swimming for a moment and saw that a piece of plastic had wrapped around my arm and a there were sticks and cups floating all around me.  I untangled the plastic and threw it aside and got back to swimming.  For some reason I kept swimming too far to the left and that was where all of the debris was going.  I tried getting myself to the right since there seemed to be less garbage in that area.  I noticed a lot of people floating on their back and it was becoming difficult to get around some of them. One girl had a panic attack and needed the help of a lifeguard.  As she clung to his paddle board a jet skier came flying over to help her...directly in front of me.  We had to swim far right to get around them.

I did a lot of sighting because the river started to get a bit crowded and the people floating on their backs were being pulled towards the left (in front of me) . They were completely unaware of where they were heading.  I saw one really panicked swimmer and stopped to ask her if she was okay, which she said she was.  I continued on.  Another woman who was floating on her back suddenly flipped over to start swimming just as I passed her and swam directly onto my back.  I kicked hard and got her off of me.  As we got close to the swim exit, there were buoys squeezing us in so that we could be guided towards the exit stairs. This was where it really started getting a bit bogged down.  I swam all the way to the stairs, grabbed the railing, 2 volunteers yanked me out.  I had brown gunk covering my entire face but I didn't care, I had SURVIVED THE HUDSON RIVER!  I got out and start hauling ass, running towards transition. I was so excited that I kept yelling at everyone "that was so awesome".  Every time I yelled, a group of people would cheer.  I know I was acting like a big dork but I ran all the way to transition screaming.  Yeah I was a bit excited! And the distance between the swim exit and yellow transition is far.  But I didn't care. I was thrilled!!!

T1:
Like I said, the distance between the swim exit and the yellow transition area is FAR! But I ran all the way to the transition area and saw that my brother was waiting for me and ready to bike.  I threw the timing chip on his ankle and boom, off he went!

BIKING ON RIVERSIDE DRIVE:
The bike along Riverside was hillier than my brother expected; and he's a good cyclist. You meet your first big climb immediately out of the transition area.  They tell you at the mandatory meeting to make sure your bike is on a very easy gear.  It's a steep upward climb.

The entire course is in the sun with no shade whatsoever.  Plus it was a blistering hot day. Lester mentioned that most of the cyclists stayed towards the right except to pass.  And when they did pass, most of them moved immediately to the right again so that everyone else could pass.  There were a couple of turn around points on the course, but for the most part the bike ride was uneventful.  He had a bottle of water and a bottle of Tailwind with him for electrolyte replacement.  When he came back to the transition area, we noticed he didn't look too good.  He stopped at the bike racking area and I removed the timing chip from his ankle and put it on my nieces ankle.  She took off while I helped my brother rack his back

T2:
As my niece left the transition area for her run, I stayed behind with my brother.  He was completely over heated and on the verge of passing out.  I got him to sit down and I poured cool water on his neck.  I got him cold water and Gatorade to drink, praying that he wasn't going to faint.  After about 10 minutes he started coming around and we made our way out of transition so that we could go to the finish line to see Joanna cross.

THE RUN:
The run is pretty neat.  You hit your first incline as soon as you leave transition and you head towards 72nd street.  72nd street is completely closed to traffic and there are a lot of spectators cheering you along.  You enter into Central Park and do the long course heading uptown.  Central Park is hilly, so be prepared! There are plenty of fluid stations along the way, but on 90+ degree day, there can never be enough.

The finish line is really nice.  The finish chute is long and is line with flags from around the country.  The announcer announces every finishers name as they cross the finish line.  We saw my niece Joanna as she was ready to cross.  I yelled out to her but she didn't respond.  She wasn't feeling well and I knew it was a tough run for her.  We met at the family meeting place and she was kind enough to collect medals for each of us.

There was a great after party area with so much good free stuff.  We wandered around and enjoyed the after party, then decided to being the long walk back to the transition area so that we could leave.  Its a really far distance between the finish line and transition.  They began allowing everyone to leave at 11:00 am.  We packed our stuff up and headed back to the car.  I was amazed at how many random people stopped us in the street and congratulated us.  It was like a big party for everyone in the area.  72nd street was re-opened to traffic and we had no problems driving or getting stuck in traffic.  If we do it next year, we'll definitely street park again.  But yes, the Panasonic NYC Triathlon is everything that it's cracked up to be!

 SWIM ANXIETY:

Much to my surprise I didn't have any swim anxiety.  I do admit that I wasn't thrilled watching all the dead fish floating down stream, but I really thought I would have been more panicked.  Once we lined up and we started going in, the line moved quickly.  Before I knew it, I was standing on the dock getting ready to jump in.  There wasn't much time for procrastinating or overthinking.  You just lined up and jumped.  Once I was in I felt a slightly nervous but I managed to put my face into the water and started swimming freestyle.  Other than adjusting my goggles when I first got in, I think I stopped twice (very briefly) just to see where I was in the pack.  Each time I got back to swimming quickly and after my second look around, I didn't stop until the end.  I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have any panic attacks.  There was plenty of room for everyone in the river and it didn't feel like people were swimming over you.  There were times when people got close, but everyone had more than enough room to claim their own personal swim space.  Honestly? The swim was MUCH better than I anticipated it to be.

SWIM: 26:36
T1: 4:31
BIKE: 1:56:42
T2: 1:08
RUN: 1:04:10
FINISH TIME: 3:01:59

BECAUSE RUNNING CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE

The date for the surgery was set; July 8 at Memorial Sloan Kettering.  Telling our families was the second hardest part...hearing the diagnosis ourselves was the hardest part.  We still had a full week until the surgery and the 4th of July weekend was coming upon us quickly.  For Tom, it wasn't quick enough.

The day before July 4th I noticed Tom suddenly didn't look good.  He looked pale and sick.  We spent the July 4th holiday with my family and even they noticed how ill he looked.

The days seemed to move in slow motion, but finally July 8 was upon us. It was time for Tommy to get his kidney and tumor removed.  We arrived at MSK 3 hours early and parked in a garage up the street. The odd thing was that after months of Tom's tibia hurting him, it didn't hurt at all that day.

As we waited to be called into the pre-op area, we met a lovely couple from Brooklyn. The wife was having lung surgery to remove a tumor that had spread from her bones into her lungs. The reality of everything was setting in.  At 1:30 pm they called Tom into the pre-op area and allowed me to stay with him.

They hooked him up to his IV and prepared him for his surgery.  We even took a selfie together.  At 3:30 pm a nurse came in and asked if he was ready to head into the operating room.  Tom and I said goodbye and off he went.  I went downstairs and grabbed a quick bite to eat. I wasn't overly worried about Tom surviving the surgery because I had 100% confidence in him, Dr. Russo and the medical team.  Dr. Russo commented several times that Tommy's excellent physical condition, thanks to all of his running, would work to his advantage.

A nurse found me in the waiting room at about 5:30 pm and told me that the surgery officially began at 4:20 pm and that everything was going well.  By 7:00 pm, I received a phone call that the surgery was complete and that I was to meet with Dr. Russo on the 6th floor.

Dr. Russo came into the room and sat with me to discuss the procedure.  He said Tommy did very well through the surgery however he lost a lot of blood. He said the tumor was huge.  They removed the entire kidney with the tumor and didn't see any cancer in the surrounding organs.  It was pushing up against the diaphragm and spleen, so that made the surgery a bit more tricky.  If Tom recovered as well as expected, he would be able go home on Friday.

I was allowed to see him in the recovery area.  He was awake and talking and in a bit of pain. I was actually surprised at how alert he was.  I stayed with him as long as I could but eventually I had to get home to our kids.

The next morning (Thursday) I headed back to Sloan Kettering to see how Tom was doing.  When I got there, I was pleasantly surprised. He was up and walking laps of the 5th floor.  A physical therapist did a few laps with us and then asked him if he could walk up and down a few stairs.  Tom passed with flying colors!

The next day (Friday) Tommy texted me early in the morning and said he was being released.  I dropped our daughter off at camp and flew into the city as quickly as I could.  When I got to Tom's room, he was READY TO GO!  By noon that day, he was already home.

Tom's recovery continues to improve every single day.  In fact as I write this, I can say that today was a really good day for him.  He still has some soreness, but he continues to move as much as possible and his appetite is slowly returning.  Our next step in the journey is to meet with a Radiologist to discuss cyber-knife for the tibia.  Cyber-knife is essentially a strong targeted radiation.  We're hoping to get moving on that as quickly as possible and then in 10 days we meet with the Oncologist to discuss immunotherapy to treat the disease systemically.

We're learning to take life day by day at this point and to appreciate the little things that life has to offer. The journey has just begun but there are still a lot of unanswered questions.  Questions that may never have a clear answer.  But that's ok. I'm just happy for today.

WHEN A DIAGNOSIS CHANGES EVERYTHING

"I'm sorry, but I have bad news for you".  That was how it all started, just 2 1/2 weeks ago. One small sentence and our worlds forever changed.

The story started back in mid April.  Tom was having pain deep in his left tibia and attributed it to running.  He eased up on the running (eventually stopping all together) but the pain didn't subside.  By late May he developed a chronic cough and was severely fatigued.  I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Swan, an amazing sports orthopedic doctor here in New Jersey.  We went to see in June and after x-raying the bone he noticed a lesion on the tibia.  He sent Tom for an MRI and wasn't happy with the outcome.  Next came a series of blood work followed by a CAT scan and an full body bone scan.

The day after the scans we were scheduled to visit with Dr. Swan to hear the results.  He walked into the room and paused. I knew by the look on his face he was deeply concerned.  "First, how is your leg feeling", he asked.  "Well it still hurts but Advil seems to knock the pain down", hubby Tom responded.  Dr. Swan took a deep breath and said "I'm sorry, but I have bad news for you". And so we discovered at that very moment, on a random Friday morning in June, the reality of what was going on. "You have a very large mass on your left kidney and two masses on your left lung. The kidney is where this whole thing started".

Tom was diagnosed with stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma.  The tumor in the tibia was the least of the problems at the moment.  It felt as if someone punched me right in the gut. Dr. Swan had prepared and spoken with an oncologist from Robert Wood Johnson hospital.  The kidney needed to be removed.  "What about Sloan Kettering" I asked?  He recommended we consider all options including Sloan Kettering.

On the ride home Tom insisted on going to Robert Wood Johnson hospital, simply because it close to our house.  I told him we needed to consider Sloan Kettering. The commute was obviously longer, but people travel from around the world to go to MSK. Keep every option open.

We spent the weekend trying to act normal around the kids and trying to continue life as normal as possible. I even did the Philly Tri Rock Triathlon the day after the diagnosis, but it was the worst slog imaginable.  Moments of sleep gave us a brief respite from thinking about it, but the second we woke up it was right there waiting for us again.  There is no escaping the realities of cancer. For the next couple of days it felt as if someone had dumped us in the middle of the ocean and left for us for dead. It felt like Tom and I were bobbing against the tide trying to figure out which direction to go in, trying to figure out simply how to survive.

We sat our kids down and explained what was going on. All I can tell you is that we have the most wonderful, caring kids in the whole wide world. This is a lot for them to take in.

Tom didn't want to tell any of our extended family or friends of his diagnosis until we had an idea as to which direction things were heading in.  That Monday morning I contacted MSK (Memorial Sloan Kettering) and asked to meet with Dr. Paul Russo.  Dr. Russo is a top kidney surgeon specializing in Renal Cell Carcinoma, or RCC.  He read Tom's report and agreed to meet with us Tuesday evening.  Of course, the 4 of July weekend was upon us and it seemed as if every doctor was leaving town. Dr. Russo stayed late and agreed to do the surgery the following Wednesday, July 8th. Tom would have a Radical Nephrectomy meaning the entire left kidney would be removed. 

The next day, we met with a wonderful oncologist, Dr. Ellen Ronnen, at Robert Wood Johnson for a second opinion. She spent a lot of time discussing Tom's diagnosis but we felt that MSK was where Tom needed to be.  Since the disease has spread, there is no cure. The best we can hope for is a treatment plan that will put the disease into remission. And for that task, we will be meeting with Dr. Motzer at MSK at the end of July.

So one day we were living a normal life, working, raising a family, running, enjoying the weekends together, then suddenly it felt as if someone ripped it all away.  I lost my mother to cancer when I was 18 years old, I already knew life held no guarantees.  Over the years I had re-establish that false sense of security, but that security is forever stripped away.  I have strong feeling of anger right now. I'm not angry at anyone in particular, I'm just angry at life itself.  This shouldn't happen to someone as kind, , gentle, good and loving as my husband. But I know life is life, and that's how life goes.