Hey!  On his way to the South Pole, “Pat Farmer Slept Here”

In “Read more…” see YouTube of Farmer setting out from the Chappaqua Train Station.
June 17, 2011
by Christine Yeres

After dining late at the Quaker Hill Tavern Monday night with his entourage of 15 that included two young children, Pole-to-Pole running man Pat Farmer and his crew left to hit the hay.  They drove down the hill to camp out in their trailers at the Chappaqua Train Station until morning. 

Farmer was scheduled to set out at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday for Central Park, continuing his mission to raise awareness – and $100 million – for the International Red Cross “to support the wonderful work they do in times of crisis,” Farmer explained, “and also to inspire other people to do something with their own lives.  Whenever you can pick up one foot and put it in front of the other you can go anywhere in this world and do anything you put your mind to.  I just want to promise you this: That I will finish what I’ve started.  Every single thing I’ve taken on I’ve finished. This is the toughest thing on earth but I will keep up this journey. Simply putting one foot in front of the other from one end of the world to the other, 52 miles every day and no days off.  I look physically gaunt but I’ll continue on.” 

He’d had a great chiropractor-physio-masseuse work on him Monday, he said.  Plus, NewCastleNOW learned from Stacey McAllister, Farmer’s waitress on Monday night at the Quaker Hill Tavern, that he ate heartily.  “He ordered Quaker salad for an appetizer, our special that night – tilapia piccante with rice and beans – Oreo cookie ice cream for dessert, and he drank seltzer with bitters and some lime.”  His crew of 15, including a media specialist, a medical attendant and a couple of young children, all dined with him, leaving at about midnight.  “And they were excellent tippers,” confirmed McAllister.

When the world-record endurance runner and former Australian Member of Parliament lost his re-election bid last year, he retired from politics and headed straight for his dream to run the 13,000 miles from pole to pole.  He trained in serious snow and drifts in Central Park in January, towing tires along after him to rehearse for the supply sled he would have to drag. 

Every day of his life since April 6, when a Russian helicopter dropped him off at the North Pole to begin his trek on snow shoes, Farmer has covered “52 miles a day, every day, no days off,” he chants, working his way south along the east coast of Canada to the East Coast of the United States and to Chappaqua last Monday. 

He reckons it will take about 11 months to complete his journey. He’s run through one pair of snowshoes, he says, and three pair of running shoes so far and expects to run through 18 or 20 more pairs of running shoes and yet another set of snowshoes at the South Pole. He described his route through the U.S. in shorthand: Central Park, Washington, D.C., and then on to Texas.  Central America, then South America, down its west coast. 

For only one bit he’ll have to fly.  “I’ll run to the tip of Argentina, to Tierra del Fuego. I’ll jump on a charter flight at Punta Reynes, to the Argentine ice shelf.” Then on with the snow shoes again to finish at the American base at the South Pole. [See YouTube of Farmer, below.]

Commuters sleepwalk past the sleeping running man

During peak train time for commuters, between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. the vibe was, as always, quiet and purposeful, with commuters streaming to the train station from increasing distances as morning wore on. Commuters trudged past the sleeping Farmer’s mobile home, choosing the roadside or the sidewalk side of it without any fuss.  Close to each train departure time, one or two men in suits picked up the pace and sprinted past the silent 30-foot trailer emblazoned with Farmer’s purpose and provenance.

Farmer had predicted the night before that his location alongside the railroad tracks was “bound to keep him alert and awake,” but by morning he looked refreshed.  Who couldn’t sleep after running 52 miles – two marathons, as he calls it – in 10 hours? 

He stepped in front of NCNOW’s camera to state his name and purpose and to offer the text message, “Pole” to 90999, for people to trigger an automatic $10 donation to the Red Cross. Then he slipped through the first couple of rows of parked cars to a smaller trailer, where he picked up two companions who run alongside him with maps and phones.  The three unceremoniously set out at a relaxed trot through the rows of parked cars, to the train station circle, out Woodburn Avenue to South Greeley Avenue, consulted their map, then turned right at the Shell station, ran along the west side of the street past the gazebo, the rec field and town hall, to points south.

On his website, Pole to Pole Run.Com, you can follow Farmer’s progress in real time.

Pat Farmer wakes in Chappaqua