NYC Marathoner Loses Car For Two Days

He didn’t bring his ticket with him.

It’s the big-city marathon runner’s worst nightmare: forgetting where you parked your car. This nightmare came true for 34-year-old Charles Petraske. He drove his car into midtown Manhattan the Sunday of the ING New York City Marathon, took the bus to the start, and then completed the race in a very respectable time of three hours and 16 minutes.

When he had parked his car, Petraske left the ticket on the dashboard and decided to take $40 and a key with him to the start.

Still sweating after the race, he hailed a cab to Bryant Park and then looked around.

Nothing looked familiar.

The only thing Petraske could remember about the garage was that it was near a a flashing billboard that displayed ads for Coke Mini, New York State Lottery and MasterCard.

The police said they couldn’t help him until the car was towed. Calling random garages didn’t work.

“Nobody could believe I drove to Manhattan and couldn’t remember where I parked,” Petraske said.

Petraske ended up calling his wife from a hotel. She had to drive down from near Albany to pick him up.

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