As most everyone knows by now, the New York City Marathon did not happen last Sunday. This news was extremely disappointing for me when I heard on Friday night. In fact, I was pretty much in shock. My heart broke for myself along with all the other athletes that traveled to this race and spent many months training.
All week I understood why the race should be canceled. I knew there were people hurting and people who needed the assistance. But when Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the race should go as planned and it would be GOOD for the city, I went ahead with my trip – as did many other runners.
As I said earlier, I understood the cancellation and also began to agree with it. My only wish with the cancellation was that it had happened earlier in the week, before so many people spent so much money to get to the city and stay in the city. I know that I would’ve gone to NYC regardless of the race being canceled, but knowing sooner could’ve saved many others time and money who would have canceled their plans.
Although the race did not take place on Sunday, I still had the opportunity to be a part of something pretty amazing. I was invited by two of my Twitter friends (Beth and Kristine) to join them for a run through Central Park. They were so kind to include me in their running group, and it turned into the most amazing experience!!
Kristine, Beth and Stephen
Kristine, Beth and the very talented jewelry designer Erica Sara!
Central Park on Sunday morning was a sea of runners, mostly wearing their orange marathon shirts. Some people even pinned their race numbers to their shirts and wore costumes (I saw Buddy the Elf!).
I would say this is the most beautiful place in the city.
As soon as you entered the park, you could feel the enthusiasm of the runners. Everyone was smiling and doing what they love to do – run. People were there spectating as they would’ve on race day, and there were even faux water stations setup for us to get a drink. There was nothing negative in the air on Sunday. In fact, I am pretty sure you got a contact runners high if you looked at all of us.
Kristine and Beth made sure I was able to run the significant miles of the race (24 – 26.2) and also run to the finish line (seriously, you girls were AMAZING!). So many people were swarming the finish. They were taking photos, chanting and cheering. The experience nearly brought tears to my eyes.
Sporting some 2012 Marathon wear that was on clearance.
Look at all those happy people!!!
Simulating my finish line hands!
The thing I realized after this experience was that even though things don’t always go our way or as planned, it doesn’t mean that we can’t make the best of it. Every runner I saw on Sunday was negatively impacted by the race being canceled as well, but that didn’t mean that they sat around sulking all weekend. They got out there and celebrated their love of running with all the others that share that same passion.
Even though the “Official” 2012 NYC Marathon will not happen, the “Unofficial” 2012 NYC Marathon was still an amazing experience. And it is an experience that I will not ever forget.
xoxo,
Ali
And yes, I will be back in 2013!
What a great experience that must have been! Even better than had the official marathon gone through – everyone out there not because they signed up, but because they really wanted to run on Sunday. Way to go!
It’s too bad that Sandy even happened, and unfortunate that it messed with the race. I’m glad that you were able to still enjoy your run out there:)
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