NYC Marathon

They New York City Marathon starts in just a few minutes.  I have amazing memories of the race I ran in New York six years ago.  Where do I begin?  First of all, it was wonderful to have friends and family there to support me.  My Dad and Deborah flew out with me and one of my best girls, Tara came from Boston.  We had fun touring the city, visiting the Twin Towers memorial, NYPD museum and touring in the double-decker red bus.  I think my favorite and of course the most emotional was the Twin Towers.  They still had a small area commemorating the fallen Police Officers and Firefighters.  I don't show my badge often but this was worth it.  The security guard let us in to get a closer look.  I hope we don't ever forget these amazing people who risked their lives to save others.

After some delicious pasta meals, it was time to race.  I will tell you now this race wasn't about the time.  I actually had an awful race.  This race was about the people.  Somehow, I met up with a Firefighter from Colorado and a Prosecutor from, I don't remember where.  We chatted a few times along the way.  About half-way through, we lost the Prosecutor and started running the race together.  I don't remember what we talked about, I don't remember the boroughs we visited.  I do remember keeping each other going.  As we got to the upper teens, we both began struggling and talking ceased.  There were miles he pulled me along and miles I pulled him.  When we got the the 20s it became a, "put one food in front of the other" kind of race.  I kept thinking, just stay with this guy.  Finally, we saw Central Park and I think I saw Tara getting yelled at somewhere along the way!  The finish line was right there.  We crossed it and gave each other a huge hug, agreeing we couldn't have made it without the other person.

I have no idea what the name of the runner was.  It doesn't really matter.  What mattered was on this day we found one of the great things about racing.  Sometimes you have a bad race, but you have traveled all the way to New York.  You are going to finish!  You meet a great person along the way and become best running buddies, even if only for a few hours!

Good luck to everyone running in New York today!