One Sweet World

Here are the videos that I took of the marathon.  The first is of Paula Radcliffe (Women’s Winner) and Gete Wami (2nd Place) as they continue their neck-and-neck race.  They were like a foot away from me! 

The next video is just a stream of runners as they reach the 1/2 marathon point and realize they still have another 13.1 miles to go…

(My apologies for the quality…they look much better on my computer before being uploaded to youtube.  It almost looks as if it was raining or had rained, but it wasn’t or hadn’t!)

Last Sunday was a big day here in the city.  The 37th running of the NYC Marathon took place, passing through each of the five boroughs, allowing millions of runners and non-runners alike the opportunity to witness such a spectacular show of human achievement.   

This year I made sure that I would be one of those spectators cheering from my own neighborhood here in Greenpoint.  The race actually passes a block away from my apartment, marking the 1/2 way point and the end of their journey through Brooklyn as they ascend the Pulaski Bridge crossing into Queens.  I arrived early, in hopes of seeing Paula Radcliffe, Lance Armstrong and several of my fellow trainers.  However, I only managed to catch Paula - in the lead, but running neck and neck with Gete Wami - which wasn’t too difficult because they were the only two on the road.  Somehow I missed Lance, my friends and even Katie Holmes amongst the roughly 38,000 runners.  But in turn, I had the best seat to see so many thousands of faces from all over the planet converge on this one beautiful November Sunday.  Each testing the limits of his/her mental and physical capabilites in order to achieve the same goal…even those with crippling disabilities and handicaps, which is more than awe-inspiring. 

Paula Radcliffe went on to win the women’s race in 2:23 (9 months aftering having a baby and 2 years since her last marathon!), Martin Lel took the men’s in 2:09.  Lance bettered his time by over 13 minutes with a finishing time of 2:46.  And my friends did wonderfully as well, all coming in under 4 hours! 

Men’s Lead Pack at Mile 13
Here’s a look at a few pictures I took from the event.  I’m in the process of uploading a couple of videos and will post those as soon as they are ready!  Enjoy.  And here’s to next year…hopefully, I’ll be one of those many thousands of runners…