I Run This City
by Peter Shankman
Sun, 4 Nov 2007 at 11:40 AM
updated Sun, 4 Nov 2007 at 11:41 AM
What an amazing weekend to be a New Yorker.... What an amazing weekend to be outside!
You know, I had mixed emotions about starting this blog so close to the ING NYC Marathon, because I knew that one of the first things I'd have to cover in it would be exactly that — the marathon. After my personal best performance of 3:58:03 in the 2006 marathon, I injured my Achilles tendon earlier this year, and sadly, had to defer from the 2007 race. That hurt. Not just my tendon — the emotional smack in the face of not being able to compete and better myself this year has definitely taken a toll on my psyche. But fortunately, it's filled me with a resolve to do even better in 2008 — and that's what's allowed me to cover this weekend and enjoy it for everything it has to offer — even if there's a twinge of sadness in my eyes.
One of the benefits of not running, though (and there are only a few), is that you can go to all of the events, parties, and spectacles, and not worry that you're going to tire yourself out, which is exactly what I did. Friday night found me at the Achilles Track Club and Disaboom pre-marathon kickoff, at Cipriani on 23rd Street. They really knew how to put on a show, with some of the most talented disabled athletes in the world. I'll tell you, the times that some of these athletes clock in the marathon makes me question the term "disabled." There was nothing disabled about them today, that's for sure.
Saturday morning found me up at 4:30 a.m., to get to Central Park and don an orange reflective vest. Several of my fellow Harriers and I were volunteering in the 2008 Men's Marathon Olympic Trials.
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 Mishka Vertin and I were volunteer marshals representing the Harriers at the Olympic Trials on Saturday. |
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There was nothing as magical as being, literally, three inches away from some of the best runners in the world. In the end, only three of 131 participants could go to Beijing in 2008 to represent our country. While they all wanted it, Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Brian Sell wanted it the most, and these three masterful runners will comprise the 2008 American Men's Olympic Marathon team. To witness these gazelles compete on the streets of our city was unlike anything I've ever seen. Plus, we got to act as unofficial NYC ambassadors, telling all the spectators what they were watching, and how to get to Tavern on the Green. (Tourists can be fun!)
Sadly, though, the race was not without a truly dark spot. Five-rime American champion and former NCAA champion Ryan Shay, of Flagstaff, Ariz., considered a potential contender, died after collapsing just past the 5.5-mile mark of the race. He never regained consciousness, and was pronounced dead at Lenox Hill Hospital.
If we can take one thing away from the sadness of this tragedy, it's this: Ryan was in amazing, amazing shape. A 2:14 marathoner at just 28 years old, he was the last person you'd expect to be felled by heart problems. If it can happen to him, it can happen to any of us. Why don't you go and make that appointment with your doctor for your yearly physical that you've been putting off for so long? Doing that will honor Ryan, and could possibly save your life.
In my next post: dinner with Standard Chartered Bank's Seeing is Believing Program, including Henry Wanyoike, a blind 2:40 marathoner. And of course, a full-recap of one fan's view of the Marathon, from the White Castle on 103rd and 1st Avenue.
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