With Wind in Forecast, Runners Ready to ‘Take It as It Comes’
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From gusty winds to post election depression to physical disabilities, people could find all sorts of reasons not to run Sunday in the ING New York City Marathon. But the 35,000 athletes who will brave the first windy smack in the face on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge won’t be seeking excuses.
The National Weather Service predicted partly cloudy skies Sunday, with high temperatures in the upper 50s. The wind, however, may be a factor, gusting from 15 to 20 miles an hour, from the west-to-southwest.
“Weather is the most important thing,” said the president and founder of the Brooklyn Road Runners Club, Stephen Bonal. “You train a whole year, you want a decent day.”
The predicted breezes didn’t faze Rozanne Fichardt of South Africa. “We’ll take it as it comes,” she said yesterday at the Marathon Health and Fitness Expo at the Javits Center.
Elizabeth Canale of Marine Park, Brooklyn is proud to be the 92nd fastest woman in the world in her age group, 50-55. She also claims to be the fastest female runner in Brooklyn for her age. The wind? Not an issue, Ms. Canale said.
“I have a problem with the wind,” her husband, Joe Canale, said, as he held his wife’s bags full of running merchandise yesterday at the Expo. “I’ll be waiting for her in it.”
Would politics deter a marathoner? With many staunch New York Democrats still depressed about the election outcome, the race may instead serve as a welcome distraction.
One man who said he voted for President Bush, Richard Gallagher, joked that to some New Yorkers, “26.2 miles is a lot easier to swallow than four more years.”
The resident of Madison, Conn., was shopping for sneakers at the Expo with his sister, Kathy Horner of Chelsea, who said she voted for Senator Kerry.
“It’s still on my mind,” Ms. Horner said.
Disclosing that she considered adding some sort of funny political statement to her shirt, she said: “I’m looking forward to seeing what the other runners have to say.”
Most runners, though, said politics will be the last thing on their minds when they face the grueling course.
Even if it weren’t an election year and even if the weather is perfect, with 26.2 miles to cover and countless potholes to skirt, each runner has his own personal nemeses.
For Mr. Bonal it’s 57th Street in Manhattan. “By Mile 20 I’m kind of shot,” he said. “It’s a pretty steep two blocks.” He also said First Avenue is “no fun,” adding that the charge of the crowd helps runners get through it.
Some marathoners have much more to overcome than breezes, Mr. Bush, or blisters.
More than 300 members of the Achilles Track Club, an organization for athletes with disabilities, expect to compete Sunday. Two-thirds of their group will be in wheelchairs – the largest number of wheelchair participants ever.
The club will also play host to 21 soldiers from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. The soldiers will run the marathon along with guides from the city’s police and fire departments.
“It’s a nice way to go about rehabilitation,” said the group’s president, Dick Traum. He is said to be the first amputee to run a marathon.
Mr. Traum, who used to compete with an artificial leg, expects to finish in 2:15 with the power of a hand-crank bike. His teammate Dr. Sandy Davidson, the first stroke victim to complete a marathon on foot, is participating in his 10th marathon on Sunday. He hopes to break eight hours.