For the first time in 27 years, an American male won the race, crossing the finish line in two hours and nine minutes while pointing to the USA letters on his singlet.
The field of elite runners was extremely competitive, and the 42,000 “normal” runners performed feats of physical and emotional courage that many of us would never even believe possible.
New York City is beautiful.
But did you watch? Huh? Anyone? Hmm, Mr. Buehler appears to be absent today.
This blows my mind, because the sport of road racing is pretty much the only competitive activity in which the best in the world get to perform right alongside the everyday athletes. Meb Keflezighi crossed the finish line before anyone else did, but he started the race at the same time and in the same place as the very last finisher. How cool is that?!
Plus, anyone can run the darn thing! Sure, months of training are required in order to reach that finish line, but any person can decide to go for that goal and make it happen. There is a lot of skill involved in running, but, on race day, the elites aren’t just icons to admire: they are every person’s competition. The slowest runners line up beside the fastest, and anything can happen. I don’t think the Green Bay Packers would allow a mediocre player to jump into the huddle on any day of the week.
It pains me to discover just how little people know about the most beautifully challenging sports in the world: cross country, track and road running. Everyone knows how his or her school’s football team is doing, and it doesn’t take a genius to know for a fact that Albert Pujols is the best hitter in baseball. But if I were to ask you who represented your country in the Beijing Olympic marathon, would you know? Can you tell me long cross country races are at the high school, collegiate and professional levels? What’s Usain Bolt’s world record 100-meter time?
Running is a sport that deserves to be followed as closely as the Yankees’ playoff run, but it is also something that anyone can do and enjoy. It is one of those activities one can partake in any time, anywhere, with any level of fitness, and with a very low budget. The frontrunners at a race might be skinny little speedsters, but all it takes are a few hours at the finish line of a marathon to realize that anyone can play this sport and enjoy the triumphant feeling of reaching the end. People of all ages, races and sizes put in a lot of hard work during their training, and it is extremely moving to see them reach the finish line. In terms of effort, the race training put in by Mr. Average Joe just might exceed the struggles endured by the best runners in the world.
The way I see it, running is the sport that just about every athlete turns to after college. Essentially no one will leave Amherst College prepped and ready to enter the NFL, MLB or NBA (although I don’t deny that some are entirely capable of it and just might end up following that path), but we are all smart enough to realize that we can’t just leave school and say goodbye to fitness, competition and a feeling of self-worth. The solution to this issue is often found in the form of running.
The marathon isn’t anyone’s first race. It comes after months of training and garnering racing experience at shorter distances. I’ve been running for three years and have never run further than 16.5 miles — nearly 10 miles shorter than the marathon distance. However, every 5k, 8k, 10k and half marathon I’ve run has taught me something that will help me as I plan for, train and complete my first marathon. Heck, even the stationary bike workouts, pool running and days of complete rest have played a role in my journey to prepare mentally and physically for running extremely long distances.
So, seeing more than 40,000 runners and wheelchair athletes book it through all five boroughs of New York City on a cool November morning impresses the heck out of me. Every person who toes the starting line has clearly given a lot of time and effort to reach a point at which they feel ready to run 26.2 miles. Tears came to my eyes as I watched the race end for the world’s fastest athletes in just over two hours, then the three-hour Boston qualifiers, then the fours+ and so on for over six hours.
The race itself was nuts. Paula Radcliffe of England, the fastest female marathoner in history, was back to go for her fourth New York win in as many attempts. Salina Kosgei, winner of last April’s Boston Marathon, was in the house, as was U.S. Olympian Magdalena Lewy Boulet. Even Joan Benoit Samuelson, winner of the inaugural women’s Olympic Marathon in 1984, pounded the New York pavement last Sunday, at the age of 52.
The men’s field boasted some of the best distance runners in the world. Abdi Abdirahman, Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Brian Sell and Jorge Torres were the elite American racers, while studs from Morocco, Brazil and Kenya (to name a few) ran as well.
The 40,000 other runners came from all over the world, as well. The United States was best represented, followed by France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Runners from many other nations made the trip to New York, as well.
I watched the race because running is a sport (that happens to be my favorite) and should be watched just like football. And I think running is a heck of a lot more intense than football. Running is a sport that requires more focus, endurance, intelligence and patience than any other that I know of. But running is also a sport that anyone can participate in and love if they are willing to try. The sport has blessed me in so many ways that I can’t describe in just 900 words of text.
So please, try it for yourself. The 2010 NYC Marathon just might be calling your name. Of course, the fun runs all over New England are a perfectly reasonable option, as well.