Dear Friends and Supporters Now that the 2014 New York Marathon is behind me I just wanted to send a final thank you to all of you that supported me and Grassroot Soccer. Running the marathon turned out to be an amazing experience and Id like to share some of the most memorable parts: - Training was without a doubt the best part. I had an excuse to turn my occasional 3 mile runs into regular 6-20 mile runs and I really enjoyed it. Running in Albuquerque in the fall with the sunshine, expansive views, and high altitude is very pleasant. I was able to run mostly on trails in the mountains and in the woods that run along the Rio Grande river. Albuquerque is a magical place! - New York was a different story. The weather on marathon day was about as bad as it gets. Extremely windy, pretty cold, and mostly overcast with the occasional bits of sun sneaking through the clouds and buildings. I would have liked to have an unusually mild November NYC day, but it wasnt to be. - In spite of the weather there were 50,000 runners and hundreds of thousands of people that came out to support us. Its truly an amazing event! For almost the entire 26.2 miles there is a sea of people all around you - running, cheering, playing music, and handing you energy. The only exception is on the bridges when everything goes eerily quiet. - Speaking of bridges - The key moments of the marathon happened for me on one of the bridges: I was running up some bridge that was near mile 20 or 21 (no idea which bridge because I was totally lost and pretty much brain dead at that point). It was a steep incline and there was one guy going up backwards in a wheelchair very slowly. He was developmentally and physically disabled and his name was David (sign on his wheelchair told me so). Without the support from the crowd and the usual noise along the route, literally every runner on the bridge was cheering for him, encouraging him, and shouting for him to keep going. David had a HUGE smile on his face and was clearly loving the support he was getting. It was at that moment that I also felt the power of the event and the sense of community that it creates. I can see why there are so many people that want to do this race over and over. I still felt pretty good going up that bridge and actually felt like picking up my pace a bit at that point. Coming down I decided to let my legs go a bit, let gravity do the work, and run a bit faster. About half way down, I realized that was a mistake. My thighs all of a sudden seized up on me and succumbed to the hours of pounding. - From then on the race was pure hell! In order to finish I had to cut back my pace considerably and mixed running and walking in order to try to use different muscles. There were even a couple of times when my legs completely cramped (hamstring and quads at the same time) and I had to stop and try to stretch them in order to bend my knees again. In some ways Im glad it ended that way, because it made the whole marathon experience that much more intense and emotional. What could have felt like a jog in the park turned into an intense battle with myself to get to the finish line. Especially when I had to run right past the apartment I was staying at with a very comfortable couch on 110th St. - At mile 24 I saw Paola. She was there with the Grassroot Soccer supporters team. I heard the GRS supporters amidst the sea of noise, but never even saw them because I was so focused on Paola. I was so happy to see her that I think I cried and peed my pants a bit. - Then the last 2.2 miles just totally sucked. It got colder, more windy, and it seemed like everyone around me was passing me . . . including some fairly old and obese people who didnt seem to be tired at all. - Final result - $5,572 raised for Grassroot Soccer and a finishing time of 4hr 43minutes and 31 seconds (not a respectable time by any means). Incredibly, the GRS team has so far raised $345,720 and there is still more coming in. That puts us in 4th place of all of the charity partners in the marathon. TRULY AMAZING! Thanks to all of you who were a big part of the success! - Undoubtedly the best (and least painful) part of the marathon for me was getting a chance to reconnect and be part of the GRS family for the weekend. I attended our Board meeting on October 31st in NYC and then had a chance to meet the entire GRS marathon team the night before the race. Its really fantastic to see how dedicated people are to GRS and the lengths that they go to to support us. Its an amazing organization that I am proud to be a part of. Thanks again for your support, and I promise I will never request a donation for me to run a marathon again. - I want to send a few special thank yous to Sarah Callaway, Pete Fleming, Kara Cortazzo, Ethan Zohn, Chris Cathcart, and of course Paola Friedrich for all your extra support. I couldnt have done it without you!
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 22:01:23 +0000
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