On I went, out of the wood, passing the man leading without knowing I was going to do so. Flip-flap, flip-flap, jog-trot, jog-trot, curnchslap-crunchslap, across the middle of a broad field again, rhythmically running in my greyhound effortless fashion, knowing I had won the race though it wasn't half over, won it if I wanted it, could go on for ten or fifteen or twenty miles if I had to and drop dead at the finish of it, which would be the same, in the end, as living an honest life like the governor wanted me to. -Alan Sillitoe, "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Fish and visitors

WILL THE NYCM HAPPEN THIS WEEKEND OR NOT???

I guess so.

But you know what? I certainly don't care.

Easy for me to say when I haven't invested my time (and vacation dollars) into preparing for this marathon. But when a full neighborhood in NYC burned to the ground Monday night (with unknown - but possibly significant - fatalities), when hundreds of thousands are without power or water until god knows when, when 7,000 people are living in shelters, and when much of our subway system is flooded and inoperable until further notice, I don't care about the marathon.

I've been shocked to see people on facebook and twitter who were demanding to know what NYRR was going to do about the marathon, even before the storm hit.

That said... if the marathon goes as planned like Bloomberg wants, there will be fewer runners. So for those of you who do run it, your odds are better. With many elites unable to make it into the city and others canceling their travel plans left and right, you will place higher perhaps than you've trained for. Go to it. You can win this one! There's good prize money!

And the cluster that will be the finish line, with 40k runners and tens of thousands of spectators all in Central Park with few cabs and no subways... man oh man. Good luck with that one.

Now, then: who's with me spectating and where are we meeting up to watch the race? Make it Brooklyn. I can't really so much get to Manhattan right now.
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5 comments:

  1. DebbieJRTWed Oct 31, 04:14:00 PM EDT

    I'll be spectating at mile 14 like I do every year.
    I don't doubt that they can do this race, but think of all the resources that will be used that could be better allocated to recovery.

    ReplyDelete
  2. TWed Oct 31, 06:49:00 PM EDT

    Yeah, it's tricky, isn't it? I get that there's money sunk into the race, and I get that it's not as simple as "just take the volunteers and get them to help clean up." (And I know you weren't suggesting that.) But those NYPD/FDNY are going to be exhausted from the long days leading up to it...

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownThu Nov 01, 12:39:00 PM EDT

    Yeah, this.

    If the trains are marginally functional I still might go to the Upper East Side to spectate, if only to see some life-affirming shit to counteract all the sad/funky/depression shit in my head since the weekend.

    I'm a little torn, too.... I kind of like the stubborn, can-do, "we're New Yorkers dammit" attitude they seem to be putting into making the race happen, but at the same time, pragmatism.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownThu Nov 01, 05:25:00 PM EDT

    Oooh, speaking of which, the comments on this post are actually kind of awesome:

    http://gothamist.com/2012/11/01/should_the_marathon_be_cancelled_or.php

    ReplyDelete
  5. HannahThu Nov 01, 05:39:00 PM EDT

    I think it's ridiculous to continue with the marathon. Every time I hear about it I am reminded of how ridiculous and selfish people are. Of course New York will be fine soon, but not yet, and all resources should be going there.

    ReplyDelete

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