Running
Update: NYC Marathon 2021 Recap
On November 7, I completed the 50th
running of the NYC Marathon! It was my
17th marathon, and my first marathon since the start of the pandemic. In the past year I’d wondered if a) we’d ever
get back to running in-person races again and b) if I could run another
marathon after a two-year gap. The
answers are yes and yes!
I started my race weekend on Saturday by
stopping in at the new Children’s Tumor Foundation offices in the Chrysler
Building. I met up with the NF Endurance
Team leader Angela Dumadag, CTF President Annette Bakker, and several members
of CTF’s 2021 NYC Marathon team. CTF was
recording some footage for a new NF Endurance campaign, so I got to
participate.
I was otherwise on my own for the
weekend. Our son Alec was having the end-of-season
banquet for his Cross Country team.
Given that Alec is a graduating senior this year we didn’t want him to
be alone at the event, so Todd and Jane accompanied him.
After leaving the Children’s Tumor
Foundation, I took the subway to the Expo at Hudson Yards to pick up my bib…
…then headed to my hotel for the
evening.
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| Requisite gear photo, AKA my “flat runner” |
The morning of the marathon was cool
and clear (and light, thanks to the end of Daylight Savings!) At large races like this I can spend almost
as much time navigating the starting area as I do running the race itself,
which can make for a long day. I was
assigned to the 8:00am Staten Island Ferry (one of the few official ways to
reach the starting line) in order to be ready for an 11:20am start.
The marathon starts in Staten Island
then wends its way through Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan to its
finish in Central Park. During race
week, the New York Times ran an article about the marathon route that very
accurately describes what the runners experience in each of the five boroughs: TheNew York City Marathon Route: A Five-Borough Tour
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| On the course |
Of the more than one million (!)
spectators, the ones I most looked forward to seeing were Angela and Annette! They were waiting for me at mile 19 and were
cheering on all the members of the NF Endurance team!
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| Seeing Angela and Annette! |
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| The Finish Line! |
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| No space blankets for us! The NYC Marathon gives out lined ponchos at the finish to keep the runners warm. |
All 17 of us running for the Children’s Tumor Foundation finished the marathon, and together we raised over $100,000 for the organization. Of that total, $23,433 came from donors to Jane and me!!
THANK YOU to all who contributed—you are helping us #endNF!
Running
Update, Alec edition:
I have to take a bit of the blog to
brag about another runner in the family, our son Alec. Alec’s high school Cross Country team has had
a stellar season. They not only
dominated the regional and state meets, but they qualified for the New England
High School Cross Country Championships—the first time his high school has done
so in 12 years! The team placed 14th in
New England—we couldn’t be more proud.
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| Carbo loading with the team the night before the race |
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| Quite the starting line-up |
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| Alec <3 |
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| The DHHS Boys Varsity Cross Country Team! |
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| The course was a bit muddy! |
NF
Update, ICYMI edition:
Late last month Jane and I came up on the PBS News Hour! The show ran a piece about awards to public servants and our NF doctor, Dr Brigitte Widemann, was featured. They showed a picture of her with Jane and me! www.pbs.org/newshour/show/honoring-the-federal-employees-who-are-solving-americas-biggest-problems (We’re at 2:50.)
