Saturday, November 03, 2007

Just a run in the park




Winds from Hurricane Noel were starting to whip, but I felt a calm excitement as I approached Central Park at 6:45am. The US men’s Olympic trials for the marathon was held in the Park today and there was no way I was going to miss it.





A field of 147 lined up at Rockefeller Center at 7:35am and just over 2 hours later they would all be finished. The top three would go on to Beijing and the rest would have to look to London in 2012.

From the grandstand, I was able to see the runners 5 times. Michael Wardian led the pack when everyone passed the first time, but in laps 2 and 3 Hall, Ritzenhein, Meb, Browne and Abdi were leading. At mile 17, Hall (who was only running his second marathon) made his move and never looked back. He was strong the rest of the way, ran a 2:09:02 and beat Ritzenhein by more than one minute. Most excitingly, Brian Sell, who trains with Hansons in Rochester, MI, grabbed the #3 spot. Go USA!









As I left the Park, I was jazzed—a runner’s high through osmosis. But it wasn’t until I got back into the subway—the dark, dingy subway with bla people, that I fully realized why it’s so wonderful to go to a race. Watching the winner cross the finish line is fun, but it is really the positive attitude of the runners and spectators that makes the experience!

The best part of this weekend is that the positiveness continues tomorrow with the 37th running of the New York City Marathon! I’ll be cheering on the runners on Lafayette Ave in Brooklyn. I can’t wait!

The tragic epilogue is that Ryan Shay died during the race around mile 5. God bless him and his family.

4 Comments:

Blogger Erica said...

Great pics! You can really tell that there was an awesome vibe there!

2:08 AM  
Blogger Katie said...

I'm jealous all over again :)

I think we need to make a trip to Boston in April to watch the women.

xoxo
-KT

12:53 PM  
Blogger Erin said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

1:00 PM  
Blogger Erin said...

Find a hotel room and I am there...as I am now an Olympic Trials expert;-)

1:09 PM  

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