Standing around screaming at the top of your lungs, cheering for people you don’t know seems like a hugely dorky thing to do, but one day a year, it’s the local past time. This year’s New York City Marathon, like last year’s, fell on a brisk autumn day: apparently perfect weather for runners. I think this picture nicely embodies a few things that I like about the marathon. First of all, the guy with the flag, wants everyone to call him “Big Al.” He’s holding the flag of England (that’s right, just England, not the UK). In the background, you’ll see a guy running in a suit. That’s one of the other things I love: like Halloween in the village, but with less stupidity, there are costumes. We seemed to see less this year, but I did see a woman running in pink stilettos (like these) for a breast cancer team, presumably wearing them for the last .2 stretch of the race, as we were standing right near the 26-mile marker. That couldn’t have been comfortable.
My favorite moment: a runner, who upon seeing the 26-mile mark, started screaming “oh shit! oh shit! oh shit!” as she passed it. I think that pretty much summed it up for many of them. Some runners really flew by in an effort, I’m assuming, to finish the goddamn race already. Some were slowing down to take pictures of the crowds and the marker. And some were too tired or injured to do anything but keep chugging along to just get it done.
On a side note, DBF noticed that a minor celebrity was standing next to us, but couldn’t remember his name. After some IMDB research at home, we learned it was Ryan Reynolds (who, according to his official website, is “Canada’s True Talent.” We think it was Alanis Morissette who was with him, who is apparently his fiancée.
