Monday Linkage

Thanks for the marathon pic — although the images that will stay with me from yesterday are more uplifting than the piles of water bottles littering the streets. I headed over to Lafayette and Adelphi to watch. A perfect autumn day — for spectators, if not runners — and a very mellow neighborhood scene with many toddlers in strollers (grandstand seats for small people), folks perched on their stoops, etc. The disabled runners always make me choke up — such unbelievably strong-willed folks wheeling, walking, pedaling, hopping along the route. The Achilles volunteers are inspiring too since many of them forego actually racing for a time in order to accompany these runners. Then the front runners with their long graceful strides, followed by the rest of the pack, some struggling, some serene. The spirit of the whole thing just overwhelms me. I love being a New Yorker on marathon day. My Dutch friend who ran her first marathon yesterday said she’d never have made it without the encouragement of the spectators — especially the Brooklyn crowds!