Congratulations to all the finishers of the Magic City Half Marathon!

Thinking back on 20 years of running – what’s struck me the most…
It was my first marathon, 20 years ago this month. This was before Al Gore invented the internet and all the available information it contains.

My best friend who ran when running wasn’t cool had talked me into running the NYC Marathon (yeah, I’m easy….kinda dumb too, apparently). He was going to help, lead, guide me the whooole way. Then, as life often does, we (sadly mostly him) got thrown a big ole curve ball. Unexpectedly his life situation changed which created an upheaval in his will and desire to run.So I was left to train and run by myself (egad!).

I found a Runner’s World magazine with the headline, “Make this your best marathon” which I now know they run that damn article every 3 months or so. Remember no internet; Dolfin running shorts, drive your car over the course to measure your run distance, walk outside to check the weather and cotton socks and shirts – yeah; The Dark Ages.

Along the way I pretty much made every mistake in the book and I even invented a few.
I think it was Al DiMicco (one of my mentors) who told me, “Wisdom comes from experience; and of course experience comes from bad judgment.” He told me that as I trained for the old Vulcan Marathon 2 years later….lots of water under the, uh, ‘experience bridge’.

Race day was pretty dark and dreary and I was in a negative (panicked?) state of mind. At mile 8 (EIGHT!) I was ready to quit. I was mentally done and honestly scared of 16 more miles of the unknown. Then by happenstance (the hand of God?) my eyes moved left and there he was in the sparse crowd. He was sitting in the drizzling rain; an older gentleman wearing a plaid shirt and light blue colored jeans clapping his heart out. Again I turned, looking harder and I could see it was a wheel chair and his jeans were ‘tied off’ just under his knees. I can see him in my mind’s eye as clearly as if it happened yesterday. Sitting in that wheelchair, wearing blue, clapping through the spitting rain for thousands doing something he could never do again.

It hit me like a stone – this man would swap places with me in a heart beat. It turned my ‘attitude compass’ 180 degrees. Though it was drizzling ‘outside’ the sun came out inside of me burning off the clouds in my soul.

16 miles later I had finished and actually felt better than I had a right to spurred onward by that one man.

And to this day, he still claps for me.

As if that wasn’t enough (it was), my lessons in being thankful for running were actually just beginning.

I went back to my hotel, showered, then went to dinner. I woke up early the next morning and hobbled out to get the New York Times. I wanted to see my name in print, IN the New York Times (they published the names of all the finishers back then).

Settling back in my room and turning on the TV I noticed, “Cool! They’re showing the Finish Line” and as continued to watch I was struck by how different the Finish area looked from the mayhem and joy of the day before. Quiet, almost desolate – no bleachers, no scaffolding, no applause only what was painted on Central Park’s trail.

The reporter went on to say that they had a report that the last place finisher was approaching the Finish Line and just then she came in to view. The camera panned out to a women struggling towards the line on crutches. The last, lone finishing athlete of the 1994 New York City Marathon. Her name was Zoe Kaplowitz and it had taken her almost 24 hours to complete the New York City Marathon. She did it on crutches, stopping throughout the night in restaurants and bars to rest, use the restroom when needed. She suffers from MS. She stopped at the finish and slowly raised both metal crutches high in triumph. It wasn’t much of an interview as reporter was reduced to tears. You could hear the cameraman sobbing in the background.

In my hotel room I was weeping myself dumbstruck at this incredible athletic accomplishment.
It was an incredible testament to the human spirit, HER spirit! Ms. Kaplowitz has gone on to complete at least 19 more marathons, each taking well over 20 hours; each on crutches and each despite her debilitating disease. She’s gone on to a career as a motivational speaker and authored a book as well. Her message should resonate across each of our souls, “Have a dream, make a plan then go for it! You’ll get there. I promise.”

The gentleman in Queens who still claps for me today and Zoe Kaplowitz have given me something I’ll be forever thankful for: Perspective. It’s not how far or how fast I can run. It’s that I CAN run…..