Results tagged “marathon”

Reader Sherri Jackson took this picture during the NYC Marathon yesterday and wonders if someone could help identify the people in it:

This runner stopped along the NYC Marathon course, right after mile 16 (coming off the 59th St. Bridge into Manhattan) and proposed to his girl. He pulled a ring out of his pocket (I'm assuming it was a ring box - it was something black and square) and they had a few moments. I didn't think to get a shot of his bib number to identify him, so I'm hoping that people might link to this pic on facebook or twitter in hopes that it'll get to this couple. I'm sure they'd love to have it. :-) I have a couple more photos, so if they find me, they can email me: sherri [at] sherrijackson.com (Plus, they might need a wedding photographer)

                            

Yesterday's 40th running of the ING NYC Marathon saw over 40,000 people traveling across the five boroughs to clock in 26.2 miles of running, walking, handcycling, and more. Besides the men's and women's race winners Meb Kelflizighi and Derartu Tulu, there were other champs:

And they're off! Over 40,000 runners are on their way to finishing the 2009 New York City Marathon, which snakes across all five boroughs before its dramatic — and surprisingly hilly — finish in Central Park. All eyes are on three-time winner Paula Radcliffe, the British champ who this summer won the NYC Half Marathon. On the men's side, the Brazilian runner Marílson Gomes dos Santos is fighting for his third NYC Marathon victory against a field of formidable contenders including Kenyans James Kwambai and Robert Cheruiyot.

Having to cram into a crowded subway car has been one thing these past few weekends as the MTA got to work on station and track renovations decreasing service on 18 of its 20 subway lines. But this weekend should be interesting, what with Halloween and the NYC Marathon in the mix.

This Sunday, not only is it time to fall back for Daylight Savings Time, it's the 40th ING NYC Marathon. An expected 40,000 runners will be ready to hit the roads from the start at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in Staten Island and through the four other boroughs with about a million people cheering them on from the sidelines.

Things are heating up in marathon running circles, or should we say slowing down? The New York Times reported that by allowing slower runners on the New York City Marathon route, the intensity of the debate over how quickly an able-bodied runner should finish the once-elite event is increasing.

As the New York City Marathon approaches (November 1st), the NY Times looks back at the first one in 1970 through the eyes of Steve Pusztay, who says on that day he was “just trying not to die,” He told them, “After I finished. I swore I would never run another marathon again.” And then he went on to run 47 more (but never returned to the one in Central Park).

Runner's World has an interview with Governor David Paterson this month, discussing how running have given his confidence, which he probably needs these days. (The Post is in a tizzy over the photo of running-shorted Paterson in his office.) Paterson, who is on the Achilles Track Club's board and ran the '99 NYC Marathon, said, "Running gave me the chance to be athletic, and to be good at something, which I think everybody wants to have. As a teenager it was particularly frustrating; all my friends would play these sports that I couldn't play." Paterson prefers to run with a guide and for distance (he has an 11-minute mile). On how his success in running has helped his political career: "Whenever they mention in my introduction that I ran the marathon, the audience just starts cheering, and I think that it did help me to believe in myself. I never thought I'd be Lieutenant Governor, and I never thought I'd be Governor. But I will run for reelection, and I'll be running while I'm running." Related: Former Governor Spitzer, also a runner, recorded a podcast to accompany a 3-mile run at a 9-minute pace back in 2006.

Today is the ING NYC Marathon, and you can check out the action by cheering alongside the route (see spectator guide here) or watching it on NBC 4 or on the Internet, via Universal Sports, which lets you choose between three feeds (men's, women's and main). There are also a few road closures.

Photo of marathon runners last year by sgoralnick on flickr

From a forecasting perspective this has been a rare week where the weather has behaved as expected. The good behavior shows no sign of stopping and there's no reason to believe it will start acting erratically over the weekend. In addition to not pulling any tricks, it looks like ok Mother Nature will give us a fall treat.

Last year Katie Holmes ran (or pretended to run) the NYC Marathon, and this year the sweating, panting herd of runners will be graced with the presence of soon-to-be now official Mr. Scarlett Johansson. Joining Team Fox in support of Parkinson's disease (his dad is afflicted), Ryan Reynolds invites one and all to come watch him on November 2nd, adding: "Feel free to bring a smile, automated defibrillator, or a fresh set of nipples." He also writes on the Huffington Post about seeing the marathon in Central Park a few years ago, saying, "I saw an incredible spectacle of people pushed to the very brink of collapse. The pain was etched into their faces so deeply ... I saw guys coming in to finish with bleeding nipples. Why in the hell were their nipples bleeding? People were crying. People were limping, hobbling, screaming, crawling." Good Luck, Ryan!

To kick off the weekend, Richard Simmons visited the team of folks participating in the movie-watching marathon (check out Crazy Legs Conti!). Simmons served up some "heart-healthy energy foods" and taught them how to do exercises while seated in their lounge chairs. Since Thursday the eight contestants have been slackin' off and watching flicks in an attempt to break a world record, and take home some cash.

Today in Times Square the world's laziest competition began: the Movie-Watching World Championship. For five days, 'round the clock, these eight folks will be in a world of celluloid. Each competitor is attempting to spend the full five days in the arena "where they’ll watch movie after movie in the hopes of breaking the movie watching world record of 120 hours and 23 minutes. The event champion will win a $10,000 cash prize, a lifetime membership to Netflix and the coveted Netflix Popcorn Bowl trophy." Mmm...popcorn bowl trophy.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on Broadway and 231st St. in the Bronx, an aircraft alert at JFK at Queens, and a person fatally struck by a train at 57th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan.
• Entries for the NYC Half-Marathon will start being accepted at 11:59pm on May 29th. Details.
• And the Design Trust for Public Space is accepting submissions for its Grand Army Plaza redesign competition.
• An Internal Affairs Bureau Lt. has been reassigned to a surveillance booth in a housing project after his friend allegedly raped a young woman in the apartment of the cop's girlfriend as she begged him to stop.
• The body of Rabbi Zev Segal, missing since yesterday morning, was found in his car, which apparently slid into the Hackensack River in NJ.
• The memorial for promoter-gossip Baird Jones is being held at Plumm, a venue he wasn't a huge fan of.
• A Gawker employee was shackled and thrown into the Tombs after drinking a beer-in-a-bag in the subway system.
• The carjacker of Mayor Bloomberg's personal car, which was in the possession of one of his aides, faces 15 years in the slammer for the crime.
• A lovely castle-like house in Flushing, Queens - turrets and Tudor details!
• Former Gov. George Pataki underwent emergency surgery this morning to relieve an intestinal blockage (he's had problems with this before!).
• And former Project Runway contestants Jeffrey Sebelia, Santino Rice and Kit Pistol watched Project Runway finale in LA amidst their young, adoring fans.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a construction accident on East 33rd St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan, a pedestrian struck on 50th Ave. and 45th St. in Queens, and a shooting on Schenectady Ave. and Lincoln Pl. in Brooklyn.
• In three separate incidents yesterday, individuals were struck by subway trains. Two men were killed and the third was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
• Insurance fraud isn't brain surgery, until it is. A Staten Island man was sentenced yesterday to taking part in a scam where he was reimbursed for his-and-hers brain surgeries for himself and his wife.
• Two Queens detectives responding to a robbery call were hit by another car that sent their vehicle careening into the dining room of a family off Marathon Parkway.
• Advertise your New York nature on your chest with a t-shirt that shows others how to correctly eat a piece of pizza.
• A Long Island man infatuated with a co-worker at Wal-Mart and who learned that she had a boyfriend, let himself in to her Mastic home early in the morning and stabbed her sleeping boyfriend to death with a large hunting knife.
• First Canal Jeans, then Starbucks...now Target: The evolution of Flatbush Junction.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired on 103rd Rd. in Queens, a double stabbing on Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan, and an armed robbery on 94th St. in Queens.
• Get paranoid!: Not only is your nanny not nurturing your kid to the best of his or her abilities, she's probably beating her mercilessly. Not really, most babysitters love your kids and take good care of them.
• Set your watch by it: the Williambsurg Savings Bank clock tower is accurate.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap:a large crowd at 165th St. and Jamaica Ave. in Queens, a robbery on Fox Ave. on the Bronx, and a serious multi-vehicle accident in Manhattan at 36th St.
• Space for a supermarket at the new Booklyn Bridge Park/Condo development is an inviolable piece of public property.
• Was the Trump Soho's concrete not dry enough when the forms were taken away, causing the collapse?

With many people trying to keep up that perennial New Year's resolution to lose weight/work out/get in shape, they're hitting their computers (or CDs!) to create the perfect soundtracks for their workouts. The other day, the NY Times chatted with a number of experts - physicians, life coaches, workout music producers - to figure out what makes a good work out song.

On Sunday, the worldwide running community lost an institution: Vic Navarra, a FDNY lieutenant who organized the NYC Marathon's start for 26 years, died at his home in Staten Island. He was 55 and had been battling sinus cancer.

Law & Order is back for its eighteenth season and it is back in its traditional home of Wednesday at 10 p.m., although this week we get two hours starting at 9 p.m. and thanks to a stockpile of scripts written ahead of the writers strike, we can expect oodles of new episodes into the spring. Also thanks to the WGA strike, it will be the best thing on television for the for the foreseeable future.

Ted Corbitt passed away yesterday, costing NYC one of its own icons of long distance running. The 88-year-old died from a respiratory condition related to separate cancers that outdistanced his life as a pioneer of racing. Ted Corbitt was a former and founding president of the NYC Road Runners Club, an Olympian, and a champion of ultra-marathon running. While the NYC Marathon is regularly won by Kenyans and other African runners, Corbitt established himself all...

Londonist was proud to announce the winner of this year's Turner Prize was Mark Wallinger who made long-standing London protester Brian Haw a work of art, after he has previously been made into a sort of law due to his lengthy banner-waving vigil outside parliament. The strength of the pound made real in the form of a 25 foot high coin on a quiet patch of the Thames river bank, aiming to inspire all Londoners in a publicly voted decision on spending £50 million Lottery money. Perhaps some new play projects for London kids who, for the lack of youthful entertainment, are trying to amuse themselves by collecting prostitute calling cards, which are worryingly rigged and booby-trapped. And for those who are anticipating a lovely fat check from a great-aunt this Christmas and wondering what to spend it on, the London Marathon will need a new sponsor after 2009. How does The Londonist London Marathon sound?

Photo of by Tomoharu Mizuno (snowman) djwerdna on flickr; Mizuno finished in 6:25:34 The marathon is the city's most lucrative single-day sporting event; this year, the marathon will bring in an estimated $220 million to city businesses. Blind marathoner Henry Wanyoike ran the course in 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 18 seconds. The NY Sun reports that Wanyoike, who is blind from a stroke, runs " tethered by a rope to his partner, Joseph...

The medical examiner's office said the autopsy of top long distance runner Ryan Shay is inconclusive. Shay collapsed during the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday in Central Park and died shortly after. The ME's office said, "We want to take a closer look at the heart tissue," and will probably come to a conclusion in a week. His father had revealed his son was diagnosed with an enlarged heart at age 14, and Joe...

With considerably less fanfare than Diddy or Lance Armstrong, Katie Holmes ran the NYC Marathon in 5 hours, 29 minutes, and 58 seconds. She wore an FDNY baseball cap, black pants and a purple tank top - and was possibly surrounded by a security detail who might have been running alongside her. Mega-star husband Tom Cruise and child Suri Cruise, as well as her parents and mother-in-law, were on hand to give the former...

Britain's Paula Radcliffe made a stunning race to the wire to win the 2007 ING NYC Marathon in 2:23:09. Australia's Kurt Fearnley repeated as the champion in the men's wheelchair division. Kenya's Martin Lel won the men's division, finishing today's race in 2:09:04 with a 12 second margin of victory. We'll have more results as they become available. If you have any photos of Gothamist readers competing in today's event, please tag them "gothamist"...

Yesterday, there was excitement over the U.S. Olympic Men's Marathon Trial being held in the heart of Manhattan and top three finishers Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Brian Sell qualifying for the 2003 Olympic team. But the event was also tragic: 2003 U.S. Marathon champion Ryan Shay suffered an apparent heart attack 5.5 miles into the race and died. Witnesses described that shortly after 8AM, Shay seemed to fall during the course near the...

Just a day before the running of the NYC Marathon, the U.S. Olympic trials for the men's marathon were marred by an untimely death today. 28-year-old Ryan Shay died while competing in the Olympic trials in Central Park, just a few miles into the 26.2 mile race. Shay collapsed at the 5.5 mile mark of the race and was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital where he was declared dead. The cause of death has yet...