Run For Your Life

Congrats to AJ (via Rachel) for correctly identifying the photo in my last post. For any runner in NYC that is used to running what is known as the Central Park loop over and over again, you probably thought, "Sheesh, that was easy!" For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, Central Park has several "loop" options to fit into any training run. When running the whole loop, which goes around the whole perimeter of the park, (what we call "The Loop", not to be confused with the "Lower Loop" or "Upper Loop,") you can pack in about 6.1 miles. And at 90th St and Fifth Avenue, there is an entrance called "Engineer's Gate," which is the spot where the NYC Marathon enters Central Park, right between mile 23 and 24. And memorialized in bronze right there is a statue of Fred Lebow.

Who is Fred Lebow, you may ask? In short, he is the founder of the NYC Marathon and president of New York Road Runners from 1972 to 1993. It is because of him that running is what it is in NYC today. NYRR puts on most of the races that we all do in NYC, the biggest of which is the Marathon. Instead of going into a spiel about all of the amazing things Fred did, I urge each of you to watch the documentary on him, Run For Your Life. Even if you are a seasoned NYC runner who is bored to death reading this post of things you already know, if you haven't seen this movie, watch it! Or if you have seen it, watch it again! I plan on watching it at some point the week before the Marathon, so I invite each of you to come over and watch with me. I'm sure I will bake something as well, if that is more incentive.

And as a reminder, there are only 81 days left until the NYC Marathon. And as I still have about $2,200 to raise for Harlem United, please consider donating. Once again, every donation is fully tax deductible and will go directly to helping provide an array of HIV/AIDS support and preventative services to those most in need. Click Here to donate! $5, $10, or $1,000, no amount is too small!