New York City Marathon and Super-Sports Sunday
Super Sports Sunday - New York City Style
New York City has been called by many as “The Greatest City in the World.”
With a hectic weekend like this weekend, it’s easy to see why.
First off, yesterday was Halloween and the 36th Annual New York’s Village
Halloween Parade. Anyone in costume participated and marched On 6th Avenue
from Spring Street to 21st Street. It’s one of the wildest and funnest parades
in the nation.
There were hundreds of Puppets, 53 Bands of Different Types of Music, Dancers
Artists, and Thousands of other New Yorkers in Costumes of their Own Creation
parading in the Nation’s Most Wildly Creative Public Participatory Event.
Today should be called Super Sports Sunday. Nov 1, 2009 marked the
40th running of the ING New York City Marathon. Mayor Michael Bloomberg
called it the “Largest Sporting Event in the World.”
Over 42,000 runners from every corner of the world participated in this race.
And what an exciting event it was. For the first time in 27 years
(since Alberto Salazar won the NY race in 1982), an American won
the prestigious event.
Meb Keflezighi ran the 26.2 mile race in 2 hours 9 minutes and 15 seconds
(six seconds quicker than the time he recorded in London earlier this year).
Some Words of wisdom from Meb after the race… “Dream your dream. Don’t give up.”
The female winner is 37-year-old Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia. She ran the route
in 2:28:52 beating out the favorite and winner in 2008 and 2007 - Paula Radcliff.
Derartu Tulu is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 10-thousand meter race
in 1992. Tulu will go down in history as one of the all-time greatest distance
runners. She has excelled in all three disciplines, track, road, and cross
country and at Age 37 making an unbelievable comeback.
Paula led the pack in first place for about 90% of the race but looked like
she was having some difficulty near the end and only managed 4th place.
I thought it a bit ironic (and kind of cruel) that Paula Radcliff received
no publicity, no televised interview and no more camera time after she
finishes 4th.
The 3 time winner and the defending champion who won in 2008 and 2007
and who the camera had been focused on for most of the race (because she
was in 1st place about 90% of the time) disappeared from view when she lost.
The cameras shunned her.
4th place does not get you on the podium with the top 3 winners.
The camera immediately cut Paula out of the pictures and forget all about her.
Another Superstar who got cut out of the limelight was losing Giants football
quarterback, Eli Manning. The Giants played a lackluster game against
The Philadelphia Eagles. They had no sense of urgency even though they
were behind by 23 points.
They started out the season so well winning 5 games straight.
Now, they’re playing terrible.
It was unbelievable how many times Manning’s passes got deflected
by the Eagle defense. It’s no wonder the Giants got clobbered 40 - 17.
Goes to show you, you’re only as good as your last win.
The New York / Philadelphia rivalry continues Tonight,
“The Beatles of Baseball” - The New York Yankees, will give a
New York style beat down in Philadelphia on the Philadelphia Phillies in
game 4 of the MLB World Series.
One thing I noticed about these sporting events that they all had in common.
The participants are all athletes in top physical shape. Out of the 42,000
runners in the marathon, I didn’t notice any overweight people. NONE.
Just goes to show you that training for a marathon, will burn off bodyfat.
If you would like to burn off some excess bodyfat, check out this site:
Derartu Tulu, Eagles, Eli Manning, Giants, Halloween, Meb Keflezighi, Michael Bloomberg, New York City, NY Marathon, Paula Radcliff, Phillies, Yankees
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