The NYC International Friendship Run
My previous post detailed my walk to the International Friendship Run, which goes from the United Nations to mid-town around 6th Avenue and 54th Street. As I said, the run is a warmup for some of the NYC Marathon participants and is treated in a more lighthearted manner than you might otherwise expect.
I live in the Tudor City part of Manhattan, very close to the UN building and I decided that I’d watch the run from overhead. There’s an overpass on 42nd Street that offers a good view of the UN and 42nd. So, at 9am on Saturday morning, I positioned myself.
The first runner, wasn’t a runner in the strictest sense.
Hey, he got a motorcycle escort and everything.
The next group came a few seconds later. Sanitation trucks holding people. You can see that most had cameras, so it might have been the press, but I don’t know.
And then the runners started to come in ever-increasing numbers.
And it kept growing.
Those of us above were waving at them and they were waving at us. Every so often, the crowd would roar out a “hello” or a “hey, look at us and what we’re doing” whoop of joy. It was great.
And they kept growing.
Lots of flags and national costumes. Including Americans.
Did I mention the running crowd kept growing?
Then the crowd began to thin. I noticed these “angels” were at the rear of the run.
After they passed, those of us on the overpass crossed the street. The view there was even more impressive.
There were about 20 of us watching from above. One of the people mentioned that she was there every year and the overpass provides the best view of the run. There may be better, but this was a great view under any measure.
-H
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