Famous Ankles

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

This weekend’s events were running and running and running and some minor stuff.  Even when it wasn’t running, it seemed to be about running.  Three major events:  the Olympic trials for the marathon, the New York City Marathon, and the International Fun Run.

Right after the Olympic trials, I started walking to the East Side to get into position for the International Fun Run, a NYC Marathon predecessor.  It’s more of a party than a run and is only a couple of miles long.  It starts at the United Nations, goes to Sixth Avenue via 42nd Street, and then cuts up to 54th Street or so.

As I was nearing 42nd street, I began to hear a roaring sound.  For me, that means and interesting sound and something I have to check out.  And there it was, a big rally at the New York Public Library.

When I first got into position, the group was chanting and doing “the wave”.  Just as I crossed the street, it broke up.  It turned out to be a large group of French runners.

They were in town for the NYC Marathon, but were also participating in the Friendship Run.

The coolest part about this crowd was a minor event that I couldn’t capture on film.  Right after the above picture, there was a siren from Fifth Avenue and a firetruck passed by en route to an emergency of some sort.  The whole crowd broke out in a roar of cheers for the firefighters and they returned the waves of the crowd.

I fell in behind the group as I was heading in the same direction. 

After a couple of blocks, I cut across and ran into a group of Japanese runners also heading to the run.

As you can see, some were taking a very lighthearted approach to the run.  But no one took it more lightly than these guys.

You can’t see it very well, but the guy on the left had a joke arrow going through his head.  There were actually six in this group, but the other three were caught by the light.  I never got a good picture of the arrow.

Another block or two later, I ran into a group of Swedes.

The crowds kept flowing in and around to the UN.  I knew I was going to view the run, but I wanted to do it from a slightly different viewpoint.

But, that’s another post.

-H

As the next few posts will show, this weekend is all about running.  Saturday morning at 7:36, the US Olympic trials for marathon runners was held.  And Famous Ankles was there….as an observer, of course.

I arrived well before the start.  The run was to go from Rockefeller Center on 50th Street to 6th Avenue, cut south to 42nd, go to Times Square, then north to Central Park and then around the inside roads about four times.  My original thought was to go to Central Park and catch them from there.  I then thought that it might be great to see them run through Times Square (as I’ve seen the half-marathoners do).  As I was walking to the area, I noticed that there was almost no one around on Sixth Avenue and figured that the crowds would be less than I expected.  So, I decided to see how close I could get to the beginning.  The answer:  pretty close, indeed.

That’s some of them.  When I first got there, I thought these were wannabes while they kept the real athletes warming up someplace else, but that only lasted a few seconds.  I never could figure out a count, but there were a bunch of guys looking to fill just a couple of spots on the Olympic team.  I did talk with one of them, but it was just a “How ya’ doin?  Good luck out there. Thanks, appreciate it.” sort of exchange.

The day was cool/cold at about 45 degrees F.  But the wind was a killer.  Fifteen to 20mph.  I didn’t envy any of them.

I did get to the actual beginning point of the race, but didn’t stay there.  The crowds were pretty significant.  Not overwhelming, but a bunch of die-hard supporters.  Lots of cowbells.  Lots of them.

I don’t know who “Ritz” is (presumably Dathan Ritzenhein, who ended in second place), but the sign of Ritz Rocks was the only sign I saw.  Nevertheless, this was a crowd that seemed to know the runners.  I’m not sure why I got that feeling because I never saw anyone conversing directly with the runners, but it was a family-type atmosphere and very friendly.

The guys, it was the men’s trials, were very intense, though.  You have to remember that this may have been the most important day of their lives (at least professionally).

Below, was above the start line and a number of the runners were lying down and doing their stretching.

At about 7:30am, the cops started to clamp down more and more.  The tension in the crowd grew and everyone was really expectant.

There was a shot and the run started.

That’s my first picture of the runners.  Here’s my second.

That was as fast as my camera could take pictures in that light.  I even had to brighten these two photos to bring out the detail.

The actual passing by lasted about five seconds.  The crowd instantly broke up.  I heard a number of people talking about going out to Central Park, but I had other places to go.  But that’s for a later post.

Much later in the day, I learned that one of the runners, Ryan Shay, died during the race.  I’m shocked and saddened by that.  These guys all seemed in perfect shape, Olympian shape.  If you look at the picture of the runners as they were coming toward me, I believe Mr. Shay is the runner in the front, toward the right, wearing a white sleeveless shirt.  My sympathy to his family and friends.

-H